Help Us Gather Email Design and Rendering Insights

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AM Inbox: Another reason to design for blocked images

>>Help reduce inbox congestion and frustration by sharing these inbox management tips.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

EB Games, 3/28 — EB Games Weekend Specials 3.28.08
Server outages—just one more reason to design your emails with image blocking in mind. Although EB Games doesn’t make use of alt tags, they thankfully made great use of HTML text to convey their main message. Also, apparently the image for the circular was hosted on a different server, which allowed that image to come through.



Petco, 3/30 — PETCO Go Green & Win!
With Earth Day just a few weeks away, Petco is promoting their Pets for the Planet program, which promotes healthy, green products, asks you to grade your eco-friendliness with a Green Pet ReportCard, and gives you the chance to win a prize by sharing green tips.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Bluefly, 3/29 — EXTRA 15% OFF: Spring Break Sale -- Now up to 65% off
Avon, 3/29 — Read the RAVES of your TOP-RATED Faves + FREE SHIPPING
Alloy, 3/28 — NEW warm-weather looks + 15% off your entire order
Lands’ End, 3/28 — New Wide Leg Crops really flatter - go figure!
Neiman Marcus, 3/28 — The Wow Effect: One-shoulder dresses for every occasion + FREE SHIPPING
Kmart, 3/28 — Big Brands at Small Prices at Kmart
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Week-End Trends: Lull in the seasonal calendar

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The RetailEmail Index fell 1% to 199 during the week ending March 28, and is up 1% from where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that the top 100 online retailers sent approximately 2 promotional emails each on average last week.



RetailEmail Participation Rates: Last week, 89% of the retailers in the RetailEmail Index sent out at least one promotional email, down from 92% the week prior, and down from 92% during the 4-weeks-ago period.



RetailEmail Seasonality Meter: This Easter falling so early this year, there’s a bit of a lull in the seasonal calendar. Tax Day isn’t for another couple of weeks, Earth Day is another week beyond that, and Mother’s Day won’t get going in earnest until late April (see Mother’s Day Season Finale).



Other things referenced by retailers: spring, swimwear, baseball, summer
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Ping Time: 5 stages of email reading, preheader proof, etc.

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

>>Karen J. Bannan at BtoB Magazine discusses the 5 stages of viewing an email, according to ExactTarget’s “Email Marketing Design & Rendering: The New Essentials” report. >>Follow the ping

>>Caroline Smith at Bronto Software shares the impressive results of Blooms Today’s introduction of preheader/snippet text. >>Follow the preheader advice

>>Jeanne Jennings, in her ClickZ column, discusses the difference between email marketing and email sales. If you don’t know the difference… >>Follow the ping

>>MarketingSherpa shares a case study on Motorcycle Superstore, which did tests to optimize their frequency, day of the week, time of day and subject line performance. >>Follow the ping

>>Dianna Dilworth at DM News reports on the Q Interactive study showing the continued shift in the definition of spam. Overmailers and poor segmenters beware. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: First Earth Day reference

>>Help reduce inbox congestion and frustration by sharing these inbox management tips.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Harry & David, 3/27 — 50% OFF Standard Delivery - Our Spring Gift to You!
Harry & David give us our first Earth Day reference, a little under a month before the April 22 holiday. It’s also good to see that after sending an email on behalf of newly acquired Wolferman’s as a way of introducing them (see March 26 AM Inbox), Harry & David is back on brand and using their usual template and including Wolferman’s as a banner.



Bed Bath & Beyond, 3/27 — Spring into Cleaning with Bed Bath & Beyond!
After redesigning their header earlier this month (see March 13 AM Inbox), Bed Bath & Beyond makes better use of the space next to their logo by adding an automatic store locator based on the zip code you entered during sign up.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Home Depot, 3/27 — It's Time to Save for Spring!
Ralph Lauren, 3/27 — Spring Into Action: Don't Miss Our New Sale
Blair, 3/27 — Lead off the season with $10 off your men's order
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AM Inbox: Would you open an email from Carl@yahoo.com?

>>Help reduce inbox congestion and frustration by sharing these inbox management tips.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

TigerDirect, 3/26 — Price Alert: 47" 1080p LCD HDTV $1199...Ends 3/28
Three things: (1) Use the same sender name and address. It helps subscribers recognize you in the inbox and helps to maintain whitelisting levels. (2) If you need to change your sender address, it’s good idea to tell subscribers ahead of time so they can whitelist the new address (see Reportlet: Retailers Gravitating toward Single Sender Addresses). (3) If you need to change your sender name, try not to change it too radically and always keep your brand name in there. And whatever you do, don’t change it to a spammy-looking address like, oh I don’t know, Carl@yahoo.com.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what TigerDirect did with this email. For some reason, they decided to abandon their “TigerDirect.com” sender name and TigerDirect@tigeronline.com sender address in favor of the very spammy Carl@yahoo.com for both. While Carl Fiorentino, TigerDirect.com’s president, is familiar to their subscribers, it is entire unreasonable to expect subscribers to see Carl@yahoo.com and go, “Great, an email from Carl Fiorentino”—especially with zero forewarning.

Lands’ End, 3/26 — New Mix & Match Swim Separates: you control the coverage
Although not quite as good as the animated gif that got them into the 2007 Design Hall of Fame, Lands’ End gives us another fantastic example of how to use an animated gif effectively. It’s a great demonstration of the product features of their adjustable swimwear.



Here’s the animated portion of that email:



RedEnvelope, 3/26 — The Ultimate Spring Break: UP TO 70% OFF
RedEnvelope is the latest retailer to jump on the preheader message bandwagon, adding one before their standard “click to view online” language and whitelisting instructions. Preheader messages give your main call-to-action prominence when images are block, when the email is viewed on a mobile device, and when viewed in preview panes. (Explore tag: Preheaders.)



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Crate & Barrel, 3/26 — Our new outdoor is in
Eddie Bauer, 3/26 — Dive into the NEW! 2008 Swimwear Collection.
Victoria’s Secret, 3/26 — Free Beach Bag with THE MIRACLE BRA SWIMWEAR purchase. Details Inside.
Brookstone, 3/26 — Mud season is here--protect your entryway floors!
Hanna Andersson, 3/26 — It's Short John Season...Share The Softness Of Organic Cotton!
Alloy, 3/26 — denim: inseams up to 37" + free shipping
SmartBargains, 3/26 — Michael Kors. We got it. Extra 20% off now & free shipping.
MLB, 3/26 — Watch the Japan Opening Series Now
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Season Finale: St. Patrick's Day 2008

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

Start to finish: The first reference to St. Patrick’s Day was on Jan. 24 from Lillian Vernon. The final reference was on March 20 from Art.com.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for St. Patrick’s Day emails was St. Patrick’s Day itself, March 17. Nearly a third of St. Patty’s Day emails were sent on that day. Retailers sent the majority of St. Patrick’s Day-themed emails after March 13.



Most interesting email: In a March 6 email with the subject line “10 Gifts of Good Luck for St. Patrick's Day,” RedEnvelope presented a nice range of 10 St. Paddy’s Day gifts. Would seven gifts be luckier than 10? Perhaps. But 10 is always a nice number.



Noteworthy trend: As in the past, there were several retailers that gave a little nod to St. Patrick’s Day by adding some green to their email designs, but didn’t go full bore with leprechauns and clovers. This March 14 Staples email is a great example, but RitzCamera, Bluefly and Avon (complete with green-eyed model) were among others that went green with their email designs. With the official start of spring happening just after St. Patrick’s Day, some of them used green in conjunction with spring promotions.



Unexpected relevance: St. Patrick’s Day is known for two things: wearing green and downing a pint. Sharper Image was hoping to catch people with the latter was top of mind with this March 17 email with the subject line “FREE SHIPPING on a D.U.I. Breath Test or Any $100 Order.” With the exception of possibly New Year’s Day, I can’t think of another day of the year when people might be more receptive to this product.



Standout subject lines:
DisneyShopping, 3/17 — Your Luck Has Struck! 30% Off Sitewide Extended 1 More DayChadwick’s, 3/17 — 99¢ Shipping is Back! Your Luck Is Looking Up!
SmartBargains, 3/17 — Today's your lucky day. 17% off (or more!) & ship for free.Norm Thompson, 3/14 — St. Patrick gives you FREE SHIPPING!Oriental Trading, 1/29 — Save some green for St. Patrick's Day

Read previous St. Patrick’s Day Season Finales: 2007

Read previous posts about St. Patrick’s Day emails.
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AM Inbox: His and Hers non-matching emails

>>Help reduce inbox congestion and frustration by sharing these inbox management tips.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Ralph Lauren, 3/25 — Our Legendary Colors of Spring
In the past I’ve lauded Gap for giving subscribers access to other versions for their emails by including links to men’s, women’s, etc. versions at the bottom of each email (see June 20 AM Inbox). You’ve already done the work of creating those other emails so why not get the most out of it by making it easily available to your subscribers of every email version? In this email, Ralph Lauren, via “For Him” and “For Her” tabs, gives subscribers access to both versions of their emails. They’ve done this before, on both Feb. 6 and 19 and possibly prior to that.





Harry & David, 3/25 — Have you tried the world's finest English Muffins?
Harry & David announces the newest member of the family, Wolferman’s. The language they use at the top of the email is eerily similar to what Gap Inc. has been using to spam their Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic subscribers with Piperlime email for over a year (see April 5 AM Inbox). I hope that’s not the direction that Harry & David is going. Hopefully they’ll return to their email template and integrate Wolferman’s products into that via banners and such. If they are planning to run a separate email program for Wolferman’s, then they should have been asking Harry & David subscribers to opt into that program, as Gap Inc. has done occasionally with Piperlime.



Musician’s Friend, 3/25 — Musician's Friend: Get up to $150 Tax Man Bonus Bucks for Gear!
This is an interesting tax season gimmick. Everyone’s familiar with gift cards and discounts toward future purchases as rewards for hitting order value thresholds. The twist here is that Musician’s Friend is holding off on delivering those rewards until tax day (details here), when some consumers will be feeling good about their refunds. Last year Tax Day was among the top 20 most popular days of the year to send retail email (see Reportlet: Retail Email Year-End Trends for 2007), so delivering rewards on that day is smart.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Saks Fifth Avenue, 3/25 — Jimmy Choo Exclusive Video
Crate & Barrel, 3/25 — Eco-friendly outdoor furniture
L.L. Bean, 3/25 — FREE Gift Card + Maine Isle Flip-Flops--Order Early
Banana Republic, 3/25 — Lighten up in fresh, versatile linen + Sale continues...
Neiman Marcus, 3/25 — FREE SHOE BAG during The Shoe Event + FREE SHIPPING
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AM Inbox: Turn traditional email design upside down

>>Share your thoughts about subscribe/unsubscribe practices. Take eROI’s survey.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Bloomingdale’s, 3/24 — See What's New From Tory Burch, Enjoy Free Shipping & Enter To Win
The email design used by Bloomingdale’s here is fairly traditional and logical: the main message and largest content block first, followed by secondary messages in banners. However, this traditional design doesn’t take into consideration the growing impact of preview panes. To optimize for preview panes, try moving one of those secondary banners up so that it falls after the header and before the main message. I call them “preview pane banners,” and I’m seeing them used more and more by retailers who want to get a second call-to-action into the preview pane space. If you’re not already doing this, give it a test and see if it lifts engagement.



Saks Fifth Avenue, 3/24 — Experience the First Ever Video catalog!
In this email, Saks Fifth Avenue proclaims the arrival of the first ever video catalog. Essentially it’s a little pseudo-catwalk action to accompany a catalog look to give you a better idea of how the garment moves when worn. In the email, they could have used more iconography to strengthen the video call-to-action, like adding a play button or video player interface frame. But the video element is clearly stated in the subject line, so that already sets expectations.



Chadwick’s, 3/24 — we'll pay you to ship your order. First time ever!
Now here’s a fresh spin on free shipping offers. What’s better than free? Getting paid. Chadwick’s is offering to “pay you $5 to ship your entire order.” Could this be the second coming of “free shipping”? [cue ominous music] Margins beware.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
RedEnvelope, 3/24 — 12 Gifts She'll Treasure
Gap, 3/24 — Up to 40% Off. The Spring Sale Is Here.
Old Navy, 3/24 — Spring Sale Is Here: Save Up to 40%
PetSmart, 3/24 — Products for spring cleaning plus an online photo contest!
Lands’ End, 3/24 — No iron? No problem. Women's wrinkle-free Pinpoints
eBags, 3/24 — eBags is headed to Paris with Team Slipstream/Chipotle
Brookstone, 3/24 — 15th Anniversary Celebration Sale on Tempur-Pedic
Hanna Andersson, 3/24 — Dive Into Our Pre-Season Swim Sale!
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AM Inbox: Rotating gifs in headers

>>Share your thoughts about subscribe/unsubscribe practices. Take eROI’s survey.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Banana Republic, 3/21 — They're here! Handbags at Piperlime.
This is a rare sight: a rotating gif in a header/navigation bar. Avon was the last retailer I’ve seen use animation in their header, and that was only a seasonal header for the holidays (see Dec. 7 AM Inbox). In this Banana Republic/Piperlime email, they use animation to draw attention to their free shipping and free returns offer a la Zappos. Animation used sparingly like this does a great job of drawing the eye to low-value screen real estate, like the upper right-hand corner. The only misstep here is that if the animation is blocked, readers don’t see any of that animation because the first frame is blank. They should have started with a full frame just in case the email was being viewed in Outlook 2007, which only shows the first frame of animated gifs. (Explore tag: Animation.)



Gap Inc. has been using their Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic lists to promote Piperlime for over a year now. It’s a practice that I don’t recommend, at least not for that length of time and with such little effort to find synergies between Piperlime’s products and those of the other brands (for instance, showing Piperlime shoes with Banana Republic outfits). Crate & Barrel similarly abuses their permission by sending their subscribers CB2 emails regularly, and J. Crew does the same thing with their Crewcuts brand for kids, regardless of whether subscribers indicate that they have kids or not. That kind of permission abuse can lead otherwise interested customers to unsubscribe because some of what they’re receiving from you is totally irrelevant to them and unwanted.

DisneyShopping, 3/21 — Join Our Easter Egg Hunt & Save Up to 40%
DisneyShopping uses a fun Easter egg gimmick to promote site browsing. Their egg hunt goes like this: “The more pages you visit, the more your chances increase to find an egg packed with savings of up to 40%. When you land on a page that has a hidden egg, it will drop and crack open to reveal the Promotion Code.” So the promotion encourages you to browse pages until you receive a promotional code. It’s a smart promotion that encourages interaction.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Finish Line, 3/21 — The Easter Bunny Wears Chucks----Do You?
Cooking.com, 3/21 — Hop-to-It! Savings
Furniture.com, 3/22 — Hop to It - This offer ends Sunday at midnight!
Circuit City, 3/23 — Eggs-clusively for you! Easter savings coupon inside
Ralph Lauren, 3/23 — Happy Easter From RalphLauren.com
Kmart, 3/21 — Last minute Easter Savings at Kmart
Chadwick’s, 3/21 — Take an Extra 50% off. From our Sr. Vice President!
SmartBargains, 3/21 — Just jetted in: Portuguese towel sets at an extra 20% off
Bluefly, 3/21 — NEW Shipment of Denim from J Brand, Joe's Jeans, True Religion...Up to 40% Off
J. Crew, 3/21 — boy's board shorts to dive for...
Spiegel, 3/23 — The #1 Dress of the Season says Harper's Bazaar and Spiegel +20% OFF
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Week-End Trends: Easter softness continues

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The RetailEmail Index rose 5% to 200 during the week ending March 21, and is up 3% from where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that the top 100 online retailers sent 2 promotional emails each on average last week.



RetailEmail Participation Rates: Last week, 92% of the retailers in the RetailEmail Index sent out at least one promotional email, up from 87% the week prior, and up from 89% during the 4-weeks-ago period.



RetailEmail Seasonality Meter: Despite being much less of a factor than it was last year, Easter continued to be the strongest seasonal influence last week, just ahead of St. Patrick’s day. Although only 7% of the week’s emails referenced St. Patrick’s Day, nearly 27% of the emails on Monday did.



Other things referenced by retailers: spring, spring break, March Madness
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Ping Time: Re-imagining email, Yahoo inblockes, etc.

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

>>Kevin Hillstrom of MineThatData says that it might be time to re-imagine email as an engagement tool instead of a sales tool. >>Follow the ping

>>Enid Burns of ClickZ brings up to date on the Yahoo deliverability problems. >>Follow the ping

>>Matt Blumberg of Return Path says that CAN-SPAM might just be useful at deterring spam after all. >>Follow the trail of convictions

>>In my Email Insider column this week, I share inbox management tips and ask if you have any more advice to help people become better email users. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: 'Back from jury duty' edition

>>I’ve spent the past couple of days doing my civic duty in our court system, but now I’m back in action. Here’s a catch-up version of AM Inbox to bring us back up to date…

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Omaha Steaks, 3/18 — SAVE 74% and Get a FREE Gift!
Omaha Steaks has redesigned their emails, debuting the new design in a March 10 email. The new design is not a radical departure from their previous design. For instance, both feature a fairly equal balance of images and HTML text, which allows their emails to stand up very well when images are block. The differences: They move the text to the right-hand side, dedicate more space to the headline, and add a signature from Fred Simon, Omaha Steak’s owner. They also have the headline promoting the package instead of the discount on the package, which is what they did before. The “74%” discount still appears in the subject line and in the body copy, but perhaps this is an attempt to dial back the price promotion just a smidge and stand more on the quality of their products, which are quite delicious.

Here’s the new design in this March 18 email…



…and here’s a March 3 email that’s indicative of the old design:



Neiman Marcus, 3/18 — Where to go for insider fashion & beauty news
While most retailers rarely if ever mention their blogs in their emails (if they indeed even have a blog), here’s Neiman Marcus dedicating an entire email to promoting their NM Insite blog with a mock magazine cover creative.



Sam’s Club, 3/20 — Introducing the Sam's Club Showcase of Savings
Looks like Sam’s Club will be branding one of their weekly emails the “Sam’s Club Showcase of Saving,” in which they will promote 10 deals that they feel highlight the Sam’s Club advantage. Sam’s Club typically sends one or two emails a week, so this new email format will represent a huge chunk of their email volume. This should be a good move for Sam’s Club. Their previous emails were generally rather long and tended to promote 20 or more products, so their emails lacked focus. With only 10 deals being highlighted, their emails will be easier to scan and will present only their best of the best deals.



RedEnvelope, 3/20 — Give Green and SAVE 20%
This email gives me an opportunity to remind everyone that Earth Day is a month away. Last year, April 22 was a letdown. But since then, retailers seem to have woken up to the earth-friendly opportunity and have responded with a variety of eco-friendly emails, including this one from RedEnvelope.



Circuit City, 3/20 — You have 3 days to catch our Spring Fever Sale
In addition to promoting individual products, email is a great way to prod customers to explore product categories. Circuit City does that in this email with these product finder callouts, with their tools allowing you to narrow your search by brand, product features and price.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Macy’s, 3/20 — Shop the Easter Sale & Men's Wardrobe Event + Free Shipping on bed & bath
Hallmark, 3/20 — 3 days till Easter. Treats under $15 inside!
Harry & David, 3/19 — THIS SUNDAY is Easter! We Can Still Guarantee They'll Get Your Gift.
Cooking.com, 3/18 — Spring Holiday Recipes: Easter Menus & Desserts + Passover Preview
FTD, 3/20 — Save Over 25% on the FTD® Easter Lily Today
Blair, 3/20 — Welcome spring with 25% savings
Gap, 3/18 — The Season of the Dress. Are You Ready?
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 3/18 — Great Deals on Spring Sports
L.L. Bean, 3/18 — Free $10 Gift Card + Signs of Spring, Now Arriving
Kmart, 3/18 — Spring Fashions up to 70% off
eBags, 3/20 — Roll into Spring with exclusive savings for Insiders
KB Toys, 3/18 — Popular Outdoor Toys In Stock Now
Ralph Lauren, 3/18 — Summer's Almost Here. Don't Forget Your Shorts
Victoria’s Secret, 3/18 — Swim into Summer Style
Furniture.com, 3/20 — Makeover Madness: Take 10% off during our Spring Celebration!
Spiegel, 3/18 — What to Wear to a Wedding? The Perfect Looks are Here! + Pay Nothing Until July!
Williams-Sonoma, 3/18 — New + Exclusive: Bialetti Glass Cappuccino Maker
Sears, 3/18 — Incredible Online Only Deals - End tomorrow at 12AM!
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AM Inbox: Use your subject lines and preview pane space wisely

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

J. Crew, 3/17 — As seen in the the New York Times...
First, J. Crew repeats the word “the” in the subject line, so they’re being a bit sloppy out of the gate. But more importantly, they make the subscriber work really hard to decipher what this email is about. The subject line really doesn’t help you at all. I’m not sure that anyone cares that this (whatever it is) appeared in the New York Times, presumably in the form of an ad (but I don’t know for sure since I only read the Times online). If you didn’t see the Times, then you’re left scratching your head as to what this might be about and whether this message is really for you. It’s really a bit alienating. J. Crew continues its unhelpful streak but making incredibly poor use of the preview pane and above the fold real estate. All they give you is a model shot and their logo—and even that is faint and hard to read. Here’s what they give you above the fold:



It’s not until you scroll down that you discover all the useful information below the fold:



Don’t make it difficult for subscribers to engage with you. Respect their time by making smart use of subject lines and preview pane real estate.

Petco, 3/17 — PETCO / Happy St. Patrick's Day! 17% Off Sitewide - 2 Days Only!
About a quarter of the retail emails yesterday referenced St. Patrick’s Day. You can see many of the St. Patty’s Day-themed subject lines in the Subjectivity Scanner below. The thing that I thought was noteworthy about this email in particular was that Petco changed the color of their hyperlinks from blue to green. I didn’t see anyone else do that. It was a nice, unique touch.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Art.com, 3/17 — Feeling Lucky? Click for 25% Off entire site
Coldwater Creek, 3/17 — What luck! Up to 80% off everything in Outlet
Bluefly, 3/17 — Luck of the Irish: Enjoy $20 Off
Norm Thompson, 3/17 — More FREE-SHIP items just added...last day!
Avon, 3/17 — TODAY ONLY: Celebrate with FREE SHIPPING & up to 50% SAVINGS
Overstock, 3/17 — 7% OFF COUPON - TODAY ONLY
DisneyShopping, 3/17 — Your Luck Has Struck! 30% Off Sitewide Extended 1 More Day
SmartBargains, 3/17 — Today's your lucky day. 17% off (or more!) & ship for free.
RedEnvelope, 3/17 — SAVE 20% on your order. It's your lucky day!
Chadwick’s, 3/17 — 99¢ Shipping is Back! Your Luck Is Looking Up!
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AM Inbox: Making preference updates fun

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Spiegel, 3/16 — What's Your Signature Style? Take our Quiz & Find Out!
Updating preferences can seem arduous, but Spiegel has disguised this in the form of a style quiz. You answer a dozen or so entertaining questions and Spiegel tells you which of six styles fits you best: Modern Romantic, Natural Sophistication, Simple Chic, Relaxed Glamour, Definitely Dramatic and Understated Elegance.



The page for each of those six styles includes fabric recommendations and links outfit recommendations. They also allow the person to forward the quiz to friends and sign up to receive emails with product recommendations based on their style. For instance, here’s the page for Simple Chic.



This is a rich campaign that smartly draws from fashion and lifestyle women’s magazines for inspiration to gather segmentation data for better targeting.

Blair, 3/14 — Save 20% off everything this weekend
In this St. Patrick’s Day-themed email, Blair has changed their preheader, adding a preheader message that conveys the main call-to-action of the email and links to the landing page for that call-to-action. Here’s their new preheader…



…and here’s the old preheader from a March 11 email:



Gap and Circuit City are among the other major retailers that have changed their preheaders this month. (Explore tag: Preheaders.)

Sephora, 3/16 — The 2-Day Hair Diet: 48 hours of gorgeous strands
This is another great example of putting products in a context that consumers can appreciate. Here Sephora constructs a 2-day hair diet boot camp that demonstrates how a set of products can work together.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Norm Thompson, 3/14 — St. Patrick gives you FREE SHIPPING!
Walgreens, 3/16 — Lucky You: Save 25% on Select Photo Gifts + Prints
eBags, 3/14 — 4 days only: St. Patrick's Day savings starts now.
Dell, 3/14 — Score Big With Up to $500 Off Select HDTVs and $200 Off Select XPS Systems.
Northern Tool, 3/16 — Chad, Spring Preview At Northern Tool + Equipment
Kmart, 3/14 — Martha Stewart Everyday Garden Party Sale
RadioShack, 3/16 — Start your next great family vacation at RadioShack.
Lands’ End, 3/14 — Shipping rolled back a few decades: flat $3, all orders
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 3/13 — After Hours Sale - Sunday, March 16th
Bluefly, 3/15 — Prints Galore -- Up to 40% Off This Season's Hottest Trend
L.L. Bean, 3/14 — Free $10 Gift Card: Limited-Time Offer
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Week-End Trends: Easter more subdued this year

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The RetailEmail Index fell 1% to 191 during the week ending March 14, and is down 5% from where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that on average the top 100 online retailers each sent about 1.9 promotional emails last week.



RetailEmail Participation Rates: Last week, 87% of the retailers in the RetailEmail Index send out at least one promotional email, down from 90% the week prior, but on par with the 4-weeks-ago period.



RetailEmail Seasonality Meter: Easter is leading the way again this week but Easter references are considerably less frequent than last year with only a week to go before Easter. This past week we had our first references to Mother’s Day (May 11) and Father’s Day (June 15). To help plan your campaigns for these holidays, check out the Mother’s Day Season Finale and Father’s Day Season Finale from last year.



Other things referenced by retailers: spring, March Madness, summer
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Ping Time: Button quiz, the source of deliverability problems, etc.

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

>>Lisa Harmon of Smith-Harmon issues a challenge to all button buffs, presenting them with buttons to match up with the retailers that use them. She also shares her secret formula for a Bulletproof Button. >>Follow the ping

>>Denise Cox talks about deliverability issues and how most problems can be traced back to the marketer. She identifies the most common culprits. >>Follow the ping to accountability

>>Loren McDonald of Silverpop presents a great example of a retailer’s failure to pay attention to customers’ purchases and adjust their messaging appropriately. >>Follow the ping

>>Kath Pay announces the UK DMA’s newly re-designed Infobox is now available to non-members. >>Follow the ping

>>Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports discusses several things you can learn by paying attention to when your emails are opened. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: From soft launch to hard launch

>>Two-Click Survey: Which is more important to generating opens: the sender name or subject line? See the results.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Overstock, 3/13 — Introducing the new Overstock.com Cars
Email is a great way to soft launch a new category or service. Just start with small references in your emails and when you’re ready for a hard launch, send out a dedicated email on the subject. Overstock has been quietly touting the new Overstock.com Cars store for a little over a month now in their newsletters with a small banner near the bottom of their emails. Now they’re ready for more traffic and are stoking interest with this dedicated email. There still might be some bugs to work out though. I did a search for Honda Civic Hybrids in Manhattan and quickly found my way to a 404 error.



Finish Line, 3/13 — Go Green!
St. Patrick’s Day references have been a bit muted this year, but perhaps activity will pick up today and over the weekend. Where’s the love of the Irish? In last year’s St. Patrick’s Day Season Finale I accused Finish Line of being lazy with their St. Patty’s Day references because all they did was slap some four-leaf clovers on their email. They tried a bit harder this year, giving subscribers a selection of green shoes.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Newegg, 3/13 — Lucky You! Antec Sweepstakes and Asus Eee PC $299.99 with Free Notebook Backpack
Williams-Sonoma, 3/13 — Easter Sale: Save up to 60%
Harry & David, 3/13 — Bunny Bonus: FREE Eggs-press Delivery Upgrade on select gifts!
Sam’s Club, 3/13 — Spring Break Savings at Sam's Club
Home Depot, 3/13 — Springtime Project Ideas
Ralph Lauren, 3/13 — Ralph Lauren Redefines The Classics In Signature Bright Colors
KB Toys, 3/13 — Save Big on Toys for Spring
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AM Inbox: Bed Bath & Beyond redesigns header

>>Free webinar on the digital consumer on March 20. Get the details and register today.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Bed Bath & Beyond, 3/12 — Easter Entertaining and Décor
Bed Bath & Beyond as redesign their header, adding an extensive list of departments. In addition to the laundry list of departments, they drop the gift card reference from the header and replace it with tons of white space. Surely there’s a better use of that prime screen real estate: a store locator link, a search box or link,… Their website is still using the old nav bar, so perhaps this augers a site redesign in the near future.

Here’s the new header…



…and here’s the old header from a Feb. 7 email:



Bluefly, 3/12 — Lust Have Shoes for Spring: Up to 40% Off Prada, Cole Haan, Gucci...
A fantastic pun on “must-have”—now if only they’d remembered to hyphenate it, per the rules for multiword adjectives.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
FTD, 3/12 — Save 25% and Send the Luck of the Irish
Harry & David, 3/12 — LAST DAY for Standard Delivery by Easter. Hop to it!
Nordstrom, 3/12 — Free Shipping, Every Day (Details Inside) Free People's Spring Collections
Target, 3/12 — The clean sweep: Free shipping on select furniture and decor.
TigerDirect, 3/12 — 2gb SD $9 (Won't Last!)...3-way SLI Mobo + Quad CPU Special (Must See!)
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AM Inbox: Art.com demonstrates how your preferences will be used

>>Free webinar on the digital consumer on March 20. Get the details and register today.

RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Art.com, 3/11 — Free Shipping - 3 Days Only!
This is the most inventive and relevant way that I’ve seen a retailer ask for subscribers to update their preferences. This shows them very concretely how their indicated preferences will be used.



Gap, 3/11 — Best of the Season: The Sunkissed Khaki
Gap has added a preheader message to their emails, making it easy for folks with images blocked or viewing the email on their mobile device to take action. In this case, Gap has put the preheader message before both the “click to view online” link and the whitelisting instructions. It’s also worth noting that Gap swapped the position of those other two elements as well, putting the “click to view online” link before the whitelisting instructions.

Here’s the new preheader…



…and here’s the old preheader from a March 4 email:



Crutchfield, 3/11 — Free matching stand and big savings with Samsung big-screens
It’s not quite serialized content because they all point to the same page of Q&A’s, but Crutchfield is counting down their five most commonly asked questions. And as usual, they’re including pictures of staff, which adds a great humanizing touch.



Dell, 3/11 — One Day to Score Up to $499 in Savings on Select Systems
Tying it to the start of March Madness, Dell has been highlighting a deal-a-day offer in their emails, although they haven’t been sending an email everyday to do so. (Explore tag: Deal-a-Day Campaigns)



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
Williams-Sonoma, 3/11 — Hop to It! Great Easter Gifts
Hallmark, 3/11 — The Hunt for Easter Savings Starts Here--Get FREE Shipping Over $39.95
Hanna Andersson, 3/11 — Beautiful Skies Of Blue For Your Family Celebrations
TigerDirect, 3/11 — March TV Madness: 42" HDTV $699...23" HDTV $299
Blair, 3/11 — It's madness! Prices as low as $7.99
L.L. Bean, 3/11 — Our $12.50 Tees: "Stains Magically Washed Out"
Walgreens, 3/11 — Clingtastic! Save 33% on Photo Clings
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