Retention Email Campaigns

1. Retention Email Campaigns

2. Retention Team • Dept. Head – Mark Harrington • Email Management – Theresa Del Sordo • Campaign Analysis – Ed Miller • Merchandising (M,M,G) – Amy Delvecchio • Merchandising (B,C, CE) – Laura Brooks

3. Email Numbers • See attached report which provides timing, topic, audience size, click-through, conversion, etc. • Report runs from January to present. • Also provides data on various tests run.

4. Opt-Out Rates • Half does not timestamp when a user opts-out of emails, which makes it difficult to track over time. • We are working with the analysis group to track ‘over time’ opt-out rates.

5. Half’s Email Strategy • Our email strategy is primarily product driven with seasonal events as a driving component in some cases (e.g. textbooks, Christmas holiday, etc.) • There is close coordination between the Inventory, Creative, Technology and Retention teams to schedule, develop and deploy campaigns. • We continuously test various elements to enhance and mature our campaigns (e.g. frequency, purchase amounts, navigation, etc.) • We deploy various full, targeted and specialized campaigns throughout every month.

6. Half’s Email Calendar • The email calendar is part of the overall merchandising calendar, managing all promotional placements for Half. • The calendar goes 10 weeks out and is viewed as a ‘living’ process, where promotions and placements can change based on inventory availability, pricing, trends, etc. • We develop the calendar with input from Inventory, Product Management and Acquisition Marketing.

7. Half’s Email Segmentations • Segmentation varies based on inventory, product type and target audience. • We typically segment our lists for smaller, niche-market goods that may have limited mass-market appeal (e.g. textbooks, BMMG genres, etc.) • Full emails have a wide, mass-market appeal with a controlled variety of products at a range of price points. • We also support A-List promotions for premium customers who have demonstrated high RFM on Half. • We are currently building out our opt-in Inside Scoop lists which allow users to request certain content (e.g DVDs, CDs, books, etc.) • We are also working with personalized recommendations in our email campaigns to help better target users.

8. Email Examples • Emails that show incredible value and have a relatively limited selection, with brand names in many cases, do very well.

9. Email Examples • Emails that have a narrow focus, which focus on calendar based events (e.g. tax season, mother’s day, etc.) and lack brands do not perform as well typically.

10. Other Points • Computer and Electronic emails tend to perfrom better (revenue, GMS) than BMMG emails based on the ASPs of the products. We have to convert 3 to 5 times more people on a BMMG product than on a C/CE product. • Targeted emails that have high relevancy to the user convert at a dramatically higher rate (e.g. email recommendations, Inside Scoop, A-List, etc.) • Link with inventory depth and price points of products. • Benefits of personalized recommendations in campaigns.