My birthday was last month and about 2 weeks before the big day I received an email from Sephora with the subject line “Glossy gifts for the birthday girl”. Inside the email they wished me a happy birthday and told me that I could pick up a free gift (SEPHORA Brand Super Shimmer Lip Gloss Trio) online or by visiting them in store.

Relationship building emails, like this one from Sephora are great ways to engage customers.

This type of relationship-building email goes a long way! I was planning a visit to their Ottawa store anyway as I wanted to pick up a birthday present for one of my good friends, but after I received the email I got a little more excited about going shopping because I was also going to receive a gift – an early one at that! I was allowed to pick up my gift 14 days before or 14 days after my actual birth day.

Sephora made it easy for me to redeem my birthday gift, all I had to do when I went to the store was tell them my email address and they handed me my Lip Gloss Trio. While I was in the store I purchased a few little extra things for myself and since I spent more than $100, I also received some free samples. This small token of appreciation from Sephora enticed me to go spend some money in their store!

But wait! The story doesn’t end there… A few days later I received another email from Sephora asking me to rate my recent in-store purchase. It listed the items that I bought and gave me the option to write a review for each item. When I clicked through, I had the option to write a review, post some images or even a video. What a great way to get people talking about the products that they sell. There is nothing better than actual customer reviews to show people what great products you sell.

Cheers to Sephora for implementing a great relationship building strategy!

Happy emailing,
Alison