This Week In Etail

OMMA Email Awards

2009-10-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Responsys Creative Team brought home 2 of the 3 awards OMMA Awards for Creativity in the email standalone category for our work with Harley-Davidson and Lenovo.

These OMMA award are just a few of the nearly 30 awards we've pulled in the last three years for creative excellence.

Go Team!

Southwest - Text to Signup for Email

2009-09-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Southwest now allows fliers to sign-up for their click-n-save email program via text. This is especially convenient for travelers since they most often have a mobile device with them.

Here's a screenshot of their boarding pass with an ad for this new feature.

What Did They Do Last Year? 2008 Holiday SwipeFile

2009-09-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've been tracking internet retailer websites for several years now, and I've decided to post several sites home pages from last holiday season.

The information is posted at SwipeFile.info . I'm actively experimenting with different ways to collect and display information and I'm interested in your thoughts on what is useful in these archives.

The archives currently posted are:

Accessories and Shoes - Coach, eBags, FOSSIL, Nine West, Zappos

Apparel - Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Gap, J. Crew, LL Bean, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters, Victoria's Secret.

Department Stores - JCPenney, Macys, Nordstrom, Sears, Target, and Walmart.

If you like what you see, or have trouble understanding how to use - just comment below, and I'll address the best I can.

Macys Uses Display Ads to Advertise Facebook Fan Page

2009-09-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Shows that Macys places a big enough value on it's Facebook Fan Page to pay money to drive people to it.

I'm sure others are doing this as well.

Welcome Message Gallery

2009-08-19T05:25:00.000-07:00

In a quick (unscientific) review of clients I’ve worked with, the average welcome series generated 6 times the revenue per email sent when compared to the rest of their email program. The worst performing welcome message had over twice the revenue per email sent compared to the total program.

This post is a companion post to my ClickZ article on Welcome Messages.

I’ve collected a sample of 30 different companies. The top 20 Internet Retailers plus another 10 top internet apparel retailers. For each I collected:
- Email signup pages
- Welcome messages
o Images on
o Images off
o iPhone message
o iphone inbox

You can view the full gallery here.

You can view the different categories by clicking on the tags on the left of your screen. The most general tags are
- Email-Signup. Home page plus other email signup pages.
- Welcome-Email. Welcome email as displayed in gmail.
- Welcome-Email-iPhone. Welcome email as displayed on iPhone.
- Welcome-Inbox-iPhone. Welcome email preview as displayed in iPhone preview within inbox.

You can also search for company name or any other text you’d like to find. The text in the image screen shots are searchable.

A few observations beyond my ClickZ article:

American Eagle & J.C. Penney still use plain text messages.

Abercrombie and J. Crew still use the “One Big Image” version of an email.

Click the “800 Number” tag to see the few who use phone numbers in their emails. This works great for mobile.

-Zappos and L.L. Bean have clickable links to phone numbers.
-Circuit City, HP, and Office Max have 800 numbers but as images, so they do nothing to help out the most obvious need for an 800 number – the mobile customer.

Nordstrom and Wal-Mart have trouble using text nav bar in the mobile client.

Better Pre-Headers - Follow Victoria's Secret

2009-07-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Victoria's Secret was a client of mine in the late 90's. They were an innovator then, and are still one of the most innovative internet retailers. Of the top 20 internet retailers, they are one of only two companies that have more than one million fans on Facebook (FanPage Stats).

So how do they do a preheader? The first sentence in the inbox preheader is SELLING.

I can't stand the "problems viewing" pre-headers that dominate the marketplace today (like the one below from Costco).

Once you open the message on the iPhone, that pre-header is a clickable link. And that link takes you to a landing page that while not optimized for mobile, is actually pretty good.

Here's the landing page for the preheader link.

Now check the Costco message.

The landing page for the main offer, is a landing page optimized by internal search.

If you view on a mobile, you really should have bigger images. And also, think about formating so that you take the up the full screen and not waste space on the right, like the Costco landing page below.

Share with Twitter Facebook and Email

2009-07-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Website Magazine has a nice concise way to ask people to share any way they like

{Click to view full image}

Email Insider uses some nice concise buttons as well.

MySpace directing to Facebook & Twitter to promote Bruno

2009-07-02T15:49:00.001-07:00

Gotta love that even though the Bruno ad site is hosted on MySpace, it links off to Facebook and Twitter.

http://www.meinspace.com/bruno

Appearance on the Tonight Show was hilarious, and definitely post-Leno era.

Facebook for the Internet Retailer

2009-06-22T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is a companion supplement to my June 26, 2009 ClickZ article

To-Do List for Facebook and E-Mail Integration

Recently, Facebook began to give individuals the ability to replace their regular Facebook URLs, which show a user number instead of a name, with a "vanity" URL of their choosing. (For example, I changed my URL on Facebook to http://www.facebook.com/ed.henrich .)

Few of the Internet's leading retailers have taken advantage this opportunity. In this post, I'll cover a quick survey of the top 20 Internet retailers Facebook presence and websites.

Of the top 20, I found that 17 had a presence on Facebook, but only 8 have adopted the new vanity URLs that make it easier for customers to find these pages.

Most of these "microsites" are still small. Only Apple and Victoria's Secret have attracted over one million fans.

Home Page	Vanity URL	Facebook Landing Page	# of Fans
Amazon		Wall	58
Staples	www.facebook.com/Staples	Application	7,943
Dell	www.facebook.com/Dell	Wall	31,587
OfficeDepot		Wall	96
Apple		Wall	1,361,913
OfficeMax
Sears	www.facebook.com/Sears	Boxes	24,643
CDW		Wall	554
Newegg		Wall	2,056
BestBuy	www.facebook.com/BestBuy	Wall	20,163
QVC		Wall	15,596
SonyStyle
Walmart		Wall	677
Costco		Wall	52,480
JCPenney	www.facebook.com/JCPenney	Application	11,940
HPshopping.com
CircuitCity		Wall	4,559
Netflix	www.facebook.com/Netflix	Boxes	36,765
Victoria's Secret	www.facebook.com/VictoriasSecret	Application	1,428,143
Target	www.facebook.com/Target	Wall	451,528

If you'd like to compare the Facebook pages to the Home Pages of the top internet retailers check out these two albums.

Facebook Fan Pages - Top Internet Retailers

Home Pages - Top Internet Retailers

Email Signups on Facebook

The top ad on the Sears Facebook landing page says “Become a fan today. Click here to get your free $10 Sears coupon now.” Clicking on this add leads you to another page where they collect email address.

{Click on any screen shot or slide show to enlarge.}

Lenovo has email address integrated into their Facebook landing page.

Here's a demo for how to create an Opt-In form for Facebook.

Links to Facebook Pages on Home Pages
Of the 20 sites I checked, only two had links to their Facebook pages on their website home page.

J.C. Penny in top nav
Circuit City bottom right

Circuit City also uses their email to send consumers to their Facebook page.

SWYN - Share With Your Network

Within the top 20, only J. C. Penney and HP asked consumers to share the email with their network. (J. C. Penney coded directly, HP used 3rd party Share This), which allows the company to reach out to all of the customer’s Facebook “friends”. This reaches a much larger group than the usual “share with a friend” button.

Thank you Chad White and the Retail Email blog for sharing several emails.

J. C. Penney

HP

I've included several additional examples in this Picasa album.

Barack Obama knows the value of a Quick Signup - Do You?

2009-05-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lots of marketers struggle with getting home page real estate for their email sign ups.

Follow our President's lead. Put a prominent quick sign up at the top right of your website home page.

Don't be lame. Links to forms are so last year & last President.

Barack Obama's Home Page
Click Image to View Full Screen

George Bush's Home Page
Click Image to View Full Screen

George Bush's Subscription Page
Click Image to View Full Screen

Some Like Macy's Don't Collect Email on Home Page
Click Image to View Full Screen

Wal-Mart Does a Quick Signup, but on Footer
Click Image to View Full Screen

Circuit City RIP

2009-03-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Circuit City closed the last of its stores this Sunday.

Here's a look back at their website for the last year and a half (starting January 2008).

View the slide show or click to go to Picasa album which will provide more viewing options.

Guidelines for Presentations

2009-03-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

We give lots of presentations. Most of them aren’t good, mine included, so I’ve developed this guideline to inspire us all to do better, and to organize some of the basic tips on creating great presentations.

Inspiration

If you want inspiration, one of the best public libraries of great talks is TED.com . Most of this has nothing to do with email marketing, but is an awesome source of great thinking by persuasive speakers. There is a lot we all can learn by watching the greats.

Persuasion

The number one goal of your presentation should be to persuade your audience to do something. If you don’t expect them to DO SOMETHING and CHANGE after you speak to them, then don’t waste your time or theirs. Every business presentation is about persuasion.

If you believe in your idea, sell it. If you don’t, stay home.

Guy Kawasaki gives great, persuasive presentations. As a former Apple evangelist, you’d expect that. He had to compete with Steve Jobs. His 10/20/30 Rule for PowerPoint is a classic. If you are looking to improve your presentations do two things.

Focus on persuasion. Ask, “What do I want your audience to do?” Then focus only on facts that support them making that decision.
Read Guy’s blog linked below, and follow his advice for keeping in short, and clear.

10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint – Guy Kawasaki

- 10 slides

- 20 minutes

- 30 point or larger font

You think 20 minutes isn’t enough to get your story across? Watch the hundreds of AMAZING stories told in 20 minutes or less at TED.com, and you’ll know it can be done. After listening for 20 minutes to any of these speakers you’ll know MUCH more, and likely be persuaded to adopt their point of view.

Focus on problem first, then our solution. A typical slide order might be

The Problem
Your solution
… Evidence necessary to persuade them that your solution is the best solution
Projections and milestones
Status and timeline
Summary and call to action

Another great read is Seth Godin’s blog post Really Bad PowerPoint or in his ten-page ebook. Seth’s tips:

Four Components to a Great Presentation

1. Make yourself cue cards. Don’t put them on the screen. Put them in your hand. This simple device will keep you from putting words on slides just so you can read them.

2. Make slides that reinforce your words, not repeat them. Create slides that demonstrate, with emotional proof, that what you’re saying is true not just accurate.

3. Create a written document as a leave-behind. Put in as many footnotes or details as you like. Then, when you start your presentation, tell the audience that you’re going to give them all the details of your presentation after it’s over, and they don’t have to write down everything you say. Remember, the presentation is to make an emotional sale. The document is the proof that helps the intellectuals in your audience accept the idea that you’ve sold them on emotionally.

4. Create a feedback cycle. If your presentation is for a project approval, hand people a project approval form and get them to approve it, so there’s no ambiguity at all about what you’ve all agreed to.

The reason you give a presentation is to make a sale. So make it. Don’t leave without a “yes,” or at the very least, a commitment to a date or to future deliverables.

What makes for a great presentation?

“The home run is easy to describe: You put up a slide. It triggers an emotional reaction in the audience. They sit up and want to know what you’re going to say that fits in with that image. Then, if you do it right, every time they think of what you said, they’ll see the image (and vice versa).” – Seth Godin

What Can Your PowerPoint Presentation Learn from TV Commercials?

Think about it. TV commercials tell as story and sell you in 30 seconds. That’s talent! This MarketingProfs article is a great summary about how to use TV ad techniques to make your presentation better. The steps, in brief:

1: Kaboom Them Into Waking Up!

2: Always Tell A Story

3: Use Suspense, Not Mystery

4: Don't Bore Them with Your Solutions. Bring Up the Problem!

5: Reduce Risk

6: Let Your Audience Know They're Not Guinea Pigs

7: Close the #@$%*&^ Sale!

8: Bring on a Quirky Finale!

The book, Say It With Presentations by McKinsey’s Gene Zelazny is a classic and a quick read. I can’t do it justice in a brief summary, but here’s my best shot, with a little editorial.

Design the Presentation

Why are you giving this presentation?

Answer this question seriously before you even start to create the presentation.

Whom do you want to convince?

Designing a presentation without an audience in mind is like writing a love letter and addressing it To Whom It May Concern. - Ken Haemer, AT&T

There is no such thing as a dumb audience. If they don’t understand, it’s because you can’t communicate. – Henry Golub, American Express

It’s not what you say that counts, it’s what they hear. – Red Auerbach, Boston Celtics

How much time do you have for the presentation?

Determine your message?

This is the part that should be like a TV commercial. If you can’t come up with what you would say if you only had 30 seconds, then don’t bother wasting an hour of someone’s time. You need to get the message right before you create the story.

Craft the storyline.

Write the introduction.

- Purpose

- Importance

- Preview

Plan the ending.

- Summarize major points.

- Spell out the recommendation

- Present your action plan

- Ask for agreement and commitment

- Close off with “next steps”

Build a storyboard

Deliver the Presentation

You are the star! Not your presentation. If that makes you uncomfortable, stay home and send a written report. The presentation used to be known as a “visual aide”. That’s what it is, just an aide. You are the star.

The three things that matter in your delivery:

· Confidence

· Conviction

· Enthusiasm

Great delivery takes practice. Practice makes perfect.

REHEARSE!

Churhill rehearsed, Kennedy rehearsed, Martin Luther King rehearsed, Clinton rehearsed, Obama rehearses.

Don’t kid yourself. No matter how great an orator is, they rehearse. You’re kidding yourself if you think you can even be GOOD if you don’t rehearse.

ClickZ Column - Segmentation: Yes, You Can!

2009-03-05T10:50:00.001-08:00

I started writing a monthly column for ClickZ today. My first column is titled, "Segmentation: Yes, You Can!" I've found that while the idea that segmentation is the "right thing to do", many marketers struggle to actually get the job done.

In the column, I address some of the barriers I've heard, and how marketers I've worked with have overcome and achieved great success.

Free Shipping Offers Steady - Week of 12/13/2008

2008-12-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

This week the number of companies offering unconditional free shipping held steady at 20% of our top 100 retailers. Overall the number of free shipping offers is down slightly from last week. See chart below (click chart to see bigger version).

We've seen a couple of switches back and forth this week amongst competitors.

Home Depot dropped a conditional free shipping at $149 offer, while competitor Lowes upped their offer from conditional at $49 to unconditional.

Likewise, last week Golfsmith offered free shipping at a $99 threshold, and now offers no shipping offers. But competitor Dick's Sporting Goods who had offered nothing last week now matches Golfsmith's offer from last week - a $99 threshold.

Cyber Monday Best Practices - 2008 vs. 2007

2008-12-09T22:39:00.000-08:00

Kent Allen from The Research Trust and I have put together an overview of some of the tools and tactics marketers used for Cyber Monday.

Check out the slide show for insights and visuals from 100 top internet retailers, with comparisons to 2007.

If you want to download as a PowerPoint click here then File > Download presentation as > PPT.

Site Down? Bring Them Back with Email

2008-12-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

A lot of retail sites experienced problems with high volume on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

When a site puts up their "temporarily unavailable page" why not capture email? I think consumers would find it very convenient to get notified when you site is available. Sure everyone wishes it was never down in the first place, but at least don't make them keep checking if you're up. Tell them with email.

Of course if you do this, you'll want to be clear whether you are asking permission to notify them when the site is available, or to give them a lifetime subscription to your email. I think most consumers will expect the former.

Free Shipping Madness

2008-12-07T22:45:00.001-08:00

Free shipping has taken hold at many of the top retailers.

In tracking the E-Tailing Group 100 index, the number of sites offering unconditional free shipping hit a seasonal high this week. Other categories of free shipping increased as well this week.

Some of the retailers who have only recently offered unconditional free shipping include:

Ann Taylor
Polo
Gymboree
ShopNBC
PBS
Overstock
Fossil
Tiffany
Sephora
GNC
Office Depot
Staples

Sephora Launches Customer Intelligence Test

2008-12-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

This week Sephora's free shipping offers

1. Unconditional Free Shipping if you type a promo code (on the left of their home page)

2. Free Shipping if you spend over $50, no promo code required (on the right hand side)

I can just imagine the discussions that led to this strategy.

Cyber Monday & Black Friday Roundup

2008-12-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time to analyze the activity this weekend, but here are some snapshots for you all.

The following slide shows show the home pages for the E-Tailing Group's 100 Index.

Note: If you read this in a feed reader or FeedBurner email, you may not see the presentations below, and will need to go the the live site.

CyberMonday 2008

PowerPoint Download - or GoogleDocs below.

CyberMonday 2008

The Picasa Album below has several hundred more sites. (Click on the image to go to the full album.)

2008-12-01

CyberMonday - Compare 2008 to 2007

PowerPoint Download - or GoogleDocs below.

Black Friday 2008

PowerPoint Download - or GoogleDocs below.

Free Shipping Index - 11/22/08

2008-11-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

The number of free shipping offers this past week have increased quite a bit with 46% offering free shipping (either unconditional or tied only to what you spend).

I've also looked at comparing department stores to the prior year, and found that there is less free shipping this year (see end of this post).

The threshold spend for free shipping has decreased from last week (see chart below).

Some of the changes for this week (11/22 compared to 11/15):

New Free Shipping Offers This Week with conditions (most have $ threshold)
Armani Exchange - $100
J.C. Penney's $49
Macy's $99
Best Buy - $99
Bed Bath & Beyond - $100
Cooking.com $99
American Girl - unconditional
FAO Schwartz $120
Cabela's $99

Retailers with More Generous Free Shipping Offers
The Avenue - $100 to $75
Sony Style - $100 to unconditional
Staples was $50 now unconditional

Retailers with More Stingy Free Shipping Offers
Ann Taylor was $150 threshold to flat fee shipping $6
J. Crew was $150 threshold to none
PetSmart was threshold $75 now flat fee shipping $6

Upgrade
Several sites are using expedited delivery as a shipping promotion.
Harry & David - free express delivery Thanksgiving
Godiva - 2 day upgrade if over $60

Comparison to Prior Year

Comparing free shipping promotions of the top department stores from prior year, most have less generous free shipping offers than last year. (Note: the year ago period is Thanksgiving weekend, so that could skew results.)

The table below shows that except for Macy's, the department stores have more restrictive promotions this year than last year. (The numbers are threshold spend amounts to get free shipping.)

MERCHANTS | Yr-to-Yr | 11/22/2008 | 11/1/2008 | 11/24/2007
Saksfifthavenue | Poorer 200 150 unconditional
Nordstrom | Same 100 200 100
Neiman Marcus | Poorer 200 None unconditional
Macy's | Richer 99 None Product conditional
JCPenney.com | Poorer 49 69 25

These sites and several others are visually compared year-over-year in the presentation below.

Free Shipping Index - 11/15/08 Roundup

2008-11-18T05:34:00.000-08:00

Overall the number of free shipping offers this past week have leveled off and the value of the free shipping promotions has decreased compared to last week.

The number retailers offering unconditional free shipping dropped from 7 to 4 and a the threshold spend for free shipping has increased over prior weeks (see chart below).

Some of the changes for this week (11/15 compared to 11/8):

New Free Shipping Offers
The Avenue $100 threshold
Ann Taylor $150 threshold
J Crew $150 threshold

Retailers with More Generous Free Shipping Offers
Nordstrom dropped threshold from $200 to $100
Polo kept $195 threshold but for smaller orders reduced flat rate from $10 to $5
Saks dropped threshold from $400 to $200
Fossil had $100 threshold and now is unconditional. (But still hidden at the bottom.)
Dicks was product conditional on limited products now $99 price conditional

Retailers with More Stingy Free Shipping Offers
Neiman Marcus - was unconditional, now $200 threshold
PBS was $60 threshold, now none
Nine West was unconditional to now $25 threshold
Bath & Body - from $50 threshold to $5.95 flat fee
FAO Schwartz was $120 threshold, now none
J.C. Penney was $69 threshold now none (but started a sale)
Tiffany was unconditional, now $150 threshold
Cabellas was $125 threshold, now none

Expect "Free Shipping" Searches to Double in the Next Two Weeks

2008-11-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

If last year is any indication, expect consumer searches on "free shipping" to nearly double in the next two weeks.

Looking at Google's trend data, you can see the clear spikes in consumers searches for free shipping every holiday.

If you overlay the data to compare year-over-year, you can see that this year is on track to beat last year's trends.

Last year the top five weeks for the year were

Nov 18 2007 2.38
Nov 25 2007 2.68
Dec 2 2007 2.68
Dec 9 2007 2.60
Dec 16 2007 2.04

These numbers were up 70% over the early November numbers.

Don't wait for the media to report on it though. If you look at last year, the news reference volume clearly lagged the consumer searches.

Free Shipping - Save This Email

2008-11-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

Chad White at the EEC covered an interesting promotion approach to free shipping. Orvis and others are asking subscribers to "save this email" so that they can clickthrough it later and repeatedly. The offer still expires on November 30th, but isn't available on their home page. It's a "members only" benefit of being in the email program.

More Retailers Offering Free Shipping Promotions

2008-11-08T15:42:00.000-08:00

Retailers Offering Free Shipping Promotions Jumps from 31% to 41% in Two Weeks.

In a recent comScore study, 72% of consumers said that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping. Last week the LA Times reported that this year, nearly 80% of consumers said they were more likely to shop online with a retailer that offers free shipping, compared with 60% who said that last year.

In the last two weeks a lot more retailers are jumping on the free shipping band wagon. This week 7 of the top 100 retail sites offered unconditional free shipping up from just 4 retailers two weeks ago. 34% offered free shipping if you spent a certain amount, up from 27% two weeks ago.

Still, there is a lot of change in free shipping week-to-week.

Compared to the prior week, many retailers raised their free shipping thresholds.

Best Buy eliminated free shipping this week (last week they had a $199 threshold.)
Bliss eliminated their free shipping over $75 offer.
H2O raised from $50 to $100.
GNC went from unconditional free shipping to a $50 spend threshold.

Meanwhile Sears introduced free shipping if you spend $99.

Overall the spending thresholds for free shipping with a spend condition looked like this:

Free Shipping Index - A weekly review of the top 100 retailers shipping promotions

2008-11-04T05:50:00.001-08:00

Retailers know that free shipping is one of the most effective ways to entice shoppers to buy during the crucial Christmas season.

This year online retailers are paying more to ship goods to consumers, and many shoppers want to pay little or nothing for shipping.

shop.org’s 2008 Holiday Strategy & Planning Guide reports that according to consumers the top two promotions that made them shop in 2007 were free shipping offers:

#1 response “Free Standard Shipping without Conditions” 33%
#2 “Free Standard Shipping with Conditions” 28%

In the same study, the retailers response to what promotions were most likely to drive a purchase was again, free shipping

#1 response “Free Standard Shipping with Conditions” 36%
#2 “Free Standard Shipping without Conditions” 25%

This year may be the most competitive holiday season yet.

In order to help you navigate the choppy waters, we’ll be offering a few free tools to help you keep on top of competitors. The first is the “free shipping index”.

We partnered with the e-tailing group to track their e-tailing 100 sites. Each week we'll look at this representative sample of internet retailers for trends in shipping promotions as they happen.

This week only 6 merchants offered unconditional free shipping (i.e., free shipping with no basket threshold or product restrictions) while 27 offered free shipping if you spent above a certain threshold.

This was largely unchanged from the prior week when 4 merchants offered unconditional free shipping.

Three retailers introduced free shipping this week (Nine West, GNC and Road Runner Sports) while one dropped their free shipping promotion (Tiffany). Three that continued to offer free shipping were Zappos, Blue Nile and Famous Footwear.

In addition, 3 merchants reduced their thresholds for free shipping week-over-week.

Best Buy went the other direction, raising it's threshold from $99 to $199 while Circuit City kept their threshold at $24.

Several are experimenting with ~$1 shipping. Overstock offers $1 shipping on all products, while Walmart offers 97 cent shipping on apparel & toys.

Finally, if you are going to offer free shipping this season - don't hide it. Don't do like Fossil and hide it in gray text below the fold.