eMedia Daily

Integrated eMail Communications

When you’re visiting the grocery store, do you see separate departments, or do you see the store as a whole? I, for one, don’t think “I need to go to the cereal aisle,” but rather “I need to get cereal.” You’ve probably also experienced the frustration when one store is divided in that way, so that you can’t purchase jeans and a purse from the same cashier. Instead, you must do 2 separate transactions with 2 different cashiers at 2 different locations in the store.

The same is true when visiting websites, and receiving emails from companies. Most people do not think of the customer service department that retrieves your password as being different from the order confirmation system, or the system that sends you promotions.

However, when email marketing communications are fragmented into silos, as described by Tricia Robinson-Pridemore in “Sending from Silos?” the user experience isn’t all that it could be. Centralizing your email messaging creates a better experience for your reader, as you can manage the number of messages that they receive, and build your brand through using the same language and style. It also allows you to build a better picture of your reader - which messages the read and respond to, and which are disregarded. With this, you can build even better marketing campaigns.

Integrating email communications certainly won’t be easy for most companies. However, the value that it brings to the table in the long term makes it well worth the effort.