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Activate to Captivate

March 3, 2016March 3, 2016 Amy Hamilton

I’m not sure if this is a new trend or if I’m just now noticing it: the “Activate Now“ button. In these emails the retailer offers an in-store deal, but the customer can’t participate without first activating it (aka clicking the button in the email). Why might retailers be using this strategy? Here are a few thoughts:

1) List Growth
If the activate buttons are appearing in emails, it’s a good way to get people interested in signing up for them!

2) Create Accounts
In order to activate a coupon, it stands to reason that the store must be able to connect the customer to the activation. Therefore, an account must exist (or be created) in order to participate. This gives the retailer the advantage of knowing more about the customers’ interests so they can better target them in the future.

3) Inspire Commitment
It would be interesting to test whether people are more likely to buy if they take the extra step of activating a coupon. It not only draws attention to the deal, but the click itself is a bit of an affirmation, a commitment to buy.

4) VIP Treatment
By offering this type of reward to your members, they’re given the feeling that they’re receiving special treatment. And let’s face it, keeping customers happy leads to conversion. So when they checkout, they can smirk and give a sideways glance to the person next them, knowing they just got a bargain.

From: My Starbucks Rewards
Date: 2/19/16
Subject Line: A treat we think you’ll love

Starbucks

Starbuck’s email offers the customer bonus stars for buying a Refreshers beverage. In order to participate they must click the activate button. I like the deal, but I don’t love the email design. The deal doesn’t really stand out as being special. I would suggest adjusting the copy to make it sound more VIP, urgent, or exciting. The text explaining the deal kind of blends in. I would have liked to see it alongside the headline. The CTA also appears very low in the design. I do like how (at the bottom of the email) they let the customer know when to expect the bonus stars. It’s a nice way to assure the customer by setting expectations.

From: Ulta Beauty
Date: 2/08/16
Subject Line: Happy Ulta Beauty Anniversary, Amy! Celebrate with 5X Points on ALL purchases!‏

Ulta

Ulta offers 5X reward points on all purchases by activating their deal. I like all the ways they made this email personalized, by including my name, member level, and nearest store. The design is cute and the offer stands out in the white box and bold orange text. If I were to make one suggestion… since they’re making an effort to make the email so personalized, it would be nice to see a secondary message with products I’ve recently viewed. I might be enticed to receive extra points if I’m reminded that there’s products I’m interested in.

All in all the activate button seems like a good idea, with many benefits. I’d be interested to hear thoughts from the customer side. Is the activate button a hassle, or do you not mind the extra effort? Leave your feedback in the comments section of our Facebook post!

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