The eCircle conference gave me a chance to talk about recent communications from big brands as I moved into a new house last month. I highlighted some examples of emails from LoveFilm, British Gas and Sky, and followed the customer journey from the email through to the website.

Two things are noticeable – first, with the ever improving email platforms now in use, companies are getting to grips with creating relevant, timely and engaging emails. Second, these emails rarely live up to their promise once you click through.

I showed an Aer Lingus email, nicely put together and full of useful info and links just four or five days before I was due to fly with them. A good example of picking up a relationship with an ongoing dialogue that immediately connects you to a conversation with the brand. My expectations were indeed raised, especially as they used my name, my reference, they seemed to be talking to me.
Sadly, clicking through brought me to a top level generic homepage. Not only did they not remember me, but they even advertised a fare to where I was going at a price lower than I had paid!

The message for brands is, if your departmental structure, systems, etc. don’t really support this sort of personalised interaction, then don’t set the expectation that you can.