By Samantha Murphy

(October 30, 2009) Powell’s Books is gearing up to reach customers this holiday season with a targeted e-mail marketing campaign that delivers book recommendations to customers based on their preferences.

The legendary Portland, Ore.-based retailer, which operates four general bookstores, two specialty stores and an e-commerce site, has been its testing e-mail marketing strategy throughout the year and has since seen an increase in online sales. In fact, its open-rate results are more than 70%.

The company, which began its e-mail marketing efforts back in 1999, is offering customers various e-mail newsletters, ranging from a book-review-a-day to a listing of its recently arrived used books.

Collectively, Powell's sends more than 27 million e-mails every year to its growing subscriber list. It works with Indianapolis-based ExactTarget, a provider of on-demand e-mail marketing software solutions, to optimize these messaging campaigns.

The move to personalize the content of its e-mails comes as Powell's is expanding the reach of its e-mails and online marketing efforts with social media. Through its newsletters and e-commerce site, the company is encouraging shoppers to follow the company via its social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter.

“We have tools to enable customer feedback on our own site -- on products and blog posts -- but our shoppers already converse on Facebook and Twitter and we're happy to meet them in their preferred environment,” said Dave Weich, marketing director of Powell’s Books. “Facebook exists to foster this kind of dialogue, whereas Powell's is first and foremost a retail site. That said, it shouldn't be surprising that Facebook conversations generate many more comments than the same topics on Powells.com.”

To grow its Facebook following, Powell’s recently posted a note on its page offering an exclusive offer for fans who signed up for a newsletter. In return, new subscribers received a $5 off coupon for their next online purchase, Weich said.

As a result, Powell’s added hundreds of new e-mail subscribers over the six-day promotion and has more than doubled its Facebook fan base. (It now has over 32,000 fans).

The company also uses a "Find Us on Facebook" icon embedded in the footer of all Powells.com newsletters to draw attention to its social networking presence. It is also featured on every page of its site.

As for frequency, Weich said the company posts notes on Facebook several times throughout the week and points fans to a variety of features, from original author content and blog posts by Powell's staff to discounts and contents.