Refining e-mail strategy boosts multi-channel response at Eddie Bauer

Eddie Bauer’s e-mails are producing improved multi-channel response since the company refined its e-mail strategy to add more targeted mailings to its broader distribution, vice president of e-commerce Troy Brown tells Internet Retailer.

“We just ventured into providing more of a targeted offer with our e-mail in the third quarter,” says Brown, who adds that Eddie Bauer hasn’t previously segmented its e-mail distribution to the degree that it does now. “We saw a tremendous response in Q3 from e-mail when we began to send a more targeted, relevant offer.”

Newly identified e-mail customer segments, for example, include customers of Eddie Bauer`s women’s plus-size collection, as well as customers who’ve bought dresses, another item available online but not in the stores. “We see a positive response there, but we will at the same time, send a much broader message to all our consumers about something like the holiday launch-and that gets a strong response across all channels,” Brown says.

Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at consultants Retail Forward Inc., notes that Eddie Bauer has further tightened multi-channel integration by featuring the ability to order by catalog number on its home page. “They’re one of the few retailers that actually have catalog quick order relatively prominently placed on the front page,” she says. “The web site is doing a good job with that from the multi-channel perspective as well.”