Bookseller up to date with trends

Whitcoulls is becoming a leader in digital marketing. Picture / Russell Smith

Whitcoulls is becoming a leader in digital marketing.

The latest Whitcoulls' Top 100 book list has been compiled solely by email voting for the first time.

The bookseller is undergoing a digital revolution as it introduces a loyalty club and increases its direct marketing by email.

Whitcoulls compiles a Top 100 List of the best-loved books from reader's votes every two years and the latest will be out tomorrow.

It previously created the list through in-store voting booths, promotion and print advertising but this time used email marketing to its database of 30,000 people, restricted voting to online and rewarded voters with a discount voucher.

The Marketing Association, formerly called the Direct Marketing Association, describes the campaign as "innovative" and says it indicates a direction more businesses will take.

Whitcoulls advertising manager Sandra Hayman says the digital strategy attracted almost 100,000 votes - 10 times as many as before.

"It's been harder to get customers to vote - people are just so busy and it was a manual thing. I think the success of [this year's list] was having a nice, really easy-to-use campaign."

She said the online method cost about $20,000, a fraction of the old system, leaving more money for promotion.

In previous years, lists were advertised in-store and through print but this year's will have a greater public relations push and be advertised on television for the first time.

"Traditionally, we get a really good lift in sales when we launch the new list," says Hayman. "We will be closely measuring to see if the campaign has driven more sales, but we certainly think it will get much greater awareness being on TV."

Giving away a 50 per cent discount voucher off fiction as a voter reward had already lifted sales.

Part of Whitcoulls' digital revolution is a loyalty scheme, launched late last month.

The company already had email databases of book and DVD enthusiasts to whom it offered newsletters and event alerts. Now customers swipe a card when they buy to earn points to redeem later.

"What it means for us is that we can actually see shopping behaviour, which is that big link that was missing," says Hayman.

"We knew email marketing was effective and that customers like to hear from us.

"But what we want to do is tailor it even more based on their buying behaviour. So now we've got a loyalty programme in place that will give us that data."

Association chief executive Keith Norris says the initiatives put Whitcoulls in retailers' "leading bunch" of direct marketers.

"We are going to see more, much more of it. We are going to see particularly retail groups realising that the most valuable thing that they've got are their customer lists."

He says retailers are tuning in to the opportunities of one-to-one marketing, in which a customer's habits are identified then matched with products and special offers.

"Retailers have been slow to catch on to the value of one-to-one marketing."

Email marketing is effective and simple to use once systems are set up but overly sensitive spam filters are a problem.

"Some of our largest members are still having trouble sending emails to customers who have opted in," says Norris.

"You get a lot of what we name in the trade 'false positives' - in other words, it gets dumped in the junk mail when it was perfectly good, acceptable email and opted in for."

The Whitcoulls drive used SmartMail, developed by local email service provider Jericho, to send permission-only emails that included a refer-a-friend feature.

"It was appealing, it was simple and it was easy - and it was visually strong - and it was based on loyalty to the brand," says Jericho managing director Jeff Mann.

He says Jericho has seen growth of about 50 per cent a year in email marketing.

TOP 100 LIST

* The email direct marketing campaign attracted almost 100,000 votes - 10 times more than the last time.

* This year's voting drive cost about $20,000 compared with $60,000 for last year's hard-copy voting.

* The cheaper cost for voting means the retailer will spend more on promotion, including advertising the list on TV for the first time.

* Marketing changes are afoot, which include a loyalty scheme launched last month.