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To begin, Joseph, tell us about The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. What's the scope of the organization and what kind of audience do you serve?

The SPCO is America’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra and is widely regarded as one of the finest chamber orchestras in the world. We present over 150 concerts and educational programs September to May each year and reach over 85,500 listeners each week on public radio stations nationwide. Although we have a “home” location in downtown Saint Paul, we also have a regular multi-concert series in 9 other venues located throughout the Twin Cities region.

Within the industry, we’re often regarded as a pioneer in trying new strategies such as our music director-less artist leadership model, where artistic responsibilities are handled by SPCO musicians and a team of Artistic Partners. We were also the first orchestra in the U.S. to significantly and permanently lower ticket prices (up to 40%) in our “Neighborhood” venues to only $10 and $25 ($5 for kids); the results of which have increased subscribers in these venues by over 100%!

The majority of our audience is the typical classical music crowd; well-educated, affluent, 45-years-plus. Women tend to initiate the purchase. We also have family concerts as well as a great education program that reaches 6,000 students annually.


You've been in charge of e-marketing for the SPCO since 2003. How has your editorial strategy evolved over time?

An important part of our strategy is to present content in short, easy-to-digest “articles.” I get bombarded every day with tons of e-mail at home and at work. Over the last few years, I’ve noticed that I don’t read much of it any more. I fashion myself a “skimmer.” I read, say, the first sentence or so of each paragraph to try and get the “gist” of the communication; especially if it’s a long article/paragraph. Then, if it seems interesting (or well-written), maybe I’ll read the whole thing.

Since I assume I’m not the only one to do this, I tend to favor short paragraphs and bulleted lists for SPCO communications. I know there’s often a lot of detail to communicate but the great thing about e-mail marketing is that you can condense the volume of content down so that if people want more information, you can just give them a link to your Web site to get more.

So we don’t put an entire 50-question interview in an e-mail; we pick a couple of juicy questions/answers and then create a “Click here to read what Joshua thinks about zebras, mosquitoes, and The Wizard of Oz!” link. Our e-mails and Web site work in harmony.


What about promotional content vs. editorial content?

We try to balance event promotion with exclusive, informative content. If people are getting the same information in our e-mails as they are in the direct mail pieces we send them, why do they need to have another piece of e-mail in their inbox?

Instead we give them exclusive offers and additional content that they can’t get anywhere else; for example, we'll showcase one of our musicians, guest artists, composers, etc. The key here is to keep TELLING them that they’re only getting this *because* they’re are a member of the e-mail club. This should help keep that opt-out rate low.


You've been mailing to your patrons frequently -- as often as seven or eight times per month! How do you make sure that people aren't annoyed or overwhelmed by hearing from you so often?

One word, segmentation.

We’ve been able to synchronize our PatronMail database with our ticketing database so that the same information is in both places. This allows us to e-mail people based on their purchase history. So, if you have tickets to a concert this weekend, you’ll be sent a Concert Reminder e-mail, but you’ll be suppressed from the e-mail promoting the concert you are already going to attend.

It also allows us to easily send renewal deadline reminder e-mails, remove subscribers from a special new acquisition offer, or target an event to a specific niche of people (i.e. contemporary music fans.) In the end, our people are only getting 2-3 e-mails a month, and they open them! Our average open rate for all campaigns is 26.8%, and for mailings we send targeted specifically to subscribers, it's even higher -- closer to 42%. Concert reminders can be as high as 70%!


What one thing have you learned about e-mail marketing that you'd like to share with your colleagues?

Say it with me... ”An e-mail address is JUST as important as a phone number!”

I know the box office is sick of me saying it, but it’s such an important message to remember. Collect an e-mail address from patrons any time you can. It’s important to help the box office have “selling points” to get an address. Give them talking points. (This is where the exclusive content and special offers come into play).

This is a paradigm shift for many box office workers. They understand the importance of getting and accurately entering in a phone number, but oftentimes they don’t realize how much an e-mail address benefits the organization. And always have them double check the spelling with the patron! In just over a year, we’ve doubled our e-mail club size to 13,000 through relentless asking.

Visit The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Site

Now you can read and subscribe to regular updates from Patron Technology's President, Eugene Carr. Gene's blog provides a snapshot of his perspective on what's going on in the e-marketing world now, and how it relates to arts marketing.

If you haven't been reading, here's a quick look at what you missed last week:

Presidential Campaign Donations: There's been lots of reporting about how much money each candidate has raised so far, but who has collected the most in online donations?

Airline Schadenfreude: American Airlines sent out an e-mail with an online survey, but the link was broken! What can we learn from this?

Streaming Video Online: It's continuing to gain in popularity, but who's actually watching?

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