My recent purchase of two sweaters from Eddie Bauer sparked a barrage of emails from the clothier. I received the expected order and shipping confirmations, but then one email per day for the first three days after my order. Apparently, I’d been added to a marketing automation or email drip campaign, which is fine … but.

The first email was telling me a fall sale ended that day. The second was saying “Happy Birthday Eddie” … is he even a real person? … and offering me a discount. The third was telling me all about their awesome flannel shirts.

But I *just* purchased from you. Eddie Bauer isn’t a place where many people buy one day, then buy something else the next day. How can it be effective to hit a new customer up with an offer to keep spending their money?

I popped over to my Facebook stream to share some more immediate thoughts:

Think your marketing automation and email campaigns through! Did someone just buy from you? Maybe the message isn’t “Hey! Spend more money with us right now!” Maybe you begin a conversation or a relationship building campaign where you’re offering them lifestyle content to make sure you are top of mind when they might want to buy something else.

Just a reminder to think through the context of what you’re communicating and when. It can make the difference in keeping the customer engaged and turning them off.

(But Eddie Bauer sweaters rock.)

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