AM Inbox: Spacing error in Alibris emails
The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:
Alibris, 8/24 — Only hours left to spend your $10 coupon!
This is about the tenth time this year that Alibris has had a big empty white space appear at the top of their emails. I’m not sure if there’s a problem with some dynamic content that they’ve set up, or whether the space is a rendering problem that they should be catching by previewing their emails across email clients.
On a positive note, notice the box at the bottom right-hand column soliciting feedback on their emails. They’ve had that box there for nearly a year now, but I mention it now because of the eec’s recent Double Dog Dare to ask subscribers to rate your emails. The thinking here is that encouraging subscribers to give you feedback will (1) encourage overall engagement, (2) give you some insights into what’s working and not working in your emails and (3) discourage your younger subscribers from using the “report spam” button as a critiquing tool. If anyone has any experience using this tactic, please comment below or on that Double Dog Dare post.
Petco, 8/24 — PETCO / Value Days at PETCO + Email Exclusive Offer!
Petco announces that they have partnered with zootoo for their Pet Lovers Community.
Road Runner Sports, 8/22 — Go for the Gold this Weekend: Phelpsian-Size Savings!
For this Olympic-themed email, Road Runner Sports uses the word “Phelpsian,” which was used by backstroke swimmer Aaron Peirsol to describe Michael Phelps’ accomplishment of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics.
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
REI, 8/22 — REI Labor Day Sale on Now
Spiegel, 8/23 — Labor Day Plans? Shop Our Swim & Travel Sale for perfect getaway looks!
DisneyShopping, 8/22 — Halloween Boootique Now Open with Free Shipping!
RadioShack, 8/24 — Free shipping and great savings on back-to-college electronics.
Lands’ End, 8/23 — 10 back-to-school essentials (no waiting in line)
RitzCamera, 8/22 — Digital Dorm Room Specials
Chadwick’s, 8/22 — Back to School Sale, you too can save!
Office Depot, 8/22 — One Week Only - Dynamite Deals for Back to School
Circuit City, 8/24 — Ready for kickoff? Save on TVs & tailgating essentials
Old Navy, 8/22 — Saturday Only Denim Deals! $12 Adults, $7 Kids
Sports Authority, 8/23 — 4 Hour Sale - 15% Off This Monday, August 25th
Furniture.com, 8/23 — Go Green in Style: Eco One Casual Dining Set Just $809!
Norm Thompson, 8/23 — Brag! You got it for under $25!
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Alibris, 8/24 — Only hours left to spend your $10 coupon!
This is about the tenth time this year that Alibris has had a big empty white space appear at the top of their emails. I’m not sure if there’s a problem with some dynamic content that they’ve set up, or whether the space is a rendering problem that they should be catching by previewing their emails across email clients.
On a positive note, notice the box at the bottom right-hand column soliciting feedback on their emails. They’ve had that box there for nearly a year now, but I mention it now because of the eec’s recent Double Dog Dare to ask subscribers to rate your emails. The thinking here is that encouraging subscribers to give you feedback will (1) encourage overall engagement, (2) give you some insights into what’s working and not working in your emails and (3) discourage your younger subscribers from using the “report spam” button as a critiquing tool. If anyone has any experience using this tactic, please comment below or on that Double Dog Dare post.
Petco, 8/24 — PETCO / Value Days at PETCO + Email Exclusive Offer!
Petco announces that they have partnered with zootoo for their Pet Lovers Community.
Road Runner Sports, 8/22 — Go for the Gold this Weekend: Phelpsian-Size Savings!
For this Olympic-themed email, Road Runner Sports uses the word “Phelpsian,” which was used by backstroke swimmer Aaron Peirsol to describe Michael Phelps’ accomplishment of winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics.
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
REI, 8/22 — REI Labor Day Sale on Now
Spiegel, 8/23 — Labor Day Plans? Shop Our Swim & Travel Sale for perfect getaway looks!
DisneyShopping, 8/22 — Halloween Boootique Now Open with Free Shipping!
RadioShack, 8/24 — Free shipping and great savings on back-to-college electronics.
Lands’ End, 8/23 — 10 back-to-school essentials (no waiting in line)
RitzCamera, 8/22 — Digital Dorm Room Specials
Chadwick’s, 8/22 — Back to School Sale, you too can save!
Office Depot, 8/22 — One Week Only - Dynamite Deals for Back to School
Circuit City, 8/24 — Ready for kickoff? Save on TVs & tailgating essentials
Old Navy, 8/22 — Saturday Only Denim Deals! $12 Adults, $7 Kids
Sports Authority, 8/23 — 4 Hour Sale - 15% Off This Monday, August 25th
Furniture.com, 8/23 — Go Green in Style: Eco One Casual Dining Set Just $809!
Norm Thompson, 8/23 — Brag! You got it for under $25!
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive
Labels: Alibris, AM Inbox, Oopsy, Petco, Road Runner Sports, Social Networks
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posted at 3:30 PM by Chad White
I love Smith-Harmon's enthusiasm. It's so great to have a connection with people who really "get" and get excited by email marketing. (Truly, there are not that many of us out there!) I count myself very lucky to have found such accomplished enthusiasts to collaborate with on the REI program. They are helping to bring amazing opportunities to fruition with panache.
2 Comments:
Thanks to Chad for bringing this to our attention. So far we're only aware of the alignment problem in Yahoo Classic. The solution seems to be to add the attribute valign="top" to the <td>s which enclose the main columns in the email. We already had valign="top" set in the enclosing <tr>, so it shouldn't be necessary to set it in the <td>s as well, but something about the code that Yahoo Classic wraps around an email mucks up the expected alignment behavior. Moral of the story for designers: test in YC. It will show you what you've been taking for granted.
Alexander Bailey
alibris.com
Thanks for sharing the solution with all of us, Alexander.
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