Detractors would say it’s childish to email your customers reminding them of such menial tasks as cleaning a vacuum filter, but I really like this email from Dyson. No selling, no offers, no coupons, no upgrades, no end of season bumf… just service.

No, it doesn’t help the till ring today, but it’s a great example of email marketers following my TRaP rule:

Timely – Dyson’s example is just perfect. They knew when I purchased and with typical usage they know when I should clean the filter (for another example, think baby products as your consumer’s child grows).

Relevant – if you’re a sports provider and know I’m a guy interested in rugby, don’t send me content on women’s golf (unless you know of a natural correlation).

Personalised – make it as much about me as possible. Do I think I’m just part of a corporate mailing list or a special and respected customer that you’ve paid attention to?

When I say personalised I also mean with permission. Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing is every bit as relevant today as it was when it first printed a decade ago and is a must read for anyone looking to grow their database asset.

SMEs will always struggle to mine the data needed for TRaP and they’ll argue over text versus imagery, along with style over content and sell over service, but if they want to unlock the potential repeat custom (acquisition, even, in some cases) they need to put their thinking hats on.