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Seasonality was a key concern in the list business. It was right
up there with Recency, Frequency and Monetary value. I along with
many of my peers never had to think about when to mail for our clients
- the Kleid Company made sure we all had their seasonality study
to help us along.
There were the best months for women's apparel, other times for
business magazines and still other periods for consumer electronics.
Of course, mailing on a regular set of dates and seasons seemed
to work for other direct marketers.
In our new world of
around the clock (24/7) direct marketing seasonality seems trivial.
Time of the week and hour of day is regularly targeted for maximum
effectiveness. I'm talking email marketing and the speed of the
results.
A quick look at what seems to be the growing tips for this type
of timing are as follows:
| 1. |
Don't send a business email late on a Friday or one that
arrives on a Monday morning. The reasoning is that the person's
mailbox is full from a weekend of receiving such messages
and therefore, they'll be erased instead of read.
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| 2. |
Same logic applies for delivering emails right before a long
holiday weekend (such as July 4th).
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| 3. |
Consumer email is best read on weekends, especially Sundays.
Logic is simple - most time to read it.
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| 4. |
Best time to reach business people with email is lunchtime.
You'll have to time your deliveries for this one.
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| 5. |
Friday is getaway day, go light on emails and none in the
p.m.
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| 6. |
This is a big one: We can't do merge/purge just yet. This
is not due to technology, but a 'growing pains' thing with
the newbie email companies. So the question is- How do you
avoid sending duplicate messages out to the same name? And,
this is a timing issue. Answer: Space out the drops between
each list by a day or two. This will avoid everyone looking
silly or sending out SPAM.
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These few tips were really timing issues and not seasonality. So
let's get back to the times of the year and when to send email.
This is one of the few elements of direct marketing that haven't
changed. People still want to receive the right seasonal offer at
the same time. The problem is in the planning and delivery of the
messages. Less turn around time, more demand and less services (legitimate
ones) to send the messages. There are currently fewer lists of the
true ethical opt-in type and less expertise in how the offer and
copy must be structured. Therefore, the planning and use of lists
affects the timing/seasonality.
Offers should be sent out early in the correct season. Waiting
too long into the season to use a specific list could make a legitimate
offer appear as SPAM. It is not list fatigue; it is consumer fatigue
that will plague the tardy user of an email list even in the correct
season.
As the market matures and more lists become available this condition
will pass. However, today, and for the near future being early will
only help your cause.
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