The Retail Email Blog

Ping Time: Twitter email sign-ups, IP address reputation, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:49:00 +0000

My latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>Kyle Henderick of Yesmail shares some advice for using Twitter to gain email subscribers. >>Follow the ping

>>Laura Atkins of Word to the Wise posts a primer on IP address reputation. >>Follow the ping

>>@JasonKapler: Everyone thinks they're funny, everyone believes they're good kissers and everyone says they're data driven decision makers.

>>Anna Yeaman of Style Campaign looks at ASCII art in email. >>Follow the ping

>>@MarkOfford: I hate emails that start 'We miss you...' No you don't, you miss my money.

>>And now for a bit of horn tooting: For the fourth time in a row, Responsys has been recognized by Forrester Research as the leader in email marketing. >>Follow the ping to download the Forrester Wave report for free
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BROWSE... Archive / Post Categories / Selling Seasons / Topics Covered / Retailers Tracked

AM Inbox: Pointing out omnipresent links

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

>>2011 Halls of Fame: Oopsy Hall of Fame and Subject Line Hall of Fame

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Buy.com, 1/26 — Big Savings + Free Shipping | Samsung 21.5" LCD Monitor $129.99,....
Like many retailers, Buy.com has social community links at the top of every email that they send. Links like these can blend into the background because they are outside of the body copy block and because they’re always there. But in this email, Buy.com draws attention to these links by running a sweepstakes promo whose call-to-action is to click on that Facebook community link. It appears inspired by Facebook page designs, which sometimes use arrows to point to the page’s “Like” button.

View this email full-sized.

Ann Taylor, 1/25 — Love At First Sight...Our New Weddings & Events Collection Is Here!
In the Father’s Day 2011 Season Finale, I talk about a Finish Line email whose chief goal is to be forwarded on to the fathers of their subscribers. This Ann Taylor email is very similar, except that it provides a forward-to-a-friend mechanism instead of just asking subscribers to use their email client to forward.

View this email full-sized.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lands’ End, 1/25 — Tutu not required: new Ballet Flats
Norm Thompson, 1/25 — Luggage that's flyaway light! SHIP FREE
Brookstone, 1/25 — Just in! Pat and Giants gear for the big game.
Bed Bath & Beyond, 1/25 — Score big on game day.
JCPenney, 1/25 — Spoil Them Rotten!
Victoria’s Secret, 1/26 — Introducing Our Top 10 Valentine's Day Gifts! Drumroll Please...
Lane Bryant, 1/25 — Fun, Flirty Fashion Especially For Your Valentine
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/25 — Valentine's Day is almost here: wrap up something special
SmartBargains, 1/26 — We <3 you! Up to Extra 60% off inside. Barnes & Noble, 1/26 — 15% Off One Item -- Weekend Savings to Fall in Love With! Fingerhut, 1/26 — Fingerhut: Shop the Gift Finder and Get Something Perfect for Your Valentine! Sam’s Club, 1/26 — Charms to personalize her perfect bracelet Tiffany & Co., 1/25 — Perfect Valentine’s Day Gifts for Him NikeStore, 1/26 — Updated for Spring: Jackets, Tees and Hoodies Bloomingdale’s, 1/25 — Polo Ralph Lauren For Men: Spring 2012 Neiman Marcus, 1/26 — kate spade new york: The Spring Shoes _____________________ BROWSE... Archive / Post Categories / Selling Seasons / Topics Covered / Retailers Tracked

Oopsy Hall of Fame: 2011 Inductees

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:18:00 +0000

This is the kind of fame that nobody wants, but highlighting the email marketing slips and gaffes by some of the world’s largest online retailers drives home the importance of being careful with your brand in a medium that’s high volume and lightning fast. 2011’s inductees should be a reminder that you need to be on your guard, temper speed with meticulousness, and be diligent with your pre-flight checklists. (Hopefully some of these oopsies will also make you feel better about some of the mistakes that you might have made last year.) Here’s an abridged selection of oopsies:

SUBJECT LINE SLIPS
As usual, subject lines proved to be fertile ground for oopsies, which is unfortunate since they play such a strong role in determining whether the recipient opens and engages further with the email.

Linens ’n Things, 11/28 — Cyber Monday Deals + Free Shipping Sitewide
Linens ’n Things, 11/28 — Last Chance: Cyber Monday Deals End in 60 Minutes
And then 4 hours later they send this email:
Linens ’n Things, 11/28 — Last Chance: Cyber Monday Deals End in 60 Miutes
And then 2 hours later they send this email:
Linens ’n Things, 11/28 — Oops! Sorry for the Typo: Cyber Monday Deals End in Minutes!‏
Ignoring the credibility issues around when the sales was ending, there’s no reason to apologize for a simple typo, even if it’s in the subject line.

Kmart, 11/11 — KZ4FRIM123: Save $70 on a Panasonic HDTV + more offers inside
The code in the subject line appears to be a bizarre broken first name personalization, as there was not a custom discount code in this email matching this.

Toys “R” Us, 11/2 — A quick question, .
A lack of a default value led to a blank first name personalization in this subject line.

Cooking.com, 10/21 — TEST Butterscotch Dessert Recipes + Holiday Meal Planning
It looks like this subject line was a “TEST” that misfired or that the placeholder text simply wasn’t removed before the email was sent.

Macy’s, 12/20 — Last one before Christmas! Enjoy web busters + free guaranteed delivery
Per the preheader text and body copy, it appears this subject line was supposed to say, “Last one-day sale before Christmas!...”

Lands’ End, 12/18 — 8 days to Christmas, 2 fun ways to save: 40% off your order + free shipping
This email, which arrived in the morning, incorrectly counted the days till Christmas. It was 7 days till Christmas, not 8.

Cooking.com, 4/19 — Mother's Day is May 9th - Our Top Gift Ideas for Mom‏
Mother’s Day was on May 8 last year.

Costco, 9/21 — Safely Store Your Valuables And Save $200 On A Canon Safe At Costco.com
“Cannon” was misspelled in the subject line, but was correct in the body copy. Special attention should always be paid to getting proper nouns like brand names spelled correctly. (Hat tip to James Gardner for pointing this out to me.)

TigerDirect, 1/24 — HDTV Super Week Starts Now: 50" - 73" starting at $549...$100 Cashback from Paypal & Much More‏
“PayPal” is misspelled.

Babies “R” Us, 6/9 — Free $10 Gift Card with CARS 2 Kimberly Clark Purchase!
“Kimberly-Clark” is misspelled.

Spiegel, 2/19 — Outwear SALE, NEW MARKDOWNS! Wear-Now Styles From $29!‏
“Outerwear” is misspelled in the subject line, but is correct throughout the body of the email.

Musician’s Friend, 5/19 — Musician's Friend: Pre-Memorial Day Sale Is On--Save Up To $500 For A Limited Tim‏
“Time” is misspelled.

JCPenney, 2/1 — Click Til You Drop! Super Hot Buys Are Back‏
“Til” isn’t a word, but “until,” “till” and “’til” are.

Walmart, 6/6 — Shop Low Prices on Top-Selling Electronics + 97 Shipping on All Laptops‏
It’s missing “cent” (or a “c”) after “97.”

Ross-Simons, 7/26 — _Today's Super Deal - Italian Tri-Colored Multi-Strand Flex Necklace - From $325
There appears to be inadvertent underscore at beginning of this subject line.

B&H Photo Video, 5/11 — B&H Newsletter: Wednesday May, 11, 2011‏
There’s an unnecessary comma after “May.”

Chadwicks, 7/14 — 15% off from 12-3pm, ET only
There’s an unnecessary comma after “pm.”

J. Jill, 2/9 — Style. be mine: 20% off companion sweaters, plus $10 off jeans!‏
I think they intended it to say, “Style, be mine”—so it should be a comma instead of a period.

Buy.com, 4/10 — Get ready for Spring with big savings on bags, shoes, sandals and kid's toys.
It should be “kids’ toys.”

Babies “R” Us, 7/7 — Save 20% ANY High Chair, Swing, Bouncer & More Plus Our Biggest feeding Sale!
They probably intended to capitalize “feeding” since all the other words are at least initial caps.

Sports Authority, 2/4 — Congratulations Green Bay On Your 2010 Championship Win! - Championship Gear Now Available‏
There should be commas after “Congratulations” and “Bay” since the subject line is addressing Green Bay.

NFLshop, 10/9 — Summer Is Over New York- Get The NEW 2011 Cold Weather Gear And Avoid The Winter Blitz
There should be a comma after “Over” since it’s addressing New York.

Neiman Marcus, 9/8 — Happy Birthday Michael Kors!
There should be a comma after “Birthday” since it is addressing Michael Kors.

Ralph Lauren, 6/1 — Congratulations Luke Donald And Tom Watson‏
There should be a comma after “Congratulations” since this is addressing Luke Donald and Tom Watson.

Walgreens, 1/10 — Beauty Sale + New Years Resolution Savings | 20% OFF Contact Lenses‏
“New Year’s” should have an apostrophe.

Sam’s Club, 11/26 — A season of savings awaits! Check out TV's, electronics and more‏
Kmart, 10/19 — Save on featured TV's + 30% OFF Halloween greeters
Kmart, 10/5 — All TV's on sale + FREE SHIPPING on Halloween costumes
There’s no apostrophe in “TVs.”

Barnes & Noble, 9/19 — Tony Bennett's Latest! Plus Emmy Award Winning DVD's
The plural of “DVD” is “DVDs”—no apostrophe.

Lands’ End, 10/23 — New styles, big savings! 30% off all regularly-priced styles
“Regularly priced” shouldn’t be hyphenated (because of the -ly ending).

Sam’s Club, 7/18 — Study-up on great savings; Back to College done right
There shouldn’t be a hyphen in “study up.”

Bloomingdale’s, 9/30 — Enjoy 20% Off With Friends& Family – Now Online & In Store!
There needs to be a space before the ampersand.

J. Jill, 5/16 — Summer softness never felt so great. Plus,15% off!‏
It’s missing space after the comma.

Chadwicks, 9/6 — Buy a JACKET get PANTS half off!
It’s missing a comma after “Jacket.”

Northern Tool, 3/28 — Customer Top Rated Products Now On Sale‏
Northern Tool, 5/19 — Top Selling Outdoor Equipment Now On Sale‏
Dell, 7/12 — The reviews are in - shop our top rated products
“Top-rated” should be hyphenated.

Bloomingdale’s, 12/21 — Forgot to Buy Gifts? SAVE 25-50% + Last Minute Gift Ideas!
Sam’s Club, 6/13 — Last minute Father's Day gifts: Grills, electronics and more!
Sam’s Club, 5/2 — Great Last Minute Gift Ideas for Mother's Day‏
Sam’s Club, 2/7 — Last Minute Valentine's Day gifts from Sam's Club‏
“Last-Minute” should be hyphenated.

Buy.com, 9/1 — Last Minute Back to School PRICE DROPS!
“Last-Minute” and “Back-to-School” should be hyphenated.

Walgreens, 8/31 — Award Winning Mobile App | Refill Prescriptions, Order Prints & Browse Our Weekly Ad
“Award-Winning” should be hyphenated.

Neiman Marcus, 7/16 — Wants, needs, must haves! Our Fashion Director dishes
“Must-haves” should be hyphenated.

Finish Line, 1/28 — Cupid Approved Kicks for You & Yours!
“Cupid-Approved” should be hyphenated.

DEPLOYMENT MISHAPS
Oopsies in the deployment sphere ranged from duplicate emails to botched A/B tests to segmentation gone astray.

Lowe’s, 1/9 — Sorry we are a little late, but great values like these are worth waiting for.‏
Lowe’s has apparently uncovered a glitch that kept them from fulfilling some of their email sign-up requests. The account where I received this email was used to subscribe to Lowe’s emails more than two years ago. I signed up via their homepage with this account so my guess is that source was not properly integrated into the email system. Best Buy suffered a similar problem a couple of years ago (hopefully fixed now). The takeaway here is to take an inventory of all of your signup sources (homepage, checkout, etc.) and audit them regularly and in the wake of any major email system changes.

View this email full-sized.

J&R, 2/27 — Weekend Sale -- Last Day to Save!‏
TigerDirect, 3/25 — March Black Friday...72-Hour Deal Event!‏
RitzCamera, 3/29 — Top 10 DSLR accessories: create your best outfit‏
TigerDirect, 4/26 — April Black Friday...72-Hour Deal Event!‏
The Company Store, 6/29 — Outdoor Living at its Best!
Spiegel, 6/30 — You're Invited... VIP Sale from $4‏
Lane Bryant, 8/22 — Get Your Shine On In Sequin Tops + BOGO 50% Jeans, $10 Bras And More
Chadwicks, 8/29 — Shhhh...Secret Clearance Web Sale, save up to 80%!
Montgomery Ward, 10/12 — Winter Wise: Classic Coats + 300 New Arrivals
TigerDirect, 12/18 — 50 Gifts Under $50...Perfect Stocking Stuffers
Each of these emails was sent twice to at least some subscribers.

Crate & Barrel, 11/25 — Top 10 gourmet items up to 30% off. This weekend only.
Crate & Barrel, 11/25 — Black Friday Deals: This weekend only up to 30% off our top 10 gourmet items.‏
I received this email twice with different subject lines, so apparently they were doing some A/B subject line testing and there was a glitch in the segmentation. I always look forward to these mistakes because it’s insightful to see which elements they are testing and how.

TigerDirect, 11/25 — 300+ BLACK FRIDAY Deals from TigerDirect!
TigerDirect, 11/25 — 300+ BLACK FRIDAY Deals from TigerDirect
It appears that this was a subject line A/B test that wasn’t segmented properly, since both of these emails had the same creative and were sent very close together.

ShopNBC, 4/8 — ONCE ONLY, FINAL HOURS‏
ShopNBC, 4/8 — Yikes! Time is running out for our best deals‏
Looks like ShopNBC was doing some subject line A/B testing and didn’t set up their segments correctly as at least some subscribers got both emails.

Fingerhut, 9/20 — Fingerhut: Ahoy! What is Your Treasure? Find Out NOW!
Talk Like a Pirate Day is Sept. 19, not the 20th. Fingerhut was using a new sender address so it’s possible that the delivery of this email was delayed by ISPs.

Urban Outfitters, 5/5 — You're Invited to a Special Event at Your Local UO (Details Inside)
Urban Outfitters, which knows that I live on the East Coast, experienced a geo-segmentation misfire with this email. I received the correct version of the email later in the day.

View this email full-sized.

J. Jill, 2/8 — Important changes to your J. Jill credit card account.‏
Probably exciting subscribers’ fears that they were being phished, J. Jill erroneously sent this email about credit card changes to some non-cardholders, like me.

View this email full-sized.

CODING & IMAGE ERRORS
Mistakes in coding and image formatting made for some of the most spectacular errors of 2011. There’s no missing these.

Lane Bryant, 6/10 — $20 Off $40 This Weekend + Last Weekend For 30% Off Dresses And $15 Tees‏
Every year there seems to be a hiccup in a retailer’s email design that results in the preheader and footer text rendering in white text on a white background, which makes the mailing address invisible and the unsubscribe instructions confusing if not impossible to understand. Either one of those puts you in violation of CAN-SPAM. In 2008, Sports Authority made this mistake (see 2008 Oopsy Hall of Fame); in 2009, J&R (see 2009 Oopsy Hall of Fame); in 2010, Ralph Lauren (see 2010 Oopsy Hall of Fame); and in 2011, Lane Bryant with this email. In this case, Lane Bryant also had a problem with their header and logo. Here’s the email (left) next to the same email highlighted so you can see the white-on-white text:

Cooking.com, 5/26 — You Voted For the Top 5 Summer Cookout Recipes!
Inexplicably, there’s the URL of video-sharing site http://www.dailymotion.com/us right above the No. 5 item.

View this email full-sized.

Lands’ End, 11/16 — Limited time! Take 40% off any one item
Some of the code is showing in this email.

View this email full-sized.

Crate & Barrel, 3/6 — Save big with Deals of the Week: exclusive luggage, new outdoor collections and more.‏
There’s code showing at top of this email.

View this email full-sized.

Kmart, 3/11 — All patio furniture & gas grills on sale + save on outdoor playsets‏
In addition to the 150 pixels of fixed margin on either side of the design, there’s some code showing at the top of this email.

View this email full-sized.

Home Depot, 10/27 — View Your Local Ad, Plus save up to 60% in Every Room with Overstock Values
There’s code showing at top of this email.

View this email full-sized.

Gilt Groupe, 6/27 — Highland, Fourth of July Style, Gilt MAN Essentials, Jiun Ho, Baron Wells, Mason's & John Smedley, Tailgate & Rxmance, Toy Watches and more Starts Today at Noon ET
Their mailing address is repeated outside of the frame of the email.

View this email full-sized.

Bluefly, 1/28 — Yes, We're on a MAN HUNT‏
The radio buttons in this email didn’t work, as support for them is inconsistent. A simpler design would have been to have a “Man” and a “Woman” button that the subscriber would click. It’s one fewer click for the subscriber and simpler to code. Of course, the more directly actionable question is, “What are you most interested in: men’s apparel or women’s apparel or both?” Bluefly used radio buttons again in Mar. 3 and July 14 emails.

View this email full-sized.

Kmart, 4/20 — Save on ALL patio furniture & gas grills, plus $60 off an HDTV‏
The Easter-themed background image was accidently flipped so that “hop” is backward and reversed.

View this email full-sized.

B&H Photo Video, 5/3 — Apple's New iMac - Available for Pre Order‏
The call-to-action buttons are out of alignment with the rest of the email.

View this email full-sized.

Brookstone, 12/15 — ONLY HOURS LEFT to Save up to $50! Mystery Coupon Inside
There are image gaps around the HTML text unique discount code. As more and more retailers use unique discount codes to track subscriber activity, I’m seeing this issue more often each year.

View this email full-sized.

OfficeMax, 5/10 — Limited Time $30 Coupon + Free Shipping‏
There were image alignment issues caused by the HTML text discount code.

View this email full-sized.

Cabela’s, 6/29 — Cabelas.com ships your order for pocket change!
There were image alignment issues caused by the HTML text discount code.

View this email full-sized.

Buy.com, 3/6 — Did You Know We Sell Wine?
The images in this email should have been all left-justified like usual.

View this email full-sized.

Omaha Steaks, 4/20 — 48 HOURS ONLY - Try Omaha Steaks for $5 a steak!
There’s a vertical image alignment problem that’s most evident with the dot-whack text.

Coldwater Creek, 12/14 — An EXTRA 20% OFF Jackets & Sweaters in Outlet
The image alignment in this email was breaking up. I still see lots of retailers struggling with image alignment issues caused by Gmail (see Why are HTML emails suddenly breaking in FF/Safari/Chrome in Gmail?) and the combination of Hotmail-Firefox (see Majority of Retailers Fail Hotmail-Firefox Rendering Test).

View this email full-sized.

TigerDirect, 3/14 — Lucky Deals: Save up to 40% Off‏
Extra space around the images in this email caused them to not fit on the width-defined rows.

View this email full-sized.

B&H Photo Video, 3/8 — B&H Photo Newsletter: Tuesday March 8, 2011‏
When I opened this email, B&H was probably having image server issues or else a ton of wrong image URLs. But this oopsy illuminates the fantastic “defensive designing” that they’ve done, using lots of HTML text and alt text to maintain the integrity of the message when images are blocked. Truly impressive.

View this email full-sized.

Musician’s Friend, 9/6 — Extended for One Day Only! Save Up to $100 On the Gear You Need + Free Shipping!
Image has wrong alt text.

View this email full-sized.

LANDING PAGE DISCONNECTS
A seamless transition from email to landing page will hugely benefit conversions. With these emails, something went wrong along the way:

Chadwick’s, 1/3 — We think you would really like these!
I fairly regularly run across product images that link to the retailer’s homepage or to the wrong product page, but this email from Chadwick’s wins the prize for most misguided links. All eight of the product images linked to the wrong products. And while a couple of the landing pages were for tops that were similar, the rest were items like scarves, mittens and leggings that were way off.

View this email full-sized.

Buy.com, 10/30 — WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Clicking on the “East” call-to-action generated an otherwise blank page with an “Invalid URL” error message.

view this email full-sized.

Barnes & Noble, 2/14 — Save 45% and Make Staying Indoors Fun‏
All of the submessages (“Cookbooks,” etc.) has the same “Sorry. We did not find any results.” landing page.

View this email full-sized.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, 3/31 — Introducing Koppen - Technology for Planet Earth‏
Three of the six product calls-to-action resulted in a “Your search for "" returned O results.” error.

View this email full-sized.

Macy’s, 5/22 — New Rwanda baskets + Free Shipping!‏
The banner on Haitian products linked to the landing page for the Rwandan products.

View this email full-sized.

Spiegel, 9/14 — Have The Last Fashion Hurrah! Lowest Markdowns Ever, from $4.
The leather satchel was nowhere to be found on the landing page (which made the headline of the email slightly ironic).

View this email full-sized.

Yoox, 9/15 — Top Picks - Free Shipping
The Dsquared2 shorts were nowhere to be found on the landing page.

View this email full-sized.

Sam’s Club, 9/26 — Get ready for fall with savings on fall outdoor and décor
The Angry Birds costume highlighted in this email wasn’t anywhere to be found on the landing page.

View this email full-sized.

CONTENT, SPELLING & GRAMMAR MISTAKES
Including the wrong content, misspelling words and using poor grammar diminishes your credibility and distracts from what you’re trying to say.

J&R, 8/30 — The New MacBook Air - Starting at $999
There are lots of spelling, punctuation and style errors in the “at a glance” copy—at least 10 errors by my count.

View this email full-sized.

ShopNBC, 2/10 — 4+ ValuePay Jewelry Event‏
The Chinese New Year was on Feb. 3, not Feb. 10 as indicated in this email.

View this email full-sized.

Fingerhut, 5/17 — Fingerhut: You Could WIN $25,000 + Get 5 Automatic Entries with Your Order!
Fingerhut was still promoting Mother’s Day gifts more than a full week after Mother’s Day, which as on May 8.

View this email full-sized.

Dell, 4/1 — March Super Sale! Up to 70% off top-brand electronics‏
Given the timing, it appears that it should have read “April Super Sale!”

View this email full-sized.

Ross-Simons, 4/25 — Chad, 30% Off Sitewide - Mother's Day Sale!
Misspelled “iPad” and “iPhone,” and mistakenly refers to iPod touch as “iTouch.”

View this email full-sized.

Costco, 9/7 — Online-Only Coupon Offers Ending Sunday, 9/11/11
“Pairs” should be “Pears.” The title in Costco Connections had it correct.

View this email full-sized.

Ann Taylor, 3/29 — THE SPRING SUIT GETS A PROMOTION: 30% Off Your Purchase Of A Full-Price Jacket & Matching Bottom!‏
“Limited” was misspelled in this banner.

View this email full-sized.

AbeBooks, 1/26 — Avid Reader Coupon – Save 10%
It should be “$15,” not “15$.”

View this email full-sized.

HOW TO AVOID & RESPOND TO OOPSIES
Mistakes are practically unavoidable in this industry, but you can put processes in place to minimize them and to respond appropriately when they occur. Some tips:

1. Avoid production processes that invite errors, such as using placeholder sender names or subject lines.
2. Develop a pre-flight checklist and follow it every time.
3. One word: Spell-check.
4. Check all the links in the email, especially key calls-to-action.
5. View a test send in accounts from all the major email clients and browser combinations, or use a rendering tool, to ensure consistent rendering across platforms.
6. Have someone else look over the email before it goes out. It’s difficult to catch your own errors.
7. If you make a mistake in an image, simply correct the source file.
8. If you make a mistake with a link, see if you can get it redirected to the correct page.
9. If the error is significant, see if you can halt the send. You may be able to reduce the number of intended recipients that receive the erroneous email.
10. Consider using social media to address confusion caused by email errors and to stress the correct information.
11. Don’t resend emails that contain minor mistakes. Only resend those where the mistake has significantly impaired the message or could cause significant brand damage. During 2011, of the more 18,000 retail emails I tracked, only 33 were apology emails—and most of those were for site outages, not email errors.
12. Develop a protocol for your apology emails so you can respond quickly when serious mistakes happen or your website suffers a substantial outage.
13. Consider holding periodic post-deployment debriefings to review what went right and wrong during the email development and deployment.

>>Check out the Oopsy Halls of Fame from past years: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006

>>Also check out the other Halls of Fame: Subject Line Halls of Fame and Design Halls of Fame.
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BROWSE... Archive / Post Categories / Selling Seasons / Topics Covered / Retailers Tracked

AM Inbox: Free shipping trends continues to evolve

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:45:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

OfficeMax, 1/24 — Free Shipping No Minimum + Online Only Tech Event
During the holiday season I talked about how free shipping was evolving from limited-time offers to “every day free shipping” to no codes to no minimum to plus free return shipping (see Alert: As Free Shipping Day approaches, majority of retailers already offering free shipping. During December, most retailers were trending toward the “every day free shipping” node on the evolution curve, but on Free Shipping Day (see Dec. 19, 2011 AM Inbox) a significant number of retailers offered free shipping with no minimum. In recent weeks I’ve seen several retailers offer no minimum free shipping, including Blair, Coldwater Creek, JC Whitney, Lands’ End, OfficeMax (in this email), L.L. Bean and Staples—with those last two offering it year-round. This year I expect more retailers to adopt “every day free shipping” policies, more retailers to experiment with no codes and no minimums, and more upscale retailers to offer free return shipping.

Kohl’s, 1/24 — Valentine's Day is Coming Soon. Get Your Gifts Now!‏
Kohl’s has been a big user of gift services footers outside of the holiday season (see Apr. 8, 2011 AM Inbox), demonstrating that some of the design elements and tactics that retailers use in November and December can also be effective in promoting other holidays. In this email, Kohl’s tries a dedicated holiday navigation bar, which is another design element that sees very little use outside of the holiday season.

View this email full-sized.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Fingerhut, 1/24 — Fingerhut: Thanks for being AWESOME - Take 10% off your next order! [promoting National Compliment Day]
Ross-Simons, 1/24 — Explore the Exotic - Shop Jade for Chinese New Year
Newegg, 1/24 — Celebrate The Year Of The Dragon With Major Savings!
Northern Tool, 1/23 — Husqvarna - Tough Name, Tough Equipment
Oriental Trading, 1/23 — It's down to the final 2. Cheer on your team with FREE shipping
Crutchfield, 1/23 — Step up your game - save up to $900 on a Samsung TV
NFLshop, 1/23 — Get Ready For Super Bowl XLVI!
TigerDirect, 1/24 — 7 Super SONY HDTV Deals for the Super Game...HDTV Week Continues
J&R, 1/24 — Big Deals on Big TVs for the Big Game!
Bloomingdale’s, 1/24 — Great Gifts She's Sure To Love
Tiffany & Co. 1/23 — The Keys to Her Heart
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 1/23 — Last day for 20% off dresses. New Valentine's lingerie. Plus, free shipping.
Costco, 1/23 — Surprise Your Valentine with Beautiful Roses - Starting at $75.99 Delivered with Vase!
Oriental Trading, 1/24 — The nominees are in! Party like a movie star, pay $0 shipping
Office Depot, 1/23 — Tax Season Is Almost Here: Organize Your Finances & Save Up To 35%
Wayfair, 1/24 — 57 days until spring. Can't wait?
Lands’ End, 1/23 — Ironing Bored? Wear these right from the dryer...
Lane Bryant, 1/23 — Work It – Pinstripes And Peep Toes For The Office
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BROWSE... Archive / Post Categories / Selling Seasons / Topics Covered / Retailers Tracked

Season Finale: Veterans Day 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:31:00 +0000

A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:

Start to finish: The first reference to Veterans Day was on Sept. 11. The final reference was on Nov. 15.

The biggest day for Veterans Day emails was Veterans Day itself, Friday, Nov. 11. Retailers sent the majority of their Veterans Day-themed emails after Nov. 10.

Year-over-year comparison: With the U.S. withdrawing all the troops in Iraq by the end of last year in accordance with the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement that President George W. Bush signed in 2008, I wondered if Veterans Day would suddenly take on greater prominence this year—and it did, relatively speaking. It’s not a major selling season by any stretch, but in 2011 there were roughly twice as many references to Veterans Day by top retailers.

Most interesting emails: Veterans Day doesn’t get much attention from retailers for a variety of reasons, so it’s unusual to see retailers sending emails with primary messages that directly speak to veterans and their friends and family members. First, Dell sent an Oct. 1 email asking subscribers to nominate veterans to receive one of 250 PCs that they were giving away to “help military families stay connected.” Considering the attention that soldiers reading books to their kids got last year, this seemed like a timely campaign.

View this email full-sized.

And second, in an Oct. 24 email, JCPenney targeted returning soldiers with a sweepstakes to win $200 in gift certificates so they can get new clothes for work or school.

View this email full-sized.

Standout subject lines:
Dell, 10/1 — Nominate a soldier to win a free PC from Dell
JCPenney, 10/24 — Calling All Heroes! Over 6000 IAVA Vets Will Win

Explore Veterans Day tag.
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AM Inbox: Two shades of editorial content

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:51:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

J. Jill, 1/21 — This look never takes a rain check. Plus up to 70% off.
Presenting products with an editorial bent is a major trend, but there’s a huge spectrum of editorializing that goes from the high end of newsletters (see Jan. 13 AM Inbox) to the low end where it’s more about presentation than articles and videos. That’s where this J. Jill email lands, borrowing a presentation style from fashion magazines that shows products in the context of other products to form a fully composed outfit with purpose.

View this email full-sized.

Sephora, 1/22 — Cult Favorites + Sale
This Sephora emails is also at the lower end of the editorial spectrum, promoting a newer products from a brand by pairing it with a long-time successful product from that brand. It’s a simple story, but one that’s a step well above just promoting the newer product on it’s own.

View this email full-sized.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
NFLshop, 1/22 — The New York Giants Are The 2011 NFC Champions!
Crate & Barrel, 1/20 — Everything you need to host halftime + 15% off Media Event.
Sony, 1/20 — Up to $1,200 Off HDTV Bundles For the Big Game + More Offers | Don’t Miss Out
TigerDirect, 1/20 — Championship Deals: NEW 60" HDTV under $1000...4GB Core i3 Computers from $399...ASUS Transformer Tab $299 and more
Buy.com, 1/20 — Super TV Deals Just in Time for the Big Game
ShopNBC, 1/21 — Big game party headquarters
TigerDirect, 1/22 — HDTV Week Kicks Off w/ Big Screen Blowouts! + Free Shipping on Econoship Orders Over $50
Tiffany & Co., 1/20 — Picture-perfect Valentine’s Day Gifts
OfficeMax, 1/20 — Preview Our January 22 Ad + Big Deals for Tax Season
Ralph Lauren, 1/20 — Shop Now: Winter Boots At The Best Prices Of The Season
Orvis, 1/20 — Add a warm layer - our best-selling men's sweatshirt.
Crate & Barrel, 1/22 — The easiest spring color to live with + 15% off Media Event.‏
Jill, 1/20 — Jet. Set. Go--to the J.Jill Resort Shop. Plus, save up to 70%.
Lands’ End, 1/20 — New Resort Collection: 9 staples for your suitcase
Blair, 1/20 — Click to reveal a special buy and free shipping.
Musician’s Friend, 1/20 — Day 2 Live From NAMM 2012: Pre-Order The Hottest Gear Now!
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Week-End Trends: Valentine's Day messaging suppressed by more 'Big Game' messaging

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:26:00 +0000

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.6 promotional emails on average during the week ending Jan. 20, 2012. That’s down 2% week-over-week, down 32% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 24% year-over-year.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Last week we got our first reference to Easter, which is on Apr. 8 this year, a couple of weeks earlier than in 2011. Valentine’s Day is off to a slower start this year compared to past years, seemingly suppressed by more “Big Game” messaging than usual.

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14): 2011 Season Finale
Presidents’ Day (Feb. 20): 2011 Season Finale
Leap Day (Feb. 29): Leap Day campaigns from 2008
St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17): 2011 Season Finale
Easter (Apr. 8): 2011 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Banning email appending, deliverability vs. revenue, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:21:00 +0000

My latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>CheetahMail joins Responsys, ExactTarget and other ESPs in forbidding email appending among their clients. >>Follow the ping

>>George Bilbrey of Return Path discusses the perceived tension between deliverability best practices and maximizing email revenue. >>Follow the ping

>>Adam Sutton of MarketingSherpa lists the effectiveness of several list growth tactics, with the top three all being organic. >>Follow the organic ping

>>Bronto Software shares its 2012 retail email marketing trends. >>Follow the ping

>>TechCrunch reports that social media influenced the holiday buying decisions of 20% of shoppers—which was interpreted as really low by most of the commenters but based on past figures I’ve seen is way up over 2010. >>Follow the ping

>>In Responsys’ latest Email Insider column, Wacarra Yeomans talks about the need to balance our data-driven decisions with our intuition when it comes to email design. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Why I'd want to watch your TV commercial

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:57:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Office Depot, 1/19 — Stop. Watch and Enjoy.
“What’s in it for me?” Subscribers are asking themselves that question every time they receive an email from you, so you should be constantly trying to answer it. The reason behind Office Depot sending this email appears to be that they have new TV commercials—about what is unclear. On its own, that’s hardly a compelling reason to engage with this email. Few people like TV commercials, which is in part why DVRs are so popular. So there needs to be more to why a subscriber would want to spend their time watching your commercial: Is the commercial instructive? About a charity effort? Is someone cool in the commercial? Is it a preview of new merchandise (see Old Navy email in the July 10, 2007 AM Inbox)? Are you sharing a longer, director’s cut (see Bluefly email in the Sept. 20, 2006 AM Inbox)? Is there a survey connected to the commercial (see Bluefly email in the Mar. 12, 2007 AM Inbox)? Is the commercial “too hot for TV” (see Lane Bryant email in the Apr. 27, 2010 AM Inbox)? Is it a sneak peek of your Super Bowl ad?

As fate would have it, on the same day that Office Depot sent this email, Staples sent an email promoting a contest where they are giving away a free 15-second TV commercial. That made Office Depot’s pitch seem even more off target.

View this email full-sized.

Sears, 1/19 — Sneak peek at daily Real Deals: Get in on the savings
Sears is promoting their daily deal emails all this month and they’re doing so by sharing a few of the deals and giving subscribers the chance to opt in. I’m always a fan of the “show, don’t tell” approach and appreciate the restraint that they are showing—they’ve only sent one other email like this so far this month, so they’re not pushing too hard.

View this email full-sized.

Neiman Marcus, 1/19 — New arrivals up to 65% off: Last Call Sale
Seasonal references don’t have to hit subscribers over the head. They can be as subtle as a color choice, as in this Neiman Marcus email that uses pink and red to quietly connect to Valentine’s Day.

View this email full-sized.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Staples, 1/19 — Win a free TV commercial from Staples!
Newegg, 1/19 — Watch the Game in Style This Year! $619.99 Toshiba 42" 1080p LED-LCD TV…
Wayfair, 1/19 — Up to 30% off Super Bowl Party Hosting
Walmart, 1/19 — Save on Family Entertainment Essentials: TVs, Furniture, Fan Gear & More
Lands’ End, 1/19 — Free Shipping + up to 65% off our best for winter's worst
L.L. Bean, 1/19 — 100th Anniversary Celebration--Gear Giveaways, Special Events and More
Drs. Foster & Smith, 1/19 — The Importance of Yearly Veterinarian Exams
Nike Store, 1/19 — Introducing the Nike+ FuelBand
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AM Inbox: Scroll down for more

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:49:00 +0000

>>Subject Line Hall of Fame: Check out the 2011 inductees.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Coldwater Creek, 1/18 — $20 off + 5 Must-See Spring Things‏
Commenting on a recent post, a reader asked if designing for preview panes and above-the-fold placement was still necessary. Articles like this one have lauded scrolling over clicks in web design, but web and email are different animals—most importantly in that people are more engaged and invested in a webpage they are visiting than they are with an email that was pushed to them. Emails have to convince readers to take further action—whether it’s opening, enabling images, scrolling or clicking—while visitors are already on a mission when they visit a website.

All of that came to mind when I saw this Coldwater Creek email that has a rather subtle direction in the hero image to “Scroll for more” with a down arrow. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an email marketer ask a subscriber to scroll before. In sidescrolling emails, retailers like 1-800-Flowers.com (see Aug. 9, 2011 AM Inbox) and Urban Outfitters (see Oct. 7, 2008 AM Inbox) have used arrows and words to indicate that subscriber should scroll/slide to the right for more, but that’s because sidescrolling is not the norm. But perhaps subscribers could use some extra encouragement to scroll even in vertical-scrollers.

That said, this is a bit of a special case with Coldwater Creek because traditionally their emails have been postcard-style, with a secondary banner at most. So this email is considerably longer than normal, which is why they were clearly concerned about subscribers not scrolling and therefore missing the additional content.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Harry & David, 1/18 — See what's new for Valentine's Day.
Ross-Simons, 1/18 — Win a 1 Carat Diamond Necklace and More - Like Us On Facebook
TigerDirect, 1/18 — 24 Hour Deal on HP Core i5 ProBook...Plus, special HDTV deals for the Super Game
eBags, 1/18 — Travel Tips, Trends, & Advice from The Bag Experts
Coach, 1/18 — Coach News, Men's Edition: new arrivals and monogramming.
Orvis, 1/18 — Shop the products our staff loves the most.‏
Sam’s Club, 1/18 — This week's top sellers at SamsClub.com
Lands’ End, 1/18 — Free shipping + One small step for feet, one giant leap toward spring!
Eddie Bauer, 1/18 — New for Spring + Extra 30% Off Clearance!
Ralph Lauren, 1/18 — Blue Label New Arrivals: Perfect For Your Warm Weather Getaway
Wayfair, 1/18 — Celebrity designer Taniya Nayak's new lighting collection, only at Wayfair.
J. Jill, 1/18 — Oh, for Henley's sake open this email! Plus up to 70% off sale.
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AM Inbox: 'Back Alley Syndrome' strikes again

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:42:00 +0000

>>Retail Email 2011 Year-End Trends: View the infographic.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

HP, 1/17 — HP's Hottest New Gaming Machine is Here! Watch the demo
I’ve been warning marketers about not falling prey to “Back Alley Syndrome” for more than two years now, but I still see major brands directing subscribers to dead end pages like HP does in this email. Watching the demo for their new Phoenix PCs is a major call-to-action that’s right in the subject line, even though it’s a little buried in the body of the email. When you click on that demo image…

…the landing page that you’re taken to (shown below) doesn’t include any product information, an “add to cart” button, a navigation bar, or even HP branding. Subscribers that arrive here are actually forced to go back to the email to make their way to product info. That’s not user-friendly, hurts conversions, and may make some people think that the product isn’t available for purchase yet.

Backcountry.com, 1/17 — New Jackets For Every Condition + Free 2-Day Shipping
A picture really is worth a thousand words—at least the right picture is. And Backcountry seems to have a bit of a knack for finding great ones that communicate cleanly while also being fun and light, like the one in this email. I’ve called out their photography a few times recently (see July 12, 2011 AM Inbox and June 22, 2011 AM Inbox).

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Victoria’s Secret, 1/17 — The All New Gorgeous Collection, Just in Time for Valentine's Day...
Ross-Simons, 1/16 — 25% PLUS 5% Off - Valentine's Gift Guide Debut
Tiffany & Co., 1/16 — Hearts of Gold
J. Jill, 1/17 — Ease into 2012 with 75 new styles + up to 70% off.
SmartBargains, 1/16 — It's not snow, but it is a WHITE SALE. 10 Home Deals Inside.
Lands’ End, 1/16 — Outerwear savings + Free Shipping arrive with the cold - good timing!
Walgreens, 1/16 — Save Up to 50% on Winter Health Needs + EXTRA 15% OFF $50 Vitamins Purchase | 20% OFF All Contacts
dELiA*s, 1/17 — dELiA*s Fashion Alert: New Spring Dresses NOW IN + Free Shipping
The Children’s Place, 1/17 — Up to 40% Off - Spring Sale Starts Today!
Neiman Marcus, 1/17 — Beauty Awards: Your chance to win big, too!
JC Whitney, 1/16 — Get 20% OFF with coupon TWENTY! 2 Days Only!
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Season Finale: Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:31:00 +0000

A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:

Start to finish: The first reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month was on Aug. 30. The final reference was on Nov. 5.

The biggest day for Breast Cancer Awareness Month emails was Oct. 1. Retailers sent the majority of their Breast Cancer Awareness Month-themed emails after Oct. 8.

Most interesting emails: In recent years, most of the retailers that have supported Breast Cancer Awareness Month have done so by selling pink merchandise and donating a percentage of the proceeds to research and support organizations. But this year Breast Cancer Awareness Month messaging was considerably more diverse. For instance, while Sports Authority was selling a variety of pink ribbon products, they made those products more relevant and more tightly linked to the issue of breast cancer by pairing them with educational material about how nutrition and exercise can reduce your risk. Here’s the email…

…and here’s the landing page:

And Ralph Lauren’s campaign—which used the subject line “Show Your Support With Pink Pony & Paperless Post Hope Cards”—had a nice viral component to it whereas they’ve had four web personalities create a collection of e-cards at Paperless Post. The designs include a call-to-action for the recipient to donate to Ralph Lauren’s Pink Pony Fund.

Standout subject lines:
Sports Authority, 10/1 — Sport Your Pink - Learn More and Show Your Support!
Coach, 9/30 — Pretty in pink for a great cause.
Ann Taylor, 9/30 — Giving Back Is Always In Style...
Harry & David, 10/1 — Pink Pears - join us in supporting cancer research.
Buy.com, 10/9 — PINK ISN'T JUST A PRETTY COLOR

Read previous Breast Cancer Awareness Month Season Finales: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006

Explore Breast Cancer Awareness Month tag.
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AM Inbox: First reference to Easter

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:28:00 +0000

>>Retail Email 2011 Year-End Trends: View the infographic.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Toys “R” Us, 1/15 — FREE Toys”R”Us 20-pk. Batteries (9.99 value) with Movie Purchase! Plus, 25% OFF Vtech Infant/Preschool Toys & More
Toys “R” Us gives us our first reference to Easter, which is Apr. 8 this year—16 days earlier than last year. Even accounting for that date shift, this first reference comes about two weeks earlier than last year’s. Toys “R” Us promoted their layaway program heavily during the holiday season, so it’s interesting to see them extend that messaging to Easter. For insights and inspiration for your campaigns, check out the Easter 2011 Season Finale.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Musician’s Friend, 1/13 — Get Lucky With Friday The 13th Savings Up To $500
SmartBargains, 1/13 — It's Your Lucky Day! 13 Lucky Deals + Free Shipping
NFLshop, 1/15 — The New York Giants Just Advanced To The NFC Championship Game!
Brookstone, 1/15 — Game-worthy seats. Bar stuff and more.
Oriental Trading, 1/13 — Super-sized savings for the big game + free shipping
Sam’s Club, 1/13 — MVP Products for the Big Game
Cooking.com, 1/13 — Soup's On! Celebrate National Soup Month with the Cuisinart Soup Maker
TigerDirect, 1/15 — Get Your Tax Refund Early This Year...
Neiman Marcus, 1/13 — Revealed: Spring Trends + Ways to Win
Ann Taylor, 1/13 — ON TREND: Colorblocking + Enjoy 40% Off Your ENTIRE Purchase!‏
Coldwater Creek, 1/14 — At last! 260 New Spring Arrivals + $20 off
Lands’ End, 1/13 — Free Shipping + 5 reasons you'll love the 2012 Starfish Collection
Spiegel, 1/15 — Tweed Looks You'll Love, from just $34
RitzCamera, 1/13 — Customer Favorites, the New Nikon D4 plus Top Ten Photo Tips
Staples, 1/14 — Want an easier workday? Now, there's a Staples app for that.
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Week-End Trends: Valentine's Day to start significant ramp up

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.6 promotional emails on average during the week ending Jan. 13, 2012. That’s up 9% week-over-week, down 35% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 28% year-over-year.

As expected, volume rebounded to 3.6 emails per week per subscriber on average. This should be the new baseline—at least for the early months of this year.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Valentine’s Day messaging should jump to around 10% of emails this week, while New Year’s and Christmas messaging fizzle out. I thankfully only saw one “MLK Day Sale” last week, with others more tastefully having sales over the “long weekend.”

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14): 2011 Season Finale
Presidents’ Day (Feb. 20): 2011 Season Finale
Leap Day (Feb. 29): Leap Day campaigns from 2008
St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17): 2011 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Editorial content, exclusive offers, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:11:00 +0000

My latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>Jeanne Jennings, an independent consultant, draws attention to the fact that editorial email content is outperforming other types of email content. >>Follow the ping

>>Linda Bustos of GetElastic discusses research that shows that consumers are more responsive to offers when they believe it was not made available to everyone, which helps support the case for more triggered and segmented emails. >>Follow the ping

>>Liz Ryan of Threadless lays out the ways that you can respond to email oopsies, most of which don’t involve sending an apology email. >>Follow the ping

>>Loren McDonald of Silverpop shares his blueprint for creating an effective birthday email program. >Follow the ping

>>Heather Blank of Responsys discusses the five ways in which the marketing landscape will significantly evolve this year. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Measure a newsletter's halo effect

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:10:00 +0000

>>Retail Email 2011 Year-End Trends: View the infographic.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Williams-Sonoma, 1/11 — On the Menu: What’s New at Williams-Sonoma
A few weeks ago a reader emailed me asking about which retailers put out a good newsletter. To be sure, newsletters are much more popular among B2B companies, consumer product brands, and nonprofits. But there are some retailers that put out great monthly email newsletters, including B&H Photo Video (see Mar. 2, 2011 AM Inbox), CB2 (see Aug. 15, 2011 AM Inbox), REI and Williams-Sonoma, which you can see in this email.

The challenge for many retailers is to put assemble content that isn’t overtly promotional. It’s hard to deviate from what most retailers are doing 29 days out of the month and pull together content that’s educational, inspirational, instructive, and community-oriented. It often takes more resources to create this content, which raises the performance bar for retail newsletters. I would recommend not judging the performance of a newsletter in isolation, but also on how much more responsive your subscribers who read the newsletter are to your promotional emails. Newsletters should create more engaged subscribers who are more receptive to your promotional messages, so measuring the strength of a newsletter’s halo effect is important.

Fingerhut, 1/12 — Fingerhut: SAVE On Football Fan Gear! Find Out How
Only a few retailers—like SmartBargains (see June 23, 2011 AM Inbox)—have experimented with social thresholds for deals. In this Fingerhut email, they set a social threshold based on the number of pictures posted, which is certainly novel. In this case, the threshold isn’t made public, probably because Fingerhut is feeling out this deal format or perhaps because they’ll offer the same deal regardless of activity. It’s the early day for social thresholds and there’s still lots of room for experimentation.

This is Fingerhut’s second email in a row to promote the “Big Game” using a social campaign. In a Jan. 11 email, they offered a 15% to anyone who posted on their Facebook page who they thought would win the big game.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Avon, 1/11 — Start the new year right - Sell AVON!
Coach, 1/11 — Our favorite new year's tradition.
Sam’s Club, 1/12 — Solutions for your healthy resolutions
Barnes & Noble, 1/11 — Don't Wait! Get the Textbooks You Need Today -- Up to 90% Off
Walmart, 1/12 — Save on Tax-Prep Tools + Get Ready for Game Time Excitement
Ann Taylor, 1/11 — Our NEW SPRING COLLECTION Is Here!
Sony, 1/11 — Preview Sony’s 2012 Line-up | Unveiled at CES
Kohl’s, 1/12 — Give the Gift That Gives Back – Books & Plush for Just $5 Each
Urban Outfitters, 1/11 — Basically Awesome [promoting basics]
Yoox, 1/11 — Statement Shoes + Free Shipping on Orders of $200 or More
Lands’ End, 1/11 — Free shipping, no minimum + 30% off basics = spring stock-up!
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Infographic: Retail Email 2011 Year-End Trends

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:18:00 +0000

In 2011, promotional email volume once again reached an all-time high. After a year of tracking the email marketing activity of more than 100 of the top retailers, we’ve put together this infographic that highlights trends that will help you define your 2012 email marketing strategy.

>>View the Retail Email 2011 Year-End Trends Infographic full-sized with sharing links.
>>Read the press release

Other research available from Responsys:
Email Engagement & Deliverability Study
Viral & Community Links in Email
Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
Email Design Look Book 2011
Email Design & Coding Recommendations
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys’s Downloads page.
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AM Inbox: How two emails could be improved

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000

>>Subject Line Hall of Fame: Check out the 2011 inductees.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Sam’s Club, 1/10 — Sam's Club iPad app... Download Now!
Even though I read the subject line of this email, at a glance I thought this email was just selling iPads based on the product shot. It’s a little bewildering that they chose a generic product shot rather than including screenshots of their app, as Saks Fifth Avenue (Dec. 17, 2011 AM Inbox) and everyone else has done. A missed opportunity and muddled message.

J. Crew, 1/10 — The ultimate sweater for work and play
Most email messages benefit from being designed so that they are top heavy, so as much of the message as possible appears above the fold in recipients’ inboxes. With this email, the central message of this sweater being for work and play is blunted by the “Play” arrow being positioned below the image of the sweater, 855 pixels into the email. Ignoring how much space the preheader text consumes, the email’s message is better conveyed with the “Play” arrow up with the “Work” arrow. Here’s the original design (left) and a mock-up of how it would look with that suggest change—along with a line indicating the fold in my inbox:

Note: Every recipients’ fold placement is different. I just used mine for illustrative purposes.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Macy’s, 1/10 — Hope in Heart of Haiti: 2 years later
Neiman Marcus, 1/10 — NY Fashion Week: Wanna go?
Sears, 1/10 — Introducing the Sears Deal of the DAY
Hallmark, 1/10 — A contest that's part Spanish, part English and all fun
GameStop, 1/10 — Get a 40% Trade Bonus on the Top Games of 2011
Barnes & Noble, 1/10 — Start 2012 Off With Plenty of Suspense... and Savings!‏
Sports Authority, 1/10 — Huge Savings on Fitness - Plus, Gaiam Yoga is Now Available!
Newegg, 1/10 — The 5-EGG Hall of Fame: Major Savings on the 10 Best-reviewed Items on Newegg!
Backcountry.com, 1/10 — Get Up To 50% Off Now - Shop The Pray For Snow Sale
Lands’ End, 1/10 — Spring wardrobe builders now up to 30% off
Williams-Sonoma, 1/10 — Our Exclusive Eco-Friendly Cast Iron Nonstick Grill Pan + Lid
Blair, 1/10 — Smile! It's free shipping week.‏
Spiegel, 1/10 — Dresses That Create Occasions!
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Subject Line Hall of Fame: 2011 Inductees

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Welcome to the Retail Email Blog’s sixth annual inductions into the Subject Line Hall of Fame, which honors retailers whose subject lines stand out in the inbox because of their creativity and originality. A great subject line can mean the difference between an opened email and a deleted one. While mentioning a fantastic deal in a subject line can generate great open rates, you may not always have killer deals to tout. Creativity in 60 characters or less can give your emails the edge. After reading more than 18,000 retail emails during 2011, here are my picks for the most outstanding subject lines:

Bed Bath & Beyond, 10/10 — Shop here. Get your face licked.
It sounds a little gross or kinky (depending on your disposition), but Bed Bath & Beyond turns that into an “ahh” moment in this email that promotes pet products.

Urban Outfitters, 1/31 — XOUO‏
Inserting their brand’s initials into the common expression of affection XOXO for this Valentine’s Day email’s subject line is a testament to the power of brevity.

Frederick’s of Hollywood, 5/4 — What bra sold 10,000 after being seen on the Today Show yesterday?
This subject line creates intrigue, evokes the herd mentality, and gains urgency and credibility from the news tie-in.

Lands’ End, 6/8 — Starfish: you named it. You bought every last pair. We made more.‏
The community involvement at Lands’ End is evident in the subject line to this email, which tells the story behind their Starfish Pants, which got its name from customer requests. The subject line makes you feel like you missed out not only on a product but a conversation.

Brookstone, 10/25 — Forget about daylight savings
While everyone else is telling you to remember to set your clocks back, Brookstone stands out by giving subscribers the exact opposite advice in this subject line for an email that promotes their TimeSmart Clocks, which set themselves and automatically adjust to Daylight Savings.

Foot Locker, 6/8 — Dads: This Email is Not For You, Please Forward It To Your Family.
There are many occasions when you’re really trying to reach someone connected to your subscriber rather than the subscriber—be it their mother or father, one of their siblings, or one of their friends. This Foot Locker email is in that vein, with the retailer trying to reach the family members of the dads on their email list. The forwarding request is right up there in the subject line, which really stood out among the other Father’s Day subject lines. And, of course, if you’re going to consider forwarding an email to your family, you’re going to want to read it first.

J. Jill, 8/31 — Additional 30% off sale + free shipping. Our power may still be out, but our sale is ON!
Sent in the wake of Hurricane Irene, this email expresses resilience with its subject line. It doesn’t make light of the storm, isn’t exploitive, and conveys that they’re in the same boat as everyone else.

Drs. Foster & Smith, 8/11 — Save Your Pet's Life with a Nametag
What owner wouldn’t be concerned about saving their pet’s life? The email then answers the question of how nametags save lives by including owner and medical information.

HP, 7/18 — Check your next email on this: the HP Tablet!
This subject line engages recipients by referring to what they’re doing at the moment (reading their email) to promote a tablet. And although the HP Tablet didn’t take off, tablets were big news during 2011.

Lowe’s, 12/14 — Build Your Own North Pole. Save up to 50% on Tools
This subject line is both festive and aspirational, challenging DIYers to take on Santa’s workshop.

Subject Line Hall of Shame
While 2011 gave us some inspired subject lines, it also gave us some poorly thought out and poorly executed stinkers. Here are the worst:

Sephora, 7/11 — Introducing Sephora home delivery
The subject line of this email is truly awful because it completely fails to convey what the email is about, which is the launch of same-day delivery in Manhattan.

JCPenney, 2/4 — Don't Be A Stupid Cupid!
Implying that customers are stupid if they don’t buy from you or take your gift advice seems negative, hostile and very off-brand for JCPenney.

Victoria’s Secret, 2/8 — Go Ahead...Make My (Valentine's) Day!‏
While it has become rather colloquial, the famous catchphrase from Sudden Impact seems like a pretty dark reference for a romantic occasion like Valentine’s Day.

Brookstone, 4/18 — Are you overdue for a little hangtime?
This subject line uses “hangtime” as a confusing pun on “downtime” for this email about hammocks.

>>Want more subject line inspiration? Check out the 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006 inductees into the Subject Line Hall of Fame, as well as the Outstanding Subject Lines section of every Season Finale and the Subjectivity Scanner at the end of every AM Inbox.

>>Also check out the other Halls of Fame: Oopsy Halls of Fame and Design Halls of Fame.
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AM Inbox: Extra! Extra! Great subject line inside

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:14:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Barnes & Noble, 1/9 — Extra! Extra! NOOK Simple Touch is Now FREE
Barnes & Noble has adopted the cellphone industry’s business model, giving their Nook Simple Touch e-reader away for free when you buy a digital subscription to the New York Times and discounting the Nook Color and Nook Tablet with a subscription. This offer structure is familiar and simple to explain. And the subject line for this email is spot on—an early candidate for the 2012 Subject Line Hall of Fame.

Sony, 1/9 — You’re Invited: Watch the Sony CES 2012 Press Conference Live
While Apple and Microsoft are abandoning CES, Sony continues their support and as they have in past years, they support their presence with an email touting all the social and video content that can allow subscribers to tune in and engage. For past examples of these emails from Sony, check out the Jan. 6, 2011 AM Inbox and the link in that post.

Walgreens, 1/9 — 60% OFF All Prints + 10 Gift Items for $10 Each
I really like this ribbon-inspired link box. The irregular lines stand out and diagonal text has been a big trend recently. This design would have been festive during the holiday season.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Alibris, 1/9 — Your New Year's resolutions will last longer than this $15 coupon
Fingerhut, 1/9 — Fingerhut: Create a new home in the New Year! Shop Bedding & Bath!‏
Art.com, 1/9 — New Year, New Style - 20% Off Sitewide!
Walmart, 1/9 — Find Affordable New Ways to Organize Every Room
Sears, 1/9 — Save now on fitness equipment + Fashion Clearance: up to 85% off
Sam’s Club, 1/9 — Get ready for the Big Game with savings on HDTVs and more
JC Whitney, 1/9 — Winter Driving Essentials | 15% OFF
Northern Tool, 1/9 — Lowest Heater Prices Of The Season - Email Exclusive
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/9 — Prada for him: the Spring 2012 collection has arrived
TigerDirect, 1/9 — Sexy, slim and captivating...and that's just the price.
Bass Pro Shops, 1/9 — Our #1 Selling Lures only $1.99!
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AM Inbox: Neiman Marcus and Project Runway: All Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:18:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Neiman Marcus, 1/6 — Eileen Fisher Spring Launch
To date, Bluefly with their sponsorship of Project Runway in the past has been the retailer to make the most of a TV show tie-in (see Jan. 15, 2010 AM Inbox). But Neiman Marcus with their sponsorship of the new Project Runway: All Stars is making a run at the title, using many of the engagement tools that Bluefly used. Neiman Marcus’s Project Runway: All Stars page includes a sweepstakes, exclusive video footage, voting, and most importantly the ability to buy items featured on the NM Accessory Wall from the show and to buy outfits that are similar to the winning look. Like Bluefly, Neiman Marcus is really extending the traditional TV sponsorship in order to build and engage a community of watchers.

Sam’s Club, 1/6 — Gear up for Game Day: TVs, Furniture, Grills and more
This Sam’s Club email is an archetypal “Big Game” message, promoting TVs, food, and other entertainment items like recliners, grills and audio equipment.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Ann Taylor, 1/7 — New Year. New Dress Code. Plus, 40% Off EVERYTHING!
dELiA*s, 1/8 — New Year, New Jeans! Buy 1 Get 1 50% OFF!
Office Depot, 1/6 — New Year Savings to Renew Your Business! Hurry, These Deals End 1/7/12
J. Jill, 1/6 — Ease into the new year with 15% off Pure Jill + up to 70% off sale.
Sephora, 1/6 — New for 2012
Cooking.com, 1/6 — Free Shipping on Our Favorite Products of The New Year
Lowe’s, 1/7 — Do More With NEW Décor -- Find Stylish Additions for 2012
Coldwater, 1/7 — Love Forever Sweaters (Ship & Return FREE!)
J. Crew, 1/8 — Layers we love: 30% OFF all women's sweaters
Ann Taylor, 1/6 — Our New Convertible Trench + 40% Off EVERYTHING
dELiA*s, 1/6 — New Spring Stuff is Here - Fall in Love Now + Free Shipping
Costco, 1/6 — Tax Season is on The Horizon! TurboTax $10 OFF! Quicken $20 OFF!
Sony, 1/7 — Coming Soon | New Products Revealed at CES 2012
Harry & David, 1/7 — Shop now, ship later. Plan ahead for special events and save.
Oriental Trading, 1/6 — Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with free shipping!
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Week-End Trends: Setting new baseline volume for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:26:00 +0000

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.4 promotional emails on average during the week ending Jan. 6, 2012. That’s down 14% week-over-week, down 36% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 25% year-over-year.

Email volume is likely to rebound a little this week as we establish a new baseline post-holidays. I expect that new baseline to be around 3.6 promotional emails a week.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week, although Monday and Wednesday were close behind.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: New Year’s messaging peaked last week, plus we had our first reference to Valentine’s Day. “Big game” and Valentine’s Day messaging will increase in the weeks ahead as holiday and New Year’s messaging diminishes.

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14): 2011 Season Finale
Presidents’ Day (Feb. 20): 2011 Season Finale
Leap Day (Feb. 29): Leap Day campaigns from 2008
St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17): 2011 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Images-off pixel art, Christmas slots game, etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:12:00 +0000

My latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>Becs Rivett of Email Fail shares a great example of a MAC Cosmetics email that uses fun images-off pixel art to entice subscribers to turn images on and engage. >>Follow the ping

>>Anna Yeaman of Style Campaign details the results of their Christmas slots game, which averaged more than 14 opens per subscriber that opened the email. >>Follow the ping

>>Matt Vernhout of EmailKarma reminds us that 2012 is the year to get in compliance with the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). >>Follow the ping

>>Skip Fidura of dotAgency reminds us of a few ways that we can reduce send errors. >>Follow the ping

>>Lauren Pizzi of e-Dialog reminds us of some of the unique seasonal marketing opportunities of 2012, including Leap Day and the Summer Olympics. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I share some email marketing highlights from the 2011 holiday season. >Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Less 'resolution' messaging this year

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Ross-Simons, 1/5 — New Year's Resolution #2: Get A New Look
Ross-Simons, 1/4 — New Year's Resolution: Get Colorful
There appears be less “resolution” messaging pegged to New Year’s this time around. Instead, there’s quite a bit more “resolve to save” messaging, perhaps as a result of inventory overhangs from the holiday season. Whatever the reason, retailers are encouraging the usual resolutions less this year and there are hardly been any serialized messaging around resolutions—these Ross-Simons emails being among the few. Here’s Resolution #2 from yesterday…

…and here’s Resolution #1 from Wednesday:

Sports Authority, 1/5 — Reinvent Your Swing – The Rules Have Changed!
Marketers have to give consumers a reason to buy. Is it new? The most advanced? At a great price? Not available anywhere else? Seasonal? In this email, the Sports Authority promotes baseball bats by spreading the news about the new BBCOR bat standard . External events, including new regulations and laws, can be an effective promotional hook—and one that doesn’t center around a discount.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lowe’s, 1/5 — Resolutions Are Good, Results Are Better -- Complete Your Kitchen in 2012
Walmart, 1/5 — Shop Top Values for Healthy Living & Refresh Your Home for Less
J&R, 1/5 — Shape It Up! Save Now On Fitness Products
Nordstrom, 1/5 — The Perfect Cardigan: 8 Rich Colors, Beautifully Priced
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AM Inbox: First reference to Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Chad White) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:41:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Oriental Trading, 1/3 — Easy Valentine projects kids love, shipped free
Oriental Trading gives us our first reference to Valentine’s Day, which is on Tuesday, Feb. 14. For insights and inspiration, check out the Valentine’s Day 2011 Season Finale.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Coldwater Creek, 1/3 — FREE Shipping & Returns! Take Spring Coats for a test try
JC Whitney, 1/3 — FREE Shipping No MINIMUM - Today Only!
J. Jill, 1/3 — Hello, sunshine! Introducing J.Jill Resort. Plus, up to 70% off sale.
Neiman Marcus, 1/3 — PRADA Spring Launch
Saks Fifth Avenue, 1/4 — Theory for him: new spring arrivals are here
Ralph Lauren, 1/4 — Shop The Resort Collections For A Warm-Weather Getaway
Musician’s Friend, 1/3 — Make A Resolution To Learn & Improve In 2012!
Ross-Simons, 1/3 — New Year's Resolution: Get Colorful
Newegg, 1/3 — Start Off 2012 in Style! $14.99 Sennheiser Stereo Earbuds, $99.99 Crucial 64GB SSD…
Bloomingdale’s, 1/4 — Stock Up On Essential Men's Styles For The New Year
Montgomery Ward, 1/4 — Going Clean! Storage Solutions for Every Room
Urban Outfitters, 1/3 — New Year, New Catalog
Coach, 1/4 — New year, new Chelsea.
Nordstrom, 1/3 — New Year, New You: Shape Up in Style
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 1/3 — New Year, New You: How Will You Keep Your Resolution?
GameStop, 1/3 — Weekly Ad 1.4.12 - New Year, New Savings
ShopNBC, 1/3 — Chinese New Year Jewelry Event
Cooking.com, 1/4 — Celebrate National Spaghetti Day!
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