Spam Meltdown

Circuit City

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:45:00 -0500

I guess we can now safely critique the crap out of these emails from the now debunk Circuit City! Clearly I took to long to post them. All the same we can enjoy them for their design savvy.

Black and White

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:45:00 -0500

Few things in life are black and white, but these email blasts most certainly are. We often think we must visually assault people, especially in their inbox where they often have no attention span. These emails contradict that and embrace a classic color pallet that offers up stunning beauty instead of visual intensity.

Black and White

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:41:00 -0500

Inline Products Part 2

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:41:00 -0500

The notion of including specific products in an email is nothing short of obvious. Instead of blindly pointing people to your vast store full of stuff, point them to something new, relevant, or interesting to the user based on past interest. Amazon has most certainly figured this out. Their consistency of emailing things I have looked at or purchased in the past must be an indicator of the success of such an approach. Embrace it on a smaller scale and I have doubt it will be effective.

Inline Products Part 2

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:37:00 -0500

Retail giants - and some giant emails

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:36:00 -0500

Admittedly this is an extremely small set of samples to represent the broad range of companies that fit the raw "retail" category. But as I mentioned before, I am simply pumping out some older collections I had while I assemble some new ones. All the same, these designs are still really sharp, and still relevant.

Retail giants - and some giant emails

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:25:00 -0500

4th of July - Holiday celebrations

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:14:00 -0500

Yeah, these are from July 4th 2008, but they couldn't be more relevant as we approach July 4th 2009. This batch of email marketing shows us how targeted it can get to specific times of the year. No surprise really. But they are pretty cool results. Of course this will mean a lot more to people in the US as it is our holiday...maybe some of our British friends think other wise of our independence day!

Politics as usual

Patrick — Sun, 03 May 2009 05:59:00 -0500

It has been quite some time since I updated SpamMeltdown. In fact, I stopped doing so right before my baby boy was born. I was swamped in work and my web projects had to suffer, and spam meltdown was the main casualty. Hopefully we can revive it from the depths. My engine for sucking up HTML emails has been working every since, so I have a massive database of nearly 30,000 emails. As depressing as that sounds it means that as I pick up the pace again things should get pretty populated around here. For now I am going to put out some content I already had cataloged, so it might be a bit dated, but at least it is new content and is still inspirational none the less. So here are some politically oriented emails to get us started.

Automotive

Patrick — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:57:00 -0500

Automotive email blasts are another clear opportunity for great success. Sure people don't buy cars that often, but when they do it is typically a huge purchase. Even better, most people become fans of a given brand. My wife is a Honda gal, my parents seem obsessed with Dodge products. People develop habits and familiarities with brands that keeps them coming back, often times despite problems along the way.

Sports Part 2

Patrick — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:41:00 -0500

Welcome back for part 2 of the sports section. I am pleased to include some emails from my home town hockey team. It is no surprise that the readers of these blasts are passionate consumers and these emails clearly play into this. Each blast is like a little dose of patriotism for that particular team. As a result these have strong usage of colors and imagery associated with the teams.

Coupons and Special Offers Part 2

Patrick — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:40:00 -0500

As with Design Meltdown the intention here is to provide a series of updates on various topics. This will be the first repeat of any topic on the site and I think it is a very appropriate one. This fresh set of coupons and special offers plays into the most obvious usage of email blasts; to notify people of deals. This is of course what most people sign up for email lists for in the first place, so delivering on this is a logical and crowd pleasing approach.

DailyCandy.com

Patrick — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:19:00 -0500

While each email in this set full relies on the same template, the unique illustrations used through out create a totally fresh feel. The overall consistency is obviously there, while each email feels unique from the previous. For an email that comes each day this is a fantastic approach. It is consistent so it is easy to use, but unique so it doesn't get old.

Rounded Corners

Patrick — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 05:10:00 -0500

It shouldn't really come as a surprise that a basic web element like rounded corners would find its way into html email designs. This basic design element serves to sedate a design and bring a bit of calmness to it.

Fashionable Footwear

Patrick — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:44:00 -0500

The showcasing of footwear seems to spark an element of creativity. All of these emails are essentially advertising the same thing, and yet they have all managed to look rather distinct. This of course excites me becuase as we have seen in other industries there tends to be an overall style all of the brands use. In this case the assortment of ways shoes have been photographed demonstrates there are many photographers out there looking for a fresh take on an old topic.Fashionable