Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Many consignment and resale shops send out terrific broadcast emails. I got one the other day. Made me sit up and take notice.

Print out this email and get 30% off everything…and EVERYthing.

Heck, who could resist that? So I dutifully printed out the email, tucked it in my purse, and went shopping.

The store’s nice. The folks there are nice. But alas, I didn’t happen to find anything I needed, even with that 30% off .

So: they got a customer IN due to the email, even though I didn’t have an opportunity to use the coupon. But they never knew it.

I left thinking that the shop might have gotten a clearer reading of how effective their email had been at driving traffic IF they’d provided for my situation: wanted to use the coupon; regretfully didn’t find anything.

How could they have done this? Perhaps by saying, in their email, Even if you DON’T find anything today (and we are pretty sure you WILL) hand us this coupon for a free… anything. Earrings? Spot removal stick? Coupon for an item next month? Doesn’t really matter what you’d offer. What matters is learning that the email worked…but no purchase was made. Important customer information.

Heck, if I worked there I’d even ask the presenter of the coupon 2-3 questions such as Why didn’t you find something today? What would have thrilled you to find…what selection are we lacking?

Valuable opinions to get, personal interaction, the customer feeling you’ve listened to her. That’s worth a “consolation prize”, isn’t it, to get that kind of feedback?

Try it, next time you send out an email coupon. You may be surprised!