On Sunday, I opened up my inbox and saw an email from Costco:
“Anniversary Discount—ending on Jan 12”
*click*
I tapped the email and scanned it for 3 seconds…
~ 20-ish products on sale
~ Nothing I wanted
~ Deleted
Costco does this a lot. They blast their list with a discount brochure every 2 to 3 days with no education and zero storytelling.
Two takeaways:
FIRST
This works for them.
Because Costco is a 250B—that’s B for billion—a year corporation with 890 warehouses in 14 countries plus 71 million paying members. They don’t need more brand awareness. So, their email marketing is simple:
Tell people what’s on sale… and some will buy.
But this doesn’t mean it’ll work for you.
The easiest way to test is –
Go on a road trip. Drive 16 hours down the highway to a different state. Find a local cafe. Order a coffee and ask the clerk…
“Have you heard of [YOUR BRAND NAME]?”
If they answer you with a puzzled glaze, you know this won’t work.
SECOND
But even with Costco’s powerful branding…
I did not click anything inside the email.
I did not “go shopping” on their website.
I will only visit my local warehouse if…
– I see something I want on sale
OR
– I run out of toilet paper
Costco has successfully trained me to be a discount-seeking prospect.
This is the problem with poster-ad-style, flyer-like emails with many images and no value. If you want to be in this position, be my guest.
But if you want to turn customers into repeat customers without solely relying on margin-killing discounts, let’s chat.
Talk soon,
– WYH
PS – I only have one spot left for my full-stack email marketing service.
This is a Done-For-You offer. I will research, strategize, write, edit, upload, test, track, optimize, and even manage your list and deliverability for you.
The result?
You don’t have to think about email marketing at all.
Hop on a quick call with me to find out if this is right for you.