The end of third-party cookies is on the horizon...  

Mozilla Firefox and Safari already block third-party cookies. And Google announced that it will block cookies through the Chrome browser by the end of this year. What does this mean for digital marketers?  

Direct mail is constantly evolving. And innovation can pay off. It can generate higher response rates among your target audience... and it can even get you a discount from USPS. 

Direct mail has been a powerful marketing channel for decades.  

But looking ahead... it seems that direct mail is poised for a new renaissance in the 2020s.  

Customers are becoming more wary of digital tracking and privacy on the web... 

And the integration of new media with tangible mail creates a powerful, lucrative marketing opportunity. 

This is especially true when you’re trying to micro-target new customers and build lasting relationships with existing customers.  

After all, these innovations simply help do what marketers have always tried to do: get the right offer in front of the right person at the right time. 

No matter how much you promote your own brand, there will always be customers who aren’t willing to take it from you. In fact, HubSpot Research shows that 57% of U.S. consumers trust the opinion of their friends and family when it comes to a new product.  

Plus, with the widespread access of the Internet, customers can deep-dive into their research before they put up their hard-earned money. It’s easier than ever to compare products, seek recommendations and read reviews.  

That’s where earned media can help build your credibility.  

But what is earned media?  

In the eCommerce space, Mailchimp’s latest benchmarks showed that the average open rate for marketing emails is 15.68% and the average click-through rate is 2.01%.  

But when it comes to thank you emails... the numbers speak for themselves. According to Remarkety, thank you emails received (on average):   

• An open rate of 42.51%
• A click-through rate of 18.27%   
• A conversion rate of 10.34%   

So, if you don’t invest in a well-crafted “thank you” email... well, you’re missing out on a major opportunity. Saying “thank you” helps you build long-term relationships with your customers, humanize your brand and even re-engage customers. Here’s how you can turn a simple “thank you” into a powerful avenue for relationship-building.   

When it comes to eCommerce marketing, you need to take stock of your sales funnel from the top... through the middle... and last but not least, the bottom. If you’ve been following along with our blog series, you’ve made it to the final installment of our eCommerce Sales Funnel series. And if you missed it, head over to our posts on ToFu tactics and MoFu strategies to explore the rest. 

Here’s a New Year’s resolution for eCommerce marketers: ramp up your middle-of-the-funnel strategies. Sometimes referred to as “MoFu,” this strategy helps nudge people down through the funnel once they’re already familiar with your brand.  

And to see some top-of-the-funnel (or ToFu) strategies, take a look at this blog post. And since J&C knows these strategies top-to-bottom, stay tuned for our final post of this series: bottom of the funnel. 

Now let’s take a look at how you can make the most of the middle: 

Gift-giving season is here... But this year, with safety on everyone’s mind and technology readily available, eCommerce is more relevant than ever.  

The competition is fierce out there. And every level of the sales funnel is important to get right. 

But let’s take it from the top. The top of the funnel, that is.  

Here are three ToFu strategies to try for this season and the year ahead.  

In the final episode of season two of J&See: Views on Marketing, Meg Goodman chats with Michaelynn Rose, the director of marketing for Bernina. They talk about marketing on both the client and agency side of the table, how Bernina used education to reignite interest in sewing masks (and more) during the pandemic, and how direct mail is still an effective method of marketing with innovations like hyperpersonalization and digital printing.

Hear their conversation in full below. 

It’s been said before. 

The right message... to the right person... at the right time. It’s the recipe for a successful conversion. 

Of course, it sounds simple. But how do you find the right audience? How do you deliver that resonant message? How do you ensure it gets to them at the right moment?  

Well... that’s where an email drip campaign can help.