Email Marketing

Hello again!

I hope everyone is staying nice and warm now that the weather has gotten colder. I know I have had a hard time adjusting to the weather especially since I am still in the mind set of wanting to wear shorts and flip flops every time I go anywhere. Now that it has gotten so much colder outside I have found myself not wanted to go outside as much. Which is why one of my favorite activities to do during this time of the year is online shop.

A majority of retail stores are now offering discounts for their new products that are coming out for the colder seasons. One of my favorite stores to find new sweaters and warm scarves for the cold is Madewell. Madewell is a sister store of J. Crew and always offers great value at a more reasonable price then J. Crew. After signing up for the Madewell email subscription I started to receive an email a day from them regarding new products or upcoming sales. When I first started receiving emails from Madewell I was opening them about 90% of the time. However, as time went on the chances of me opening their emails and actually reading them began to decrease due to the similarity of the emails.

The subject line for the most recent email I have received was “Cooler temps, cuter coats” which was sent on Wednesday November, 8th. This enticed me to open the email because of the recent weather change. Since it has gotten so much colder out I was curious what kind of coats they might be offering in their new winter line. The second email that caught my eye was one with a subject line that said “Extra 30% off sale through tomorrow”. I think everyone can agree that this kind of subject line can attract almost anyone, especially a college student. The content of both emails luckily matched the subject line very well.

For the first email, I believe the call to action was “cooler temps”. This attracts customers to look into their warmer products since the weather has been getting cooler. On the second email the call to action was definitely the word “sale” because that was what drew me in to look at what Madewell was offering on sale.  For the first email about coats I clicked on one of the links within the email regarding a quilted down puffer coat which brought me straight to the Madewell website where I was given more information about the jacket like its colors, sizes and fit. I believe both of these emails were sent to everyone that is subscribed to the Madewell email lists. Out of all the different parts of the email none of them seemed specified to just a certain number of customers. The emails seemed general but to the point about what they were trying to convey to their target market.

Although one of the emails seemed more exciting to click on due to the “sale” reference in its subject line I think the other email was more effective since it had to do with a current situation. I was more likely to click on the link that had something to do with what I need rather than clicking on a sale where there possibly wouldn’t be a certain product I was looking for. The next email from this sender should have some kind of information regarding either a Christmas or holiday sale. This way customers will get the best out of the two emails I received earlier this week. 

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for reading!

Farmers Market Fun!

Hey everyone!

This week I will be talking about the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market for my digital marketing class instructed by Professor Pepe. I had been looking for something new and exciting to do on Saturdays since the weather has been so nice recently and stumbled across the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market’s website. At home during the summers I would always love to go to the farmers market on Saturday mornings with my mom and brothers. Once I got up to Siena I was curious whether or not there was a farmer’s market around the area and was so excited when I found out there was. All though I have not been to the Troy Farmers Market yet I plan to go next Saturday over the long weekend.

I found the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market pretty easily once I knew what I was searching for. When I typed in “farmers market” into Google the Troy Farmers Market was the second to pop up. The first to appear on my search page was the Capital District Farmers Market in Menands, NY which was an indicator of how search engine optimization works. However, since I am not from the area I had never heard of Menands so the Troy Farmers Market caught my eye first since I have been around the Troy area and knew where its general location was.

I also noticed when I initially searched for “farmers markets” the only markets that came up where ones from the local area. I thought that was interesting because usually you have to type in “near me” after your search for activities around your area. This search automatically used my geographic location and found farmers markets in my area using my zip code and were I was located.

On the home page of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market there were various tabs towards the top to choose from which allowed users to easily navigate the website. I choose to click on the vendors tab to look at who participates in the farmers market and was very surprised when I saw that over fifty vendors attended the market. After looking through the list of vendors I clicked on Crepe me up (because I love crepes). A small box of information dropped down which gave you more information about that specific vendor. This included where the vendor was originally from, a phone number, and a brief summary of what the company was about.

Hope this was helpful to everyone and I can’t wait to visit the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market in the future!

Check out this website!

Welcome back!

For this blog post I will be analyzing the website about Things to do in Albany on the following three dimensions: traffic, conversion, and revenue maximization. I have learned about these different topics through Professor Pepe’s digital marketing class.

Here’s a quick little overview of the above dimensions for everyone that doesn’t know. Within traffic objectives there are three different types. Direct traffic, referral traffic, and search traffic. Direct traffic is what makes someone type in a certain URL address into their browser. Referral is broken down into paid referral and unpaid referral. Paid referral is when a website pays to have their ads on other popular websites while unpaid referral is when a company uses social media and emails to gain more traffic flow to their websites. Search traffic is also split up between two sections of paid and unpaid. For the website that I analyzed I think they definitely use unpaid search traffic. When I typed in “Things to do in Albany” the first website to come up was www.albany.com, which was why I clicked on it.

The second dimension, conversion allows customers to navigate easily through the website and give them more information when needed. While going through the website regarding “Things to do in Albany” I found it very easy to find information even if I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Additional information on the different events occurring around the area definitely gave me a peace of mind on what I was looking at on the website. I chose to look at the “Things to do” tab and outdoor activities. Under outdoor activities I clicked on extreme adventures which brought me to multiple outdoor activities around the area. Mountain Ridge Adventure was the first option and when I clicked on the view website button it brought me straight to the Mountain Ridge Adventure website where I was given more information about prices and locations.

The third dimension consist on how to maximize revenue for the company. This didn’t really apply to the website I chose to analyze because whenever someone wants to buy tickets or a pass to one of the events the website brings them to the official website. However, this could mean that whenever someone uses Albany.com to buy a ticket then they would earn a certain percentage of that purchase.

Overall, I really enjoyed this website because of how easy it was to navigate and find things to do around The Capital Region. I even saw a couple activities that I wouldn’t mind trying myself like the ropes course or visiting some different parks. So, if you’re looking for something different to do I definitely recommend going to www.albany.com to find some new activities!

Bye for now!

Come Explore With Me!

Hi there and welcome to my first blog post!

If you live or go to school anywhere around The Capital Region in upstate New York and are looking for something fun and exciting to do then you’ve come to the right place! The point of this blog is for me to find and share upcoming events and activities that will be taking place around Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs and other areas nearby.

Not only will I be showing you where to go and when but I will also share reviews, discounts, and deals for different activities and occasions that might involve you having to open up your wallet. But don’t worry a majority of my posts will be about how to have fun in these areas without breaking the bank.  One of my all-time favorite websites to visit when I just can’t get myself to pay full price is Groupon. If you don’t know already, Groupon is a worldwide e-commerce marketplace that connects subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in more than 28 countries for a discounted rate. Being a college student myself I understand what it is like to have little to no money to your name, especially in the beginning of the school year right after having to spend half of your summers savings on text books. Utilizing Groupon can definitely make any activity more enjoyable when you don’t have to spend a lot of cash.

There are many activities that I have done in and around Albany for little to no money that I will be sharing with you all very soon! But, there are also many other activities that I have not done yet and wish to do before my time in upstate New York is over, like apple picking, going on more hikes and visiting Cohoes Falls.

My plan this semester is to visit and explore as many new places as possible around The Capital Region and to share pictures, ideas, and deals with you from this blog. So make sure you come back soon to see where my next adventure takes me!