So how frequently do you email your best customers? Have you considered contacting them less?
That's what StubHub is doing, by making an effort to let high volume users of the service know they have the choice to opt out of emails that are non-essential to their orders, says Kevin Smith, product manager at StubHub Inc. "We want to reduce the noise."
StubHub has an admittedly wide demographic—anyone who is a fan of something and would want to buy a ticket to that thing's performance.
The fan-to-fan ticket marketplace—a $4 billion business worldwide—launched a new email system in early August to connect with recent ticket buyers.
The objective was to recap the order details and set buyer expectations for the next milestone in the process, in an effort to reduce inbound customer service contacts.
"We want to engage and inform users through the lifecycle of their order," said Smith, speaking at the DMA:2011 conference in Boston last week, noting that emails are sent on demand as orders are placed, in real time.
The emails feature a large and prominent "download tickets now" button, so recipients remember to download and print their tickets well in advance of the event. The new emails feature a streamlined look and feel to make it easier for customer to find the information they need.
The metrics used to judge the success of the emails are the reduced customer service contacts, as well as the delivery rate and net promoter scores. Over three million emails have been sent since the new system was put in place.
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