Every Tuesday, I open my personal email account with great anticipation. Tuesday means that I get my Cool Tools newsletter. For those of you unfamiliar with Cool Tools, you can visit its website here.
Cool Tools features, as you might expect, tools and other implements designed to make life easier or more enjoyable. Its featured products range from $2 flashlights to very specialized tools costing hundreds of dollars.
Oh, one more thing: Cool Tools doesn't sell tools; it only recommends new and/or interesting tools. Who recommends these tools? Why, you do. And that's what makes these emails so interesting. Moreover, this crowd-sourced approach to email suggests some useful approaches for commercial emailers as well.
The value of consumer-generated reviews
Let's start with the obvious feature of this email: the reader-generated reviews. While some of the tool descriptions come from the editors of the email, many more come from readers. The editors ask some specific questions about the tool submitted to ensure quality reviews:
- How long have you used it?
- What does it enable you to do?
- Why do you think this tool is superior to others?
These rules allow each submission to stand on its own so that readers can judge for themselves whether the tool fits their needs. Most reviews offer substantial, meaty testimony about the tool. To be honest, I'm often more interested in reading what people say about the tool than the tool itself.
Naturally, these reviews correspond to the customer reviews found on many websites. The reviews in Cool Tools stand out for their robustness. Moreover, by limiting the number of reviews in each email (rarely more than four), Cool Tools gives the reader something that he or she can easily digest.
Takeaways for marketers:
- Give your consumers direction when asking for reviews. Do you want them to talk about how they used the product? What they liked about the product? What they'd like to see different in the product?
- Share reviews with your customers via email. Cool Tools offers its reviews on the site but also bundles them into a weekly email that makes it easy for subscribers to see the reviews. Consider placing the best-reviewed or most-reviewed products in an email. Alternately, consider sending reviews to customers based on past purchases or preference center elections.
Covering the basics
Cool Tools also follows some good basic functional ground. Each review includes a link to one or more locations either to buy the product or to learn more. In addition, the editors include a list of previously reviewed products of the same ilk below each review. For instance, a review of a bike tool will have links to other bike tools and accessories.
Takeaway for marketers: Even if review-focused emails represent a break from the usual, make sure to follow best practices and make it easy for readers to purchase the items displayed and/or to find other items that might interest them if the main items do not.
Challenge the audience
Cool Tools markedly differs from customer review emails in one important aspect -- it requires all subscribers to submit a tool recommendation to receive the email. This requirement must come as a shock to the commercial emailer, who has learned to offer the fewest possible impediments to joining a mailing list. Granted, this requirement might scare off some consumers, but it also helps provide content for future emails.
Takeaway for marketers: While marketers probably do not want to prevent any adult from signing up for a basic email stream, perhaps Cool Tools offers an interesting addition. What if a marketer offered a special email stream -- complete with exclusive discounts and information -- only to consumers willing to complete a specific task? This task could take the form of writing a review, posting a video testimonial, or even filling out an extensive preference quiz.
While Cool Tools takes its inspiration from a DIY, home-built sensibility, it nevertheless offers intriguing suggestions for marketers. Take some time to review its emails and think about how you can apply some of that spirit to your brand.
Chris Marriott is vice president and global managing director for Acxiom Digital.
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