Ways in which: Email Marketing and Jawbone

Ways in which is a blogging series that looks at ways people could do things differently to improve their marketing efforts. Ways in which covers all things social, content and copy.

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with any of the individuals, brands, or companies mentioned and my opinion is strictly my own.

Alongside that, if you notice anything I didn’t, comment below. I’d love to hear your ideas.

In this edition of Ways in Which, we’ll be looking at e-mail marketing, specifically from a company called Jawbone. Jawbone  is a world-leader in consumer technology and wearable devices, building hardware products and software platforms powered by data science.

The following is a collection of their most recent e-mails, and my commentary on ways in which they could improve.

Weekly overview’s: good email marketing technique

This first email marketing technique from Jawbone is great. This is sent weekly to those who have connected their Jawbone band to their email. It’s a weekly overview of how well you’ve performed and whether or not you have reached your targets.

Why it works:

1. Gives a visual representation of your past week for amount of steps you’ve done and the amount of sleep you’ve had.
2. For those who forget to log into the app, this provides a quick way to review your previous week, giving you an opportunity to optimize for the next week (the core aim of the app and the hardware).

How it could improve:

1. Where it says “you hit your goal 2 times“, they could add to this a small sentence that says “our average user hits their goal 4 times a week”. This way you have an indication of how well you’re performing compared to other people.

Valentine’s message

Joanna Wojcik of freshmail wrote valentines is the second most important peak in Q1 after Mothers’ Day. With Valentine’s Day in February, Jawbone obviosuly saw a great opportunity to offer a deal for those who might wish to spend some money this holiday season.

However I think they made a few crucial mistakes with this one:

1. If they knew anything about me, as a person, they would know I already own a Jawbone UP3, so why would I want to buy another?
2. Okay, so maybe I want to buy a second for a loved one. That makes sense.
3. However, the offer states once you buy the second Jawbone UP3, I then get 40% off a second tracker…
4. Who am I buying this second tracker for, if I already own one and i’m about to buy one for my loved one?

What they could’ve done:

1. Realised I already owned a tracker and offered me a smaller discount for a second one:

Example copy:

Hey, we know you’re using your tracker so we’d love to offer you 25% off a second tracker this Valentine’s day so you can treat someone special. Hurry, offer ends soon.

This way they show personalization, they understand and acknoledge that I have a tracker and they make the assumption i’m actually using my tracker.  If both of these statements are true, then it’s likely I might want to buy a second for someone else, especially if offered this limited time deal.

Jack Simpson at econsultancy suggests you should split your email list into targeted segments so you can deliver content to a more specific audience. This is likely to be more effective than blanket-emailing everyone on your contacts list. 

I can’t understand why I’d want to buy two trackers, when I already own one, and I only get discount on what would be the third purchased tracker.

As Eric Krattenstein said for, Mashable: failing to organize your database according to your customers’ needs, wants and likes means your targeting will be off, and your campaigns will be trapped in the inboxes of the wrong readers.

Friendly reminder

Jawbone did what any good email marketing expert would do and sent me a reminder email for the previous deal. However, the problem I found with this was the email subject. Now, although my previous concerns with this deal still stand, my problem with this email was the clickbait title.

Looking at this email in my inbox, it seems like i’m going to get 40% off any tracker, it doesn’t say 40% off second tracker, which is what the actual deal is.

Achievements

Finally, Jawbone sent an email about a service that allows you to duel people in order to create a sense of competition to spur you on to achieve your goals.

This email marketing was good because:

1. It was timely. They talk about lovestruck and they sent the email around valentine’s day
2. It didn’t assume anything that wasn’t true. With Jawbone, you are able to duel with your friends and family who also have the app and the hardware. However, they don’t know whether I have any friends or family who have the app of hardware. So instead, this email pushed me towards a link that would allow me to duel one of their experts.

Overall takeaways:

1. Consider how you are grouping your email list. Some people might be subscribers who don’t have a Jawbone, and other people are subscribers who do have one. Consider separating these people if possible, so all correspondence is relevant to both parties.
2. Jawbone send updates quite regularly,  so too many irrelevant emails will cause people to unsubscribe
3. Continue to offer weekly updates of progress to encourage people to continue using the app, and also achieve their goals.
4. Brilliant CTA’s so continue to use those.

Like I said before, I’m not affiliated with Jawbone in any way. I’m just a user who receives their emails and has an opinion. I’d love to hear your thoughts on their email marketing and if you think there are other things they can improve or other things they’ve done well, then please do leave a comment below. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.