by Ron Daly
Call me an optimist, but I'm going to call this storm "THE blizzard of 2010", in the hopes that it's not just "A blizzard of 2010".

It's been an interesting week here at DigitalMailer. In case you missed any news outlet of the past week, the DC/Metro area got almost THREE FEET of snow dropped on us in the span of a week. Many of our account managers, operations staff and marketing department had to work from home for the entire week - and one of our staff members won't be dug out until days from now. Hang in there, Steve!

When the snow hit, we made it a point to send out reminders to all our clients about our limited support capacity, letting them know when we'd be out of the office and how they could reach us. Our clients had the same idea - DigitalMailer sent out over 300,000 emails regarding closings and delays to members. Clients from all around the DC/Metro area were able to get the word out ahead of the storm and in the thick of it.

The Value of Email

For our clients, email is not just about marketing. It's a communication channel that members know to look out for because it's a channel the CU is eager to use. Whether it's a weather crisis or a financial crisis, our clients use our email engine to reach members, provide support and comfort, and let them know what happens next.

Fellow blogger and all-around CU-wizard Anthony Demangone from the NAFCU Compliance Blog had these four pieces of advice to offer on his own blog about the blizzard:

• You need to plan.
  
• You need good people.
  
• You need technology.
• You need to communicate to your "users."
  

To read all the particulars, go to the NAFCU Compliance Blog Post.

Anthony hit the nail right on the head with these four points. See the crisis coming, have a staff you can count on, have the right technology and communicate consistently.

Send us your blizzard stories and pictures - either here or on our Twitter feed - and tell us how your CU or Business communicated with members/customers during the storm.

We can get you started with a fast, effective message delivery system right away. All you have to do is give us a call. 866 994 4900 extension 102 or info@digitalmailer.com

We wanted to give you some idea how much snow we've been dealing with - take a look at these pictures.Me, in front of a snow bank in a ski jacket that's REALLY come in handy. To give you some scale, I'm 6'2" tall - that snow pile is just about 7'2".


The above picture was taken before the "dig-out" period by our Creative Media Director Jimmy Marks. That's his car - beneath 24 inches of snow!

The snow piles easily tower over even large SUVs. Makes me wonder if maybe there are some other cars buried out there under the big snow piles!

Operations Specialist Steve Mattson lives in a more rural area of Northern VA. Good news? He has a small tractor and snapped a few pictures. Bad news? He's STILL stuck at home! Hopefully we'll see you Monday, Steve!

Labels: crisis communication, e-mail, email, snow, weather emergency

Click Here to Read the Full Version of "Got Snow?: What our company (and our clients) learned from The Blizzard of 2010"

by Ron Daly

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

No matter what new technological developments crop up, the old standards still hold. Billboards still draw eyes, there's still a "fold" in paper advertising spec sheets, and coupons bring in new business -whether they're clippable or clickable.

In a recent eMarketer article ["Coupons Boost E-Mail Open Rate", Nov 19 2009], coupons are shown to boost email open rates significantly. Whether the coupons are for in-store use or online use, users are more likely to click through when a significant savings offer is presented - 80% more likely, to be exact.

Coupons have become de rigeur in the recession. Services such as Groupon and Vente-privee have made a tidy business of selling discounts on local businesses and couture fashion via email. Savvy shoppers take full advantage of this trend by waiting out their daily coupon and snapping up opportunities that interest them. They don't have to stake out a site or enter a contest, however - they just have to open up their inbox. How could your business capture this trend for itself?

Well, for starters, how about your own services? We've talked about onboarding campaigns recently, email campaigns aimed at new members who might be in the market for your credit union's services. Why not make special coupon-style offers that are good for the life of the email to new members? Cut rates on interest earning services or give $25 worth of free money to anyone that takes the time to open a new account with you. The sky isn't the limit - your imagination and willingness to outreach is.

Some best practices that we can give you now (via email marketing reports):

1) No need for a fancy picture

A photo coupon might be interesting to look at, but what happens when your member's ISP blocks the image or removes it from the email altogether? Make coupons and coupon codes readable in plain text so members can see the value of what you're offering without any images to misplace or misinterpret.

2) Tighten up that net

You think that offering everyone the same rates is going to get everyone on board? College students have different wants and needs that their parents, just like first time home buyers have different wants and needs than long-time mortgage holders in the market for a HELOC. Use DigitalMailer's ARB to send to refined groups and specific age or income ranges.

3) Where's "step two"?

Your coupon was clicked by 10% of your target audience. That 10% counts as a group of qualified buyers - what about the other 90%? Is there a product or service that might better suit them? And quit bugging the 10% that already took you up on your offer - be more accurate and more precise in your marketing and you can save money in the long run.

Want to learn more? DigitalMailer's "Do You Want Fries with That?" Webinar is a FREE webinar that goes through email marketing with the Automatic Relationship Builder. We've helped financial institutions across the country reach customers and members in a number of exciting ways.

Click here to see available dates for this webinar and to sign up for the next session.

Labels: coupon, Coupons, e-mail, email, email marketing, Groupon, Marketing, marketing on a budget

Click Here to Read the Full Version of "No Scissors Required"