Amazon gives brands new way to email customers with ads and offers

Amazon is piloting a new way for brands to email their customers, just as marketers are looking for more hooks to target their audiences while Apple and Google restrict access to data on the internet and mobile devices. In recent weeks, Amazon has been promoting the new feature, called “Manage Your Customer Engagement,” which allows advertisers to set up email marketing campaigns targeting consumers who have “followed” that brand. There are follow buttons embedded in brand-run Amazon Stores, in brand posts and within brand livestreams. Amazon has been building more of these social interactions within the platform as ways for consumers to discover and keep up-to-date with brands building a presence on the retail site, much like they would build a presence on social apps like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. Now, this email retargeting feature will enable the brands to communicate with those consumers outside of Amazon. “For the first time ever, take advantage of email marketing to help strengthen the customer-brand relationship and provide inspiration-driven shopping experiences,” Amazon said in a promotional video it quietly released to marketers last month. “Send new product launch announcements, offer promotions [and] inspire repeat purchases.” On Friday, CNBC was first to report on Amazon’s email offering, stating that it went live last week. “Amazon is committed to serving our shoppers by helping them engage with their favorite brands,” a company spokesperson said in an email statement to Ad Age. “Shoppers can ‘follow’ their favorite brands, and brands are able to engage with these customers.” Email marketing is an increasingly important component in the digital marketing toolbox, especially as the web tightens up on privacy. Next week, Apple is releasing its latest iOS software update, which will restrict how developers and brands track consumer behavior online. Google also is following in Apple’s path, and the privacy changes have sent marketers looking for new ways to connect one-to-one with shoppers. One of those ways is through emails. In recent months, Facebook and Twitter acquired companies in the email marketing space. Facebook bought Kustomer in December and Twitter bough Revue in January. Emails can give a marketer greater insight into when a campaign led to sales and other consumer actions, and advertisers track those outcomes. Amazon says in its marketing video that it can monitor the “impact of your campaign and customer engagement with key performance metrics.”

Amazon gives brands new way to email customers with ads and offers

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