I previously wrote about how BestBuy Knows Customer Email Marketing, which pretty much summed up how awesome of a job they do with their customer emails, then purchase follow ups. I was at Old Navy the other day and they asked for my email to get a 30% coupon on my next purchase, so I said sure. I gave them my email, then when I later check my mail on my iPhone I saw that they sent a full receipt from my recent purchase, which was pretty cool.
So Old Navy managed to get my email address by just asking for it at the time of checkout… but what do they also get?
- Subscriber to the Online Newsletter and Mailing
- 30% Coupon for me on next purchase (more return sales)
- Traffic to their online stores and social networks.
You can see a screen cap of a partial from the sales receipt which is sent through the email.

Sure, some of you might be thinking gig deal… a receipt through email, who cares?
How many customers does Old Navy and the Gap family have per day? If only 10% of the people provide their email address and get the follow up email above, imagine how much new business can be generated from such a simple task. Not to mention the benefit for customers to have a duplicate of their receipt in their email. How many times have you wanted to make a return, but lost your receipt.
Old Navy provides you with a receipt, but also includes links to their other online stores for possible new purchases.
Scrolling down to the bottom of the receipt, you will see active links to Old Navy’s social networking sites at Facebook and Twitter, along with a link to their main site and how to start getting mobile coupons right to your cell.

Just like I wrote about how BestBuy was ahead of the learning curve and knows how to properly and effectively follow up with customers through email and mobile marketing, Old Navy is also showing they know how to play the game, and doing quite well at it in the process.
As we’ve seen the rise and quick fall of BlockBuster because they did not adapt to the fast and changing times, we will continue to see more companies fall if they do not keep up with the pace of fast learning companies like BestBuy and Old Navy/Gap.
You are so right, Zac, the Old Navy sure knows how to play the game. And who can blame them, its a tough market out there. Finding out email of the customer in order to send the promotion links to him, coupons etc. assures for more traffic and coming back to the stores. Many companies already lost their run with the competition as they failed to adapt to what the marketing trends were. The rule seems to be simple: whoever gets more customers, gets more money and traffic. And the loyal customers are the key to it all.
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This reminds me of "The Art of Selling" starring Alec Baldwin. Everyone watch it.
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This is such a great tactic for gaining customer email. Most people don't want more advertisement emails from businesses. But if you supply a benefit like receiving a virtual receipt (which is good for returns, like you mentioned) then more customers are more likely to request in.
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Apple has been doing that for years. I bought an Ipod like 3 years ago and they asked me "would you like to receive the receipt by email instead?".
I was pretty amazed. I just said yeah sure…
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Right, I remember that too. I'd expect nothing less from Apple.
great info, Thnx Zac
That's awesome. You can really tell that some companies "just get it", while others are still living in the past.
Good post I think it is very smart business to get customers email addresses especially in a very competitive market you need all the advantages you can get.
1. Return customers
2. They will increase their revenues
3. Update their past customers on the newest sales which will see number 2
All from taking the time to get a customers email address which takes under a minute. Sounds like a win win for everyone involved.
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Interesting – I haven given my e-mail before when making purchases and of course I now get a million obligatory "sale! sale! sale!" e-mails that follow, but I never really thought about how clever it really is of these stores to do that! Good for them, I guess.. and good for us if we get coupons, right? 🙂
Natasha