I buy & read lots of books, spending around $500 annually on books & audiobooks. My two favorite places to buy books? My local Borders and Amazon.com.
Up until recently, Borders.com was actually Amazon.com with a Borders logo on it. This last year, they have pushed out a new online store and are looking build up their ecommerce business. One would expect that in this new push, Borders would have hired folks with strong Internet marketing backgrounds. However, judging from the emails I’ve continuously received from Borders, I don’t think they understand the fundamental power that digital marketing affords to marketers.
What is this “fundamental power” I speak of? Relevance. It’s easiest to demonstrate by contrasting Amazon.com’s email marketing strategy to the one employed by Borders.
Over the past 5 years, I have bought many books from my local Borders. And for the past 2 or 3 years, they have had a rewards card system, which means they’ve linked my purchases to my email. In my entire time buying books, I have never ever bought a fictional book from Borders. I don’t read fictional books. That’s what movies are for, IMHO. My bookshelf is filled with marketing, management, leadership, biographies, programming, science and psychology related books. Yet, they constantly send me coupon after coupon for fiction & kids books. Needless to say, now days I completely ignore all emails coming from Borders and have never bought anything triggered by their communication.
Let’s contrast that with Amazon.com’s approach to communication. Looking at the emails I’ve received from Amazon over the last 2 years (180+ emails), I did not find a single email that was irrelevant to me. Every single one seemed like it was hand picked for me based on my previous purchases and interactions with Amazon.com.
Why is it that a computer-based business seems more personalized than a real retail store? There is something definitely wrong with that picture.
Borders might say that Amazon.com has all my info, which is why they are able to be so personalized in their recommendations. To that I say, “I don’t care.” You’ve had my email and purchase history for months. If your technology doesn’t let you leverage it, it’s time to start investing in newer technology.
My book purchasing has definitely shifted more to Amazon.com in place of Borders, but I still go in to Borders. It’s a nice environment and I buy from time to time. But my purchases are despite the efforts of their marketers, not because of it.
Lesson of the day: Be Relevant! Use the information you have to be more personal with people. If I’ve never bought a fictional or kids book, don’t send me a coupon for it. Not only am I never going to use it, it’s irritating.
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