Retail eMarketing Solutions

Today's consumer is hungry for information when making shopping decisions. More often shoppers are turning to the internet, email and even their cell phones to prepare for a shopping trip or to plan a major purchase. If it is time for you to begin eMarketing or need someone to take a fresh look at your current efforts, ForbesAMG will develop a customized eMarketing solution for you which will enhance your current "traditional" direct marketing efforts. We are NOT Spammers! ForbesAMG will work with your company to:

• build an opt-in email list of current and potential customers
• develop rich HTML eNewsletter templates, that have the same "look and feel" as your current marketing efforts
• manage all aspects of content development and delivery of the eNewsletter
• manage the subscriber database, analyze campaign results and make recommendations for improvement
  

Our customized eMarketing solutions will increase response rates to your company's various sales promotions throughout the year and build customer loyalty through increased communication with customers. In the long run, your direct marketing costs will be reduced as more customers choose to receive promotions via email only. Best of all ForbesAMG does ALL THE WORK for you!!!

Building the Email List | The eNewsletter | The Subscriber Database
Retailer Responsibilities | Cost

> Building the Email List

ForbesAMG will create a sign up page for your eNewsletter. The page will ask subscribers for specific demographic information, as well as for interests that may help the company better target groups of customers in the future. For example, a question like, "Do you - Snowboard, Ski or Ice Skate?" will help you mail smarter and better target your message for an upcoming promotion on a specific product category. Additionally, asking "What newspaper do you read?: Wall Street Journal, New York Times or The Record" would help you decide where to place your next print ad.

All "traditional" marketing efforts by your company (direct mail, newspaper ads, etc.) must promote the new eNewsletter and display a link to the sign up page. To improve response subscribers should be given the chance to win a free item from your store or gift certificate on a future purchase from your business.

ForbesAMG will supply counter cards to each of the company's locations which will ask for the same information that is collected on the eNewsletter sign up page. ForbesAMG will enter the information on the cards into the eNewsletter database.

Upon subscribing to the company's eNewsletter a Welcome Message is immediately sent to the customer. The message will include what they can expect from the eNewsletter and when they can expect to receive their first issue. It will also include a link to the current issue and should include some type of "start saving now" offer in the form of a link to a coupon.

> The eNewsletter

The eNewsletter will be distributed on a schedule set up by ForbesAMG and your staff. It is important that eNewsletters don't annoy customers by arriving too frequently, yet sending too infrequently will not maintain your "connection" with the customer. We will also help you plan your sends so they will coincide with your other marketing/advertising efforts.

For some retailers it may be beneficial to have us design more than one eNewsletter. For instance, if you have corporate customers, you may want to provide an eNewsletter with special offers that are "not available to the general public." If you have large groups of customers with varying interests it may be beneficial to create multiple eNewsletters. Say you sell bicycles and skis, we will create separate eNewsletters and customers will have the option of signing up for one or both when they sign up.

The main focus of the eNewsletter content should be to inform readers about the current offer/promotion/event. This will be done directly in the eNewsletter, as the "lead" item and there may be a link from the email to a page with more information about the event and possibly a coupon.

In order to keep readers interested on an ongoing basis, ForbesAMG's editors will also include facts or news from around the Internet which relate to your customer's interests. We will proofread all of the content that your company provides and offer copywriting suggestions as appropriate.

Each eNewsletter template will include:

• a "send to a Friend" link - with usage logged
• a Feedback link - with usage logged
• a one-click "opt out" link

Subscribers who are not able to read html in their email program will receive a link to the eNewsletter on the web, ensuring that they see the same content as the html recipients.

> The Subscriber Database

ForbesAMG ensures list quality is maintained, by automatically handling unsubscribes and undeliverable mail. Each message you send out includes an "unsubscribe" option. This is critical to the opt-in email model because it allows your subscribers to manage their own subscriptions.

Subscriber information is stored in an Oracle database in a secure data center, where professional database managers work around the clock to ensure that the data is manageable, accurate and secure.

ForbesAMG will provide monthly reports on new subscribers. Reports can be provided more frequently to gauge the response to a specific direct mail or advertising campaign.

ForbesAMG will also provide a report for each of the eNewsletter campaigns, which will include number of recipients, number of "opens," and number of unsubscribes.

ForbesAMG will enter all "counter card" subscription requests and monitor online subscriptions for data integrity.

> The Retailer's Responsibilities

In order to ensure success of this eMarketing solution your company must work with ForbesAMG to:

• ensure that there are prominent and enticing offers to sign up for the eNewsletter included in all "traditional" marketing efforts
• create suitable offers to be featured in the eNewsletter
• write provocative content about upcoming sales/events
• educate all staff members about the importance of getting visitors to the store to fill out a counter card

> Cost

We price each solution based on your specific needs, so you are not paying for services you would never use in a packaged program. Prices start at under $500 per month and take the entire burden of email marketing off of you. Don't be fooled by low priced solutions that only manage the sending of the emails - leaving you with the design, copywriting and data entry tasks.

There are two cost components to our eMarketing solutions - the setup cost and a monthly fee which is based on the number of eNewsletter subscribers and the amount of content we need to prepare for your eNewsletter.

Setup includes:

• Database initialization for your customer lists, importing any current customer email addresses, as well as, sign-up page creation
• "Welcome Message" creation and copy writing
• Design and programming for custom "Send to a friend" and "Feedback" pages.
• HTML template design
• Initial supply of counter cards and return envelopes for each store
• Consulting on development of the "look and feel" of the eNewsletter and content guidelines

Monthly fee includes:

• Providing relevant content items for each of your eNewsletters.
• Assistance in the copy writing for the promotional offers
• Assistance on integrating the eMarketing solution into the current "traditional" marketing efforts.
• Inserting all content into the HTML template and adjusting the design for maximum impact
• All database management functions - opt ins and outs, purging undeliverable addresses, delivery reporting, new subscriber reporting and database backups and security
• Weekly data entry for counter cards received from your stores
• Responding to "technical difficulty" inquiries from subscribers
  

Contact us today for an initial consultation.