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The company
Companies offering high quality brand name products via qualified specialist retailers do well to maintain close ties with their trading partners and actively inform them at an early stage of planned activities. The Electrolux Group (brands include AEG) decided to increase its trade communication in summer 2004. Since then, partners in the furniture and electrical trade have been regularly contacted by e-mail. Field service is also fully integrated in this electronic information channel.
It was clear to those responsible that the newsletter would only be successful if it contained information that supports the dealers in their daily work. The contents must also be read and actively registered. With this strategy, also referred to as relevance marketing, the focus is on content with genuine user value.
Reader survey to respond as well as possible to the needs of the target group
In order to know what is really important to readers, a reader survey was carried out before launching the newsletter. The results:
1. Eighty per cent of those asked preferred a short newsletter but more frequently.
2. There is particular interest in information that provides concrete user value for the dealers. This could be selling points, for example, special promotions or new products.
Based on the survey, a Business-to-Business newsletter was developed. The furniture and electrical appliance dealers receive their own newsletter once a month with a maximum of five to seven short or “teaser” texts. These texts are continued on special pages of the relevant country. At the same time they are also available in the News section of the dealer Internet portal “Electrolux Tradeplace”.
Efficient work-sharing between Electrolux and rabbit
The task of the chief editor is the responsibility of the decision-makers at Electrolux, whereas rabbit eMarketing is responsible for all preparatory work, including subject research, texts, graphical implementation, sending and reporting. Relevance for the reader is the strict criterion for editing work. Opening rates of considerably more than fifty per cent and accumulated click rates of more than twenty per cent are a clear sign of the success of the concept.
Additional sales chances
Particularly pleasing for Electrolux: the additional marketing stimuli given by the new medium. Particularly high quality products can be advertised again with tailor-made follow-up promotions. The principle: an e-mail is sent to all newsletter recipients who have clicked on the text of the product. At the same time – also automatically – the responsible field service employee is informed. In the ideal case, the personal discussion then leads to the decision to buy.
Automatic follow-up includes field service
Another important issue was the integration of the sales organisation in the new project. Electrolux and the agency jointly developed a concept in which the field service was firmly integrated in e-mail communication – with an addition in the editorial. The special feature: every dealer receives a newsletter which is “personally” signed by the responsible field service employee. An additional way of making direct contact was created by integrating a “mail to” function. This supports the interaction and dialogue between the customer and sales.
Professional processing of e-mail enquiries
Electrolux receives a lot of e-mail replies to every e-mail sent. rabbit handles processing of most enquiries and only really relevant e-mails are forwarded. For Electrolux this service was another reason for co-operating with a specialist for e-mail marketing, in addition to the comprehensive reports and analyses produced after every mailing. Conclusion: opening and reading rates prove that Electrolux has successfully found a new way of trade communication. Based on the reports, the contents are now continually optimised and adapted to readers’ needs.
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