Colgate needs to brush up on its email communication

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What Colgate got wrong

 It forgot that in marketing communication, less can be more more, and more is only welcome if the audience sees value in it.

Some time ago, I granted Colgate permission to email me in order to receive its promotions. What I had in mind by promotions was value for me, meaning special offers and/or coupons. But Colgate seemed to think it was just about constantly reminding me about Colgate products with no financial incentive attached.

Finally, today, I decided I had enough of the Colgate clutter that wasn't bringing any value to my inbox. I put in a request to stop the emails. 

What Colgate got right

The opt-out form offers a menu of reasons to select that the folks on the marketing team should note in planning future campaigns. Most opt-outs include the first three, but this one adds a fourth option that fit my motivation exactly:

That was nice to find exactly my reason without having to fill in other or pretend I had not opted in. 

What Colgate should do with that data is plan for more effective email communication in future. If you lure customers in with the promise of special savings for subscribers, you have to deliver on that. Otherwise, you're not keeping up your end of the bargain and will lose the customer's attention and trust.

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Serendipity at the supermarket occurs when you spot your favorite cereal and have the coupon in hand. More likely, though, you have to hunt for your coupon, only to discover that it expired last week. At that point, you can either pay up or settle for the cheaper generic -- unless, that is, you're able to get a coupon on demand.

This third option, available at some stores by a company called VisibleBrands, is one made possible by analytics.  Read more in 

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