Most sports enthusiasts are aware of Easton Sports. The Van Nuys, California, company manufactures, markets and distributes sports equipment for baseball, softball, hockey, biking, and archery.
Even if you’re not a sports enthusiast, chances are you’ve seen the logo. Easton sells close to 2 million bats yearly.
So why would it need an e-zine?
“We have a lot of people that are enthusiasts for our product that can’t get enough information about it and it’s a great way for us to get information to them,” says Mike Zlaket, vice president for baseball /softball.
Easton News is distributed to over 60,000 subscribers who have largely signed on from the Preferred Players link on its Web site. Other subscription avenues, though not as prevalent, include product warrantees and the Easton customer service department.
Zlaket isn’t aggressively looking to build the list. He’s content with a slow growth of subscribers that are good athletes and serious players. But many people wouldn’t consider doubling the file of 30,000 subscribers in one year slow growth.
The monthly newsletter began last year. In order to meet the needs of diverse sports enthusiasts, it is segmented into different content sections highlighting various sports and products.
The lead story depends largely on the season, says Zlaket. January’s issue is expected to focus on baseball products due to the start of major league spring training. “It’s of interest to people buying products and getting revved up for their baseball season,” he says.
In addition to the lead story, there are two or three product stories highlighting new offerings and one story about an athlete who uses Easton’s products. Recent editorial included articles on Eric Chavez and Luis Castillo, who received the 2005 Gold Glove® Award. If readers want to learn more about the technology of the glove they can click on a link that takes them to the glove section of the Easton Web site.
The newsletter tries to involve subscribers through online polls. For example, it might asks readers who they think will win the World Series. Or it might ask them to chose their favorite player from a group of four. Response rates on these polls runs between 1$ and 2%.
“They’re innocuous questions but the response rate is amazing,” says Zlaket. “Why not? They respond for the fun of it.” Occasionally, results from an interesting poll will be shared with the readers.
Formula Public Relations handles all aspects of the newsletter and Blue Hornet is the e-mail service provider.
With an open rate of 22 to 23%, Zlaket is pleased with the newsletter. But its effect on sales is hard to measure because Easton doesn’t sell direct to the consumer. Its products are sold through major sporting goods stores such as Sports Authority, Dicks and Modells.
“We’ll never know if we converted somebody because of e-mail,” Zlaket says. So Zlaket relies on his gut. “I have to believe that when we’re giving up-to-date information to our most serious customers it’s driving business. From there, it’s a leap of faith.” But he’s not leaping far. At a cost of less than $1,000 per issue, it’s not a hugely expensive initiative, he says. “It’s just a good initiative because it keeps us in close contact with our core consumer and lays groundwork for the future.”
What might that groundwork include?
“If and when the time is right we’ll develop a more concrete message,” he answers. “If we were to develop a special promotion that our serious players needed to know about, we would use it as a notification device as opposed to information. If we ever sold direct we would utilize it as an alert. But neither are in the cards right now so we’ll just build the list, increase the frequency and get good response rates.”
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