Start to finish: The first reference to Valentine’s Day was on Jan. 5 by Orvis. The final reference was on Feb. 16 by FTD.
The distribution curve: The biggest day for Valentine’s Day emails was Feb. 4. Retailers sent the majority of their Valentine’s Day-themed emails after Feb. 2.
Most interesting email: Trying to better target those subscribers who are in the market for a Valentine’s Day gift, in a Feb. 2 email, Blue Nile introduced a special “Valentine’s Day Treasures” email series that required an additional opt-in. Special email series like this are fairly popular during the holiday season (explore Special Email Series tag), but are pretty rare outside of November and December, so it really got my attention. While early February may seem a little on the late side to be promoting a Valentine’s Day series, Blue Nile is known for quick turnarounds on orders, with 2-day shipping their standard. And they often offer free overnight shipping when crunch time arrives.
JCPenney, which has done countdowns to Christmas, ties the same urgency tactic with their Valentine’s Day emails. As in the past, they update the image file daily so that the email correctly states the number of days left until Valentine’s Day regardless of when it’s opened. They also use some animation to draw attention to the countdown.
And here is the animated portion:
Standout call-to-action: In a Jan. 30 email with the subject line “Love The Mini. Adore the Price.”, Dell backs up a nice Mini-heart design with a “Get What Everyone’s Talking About” call-to-action. They also replaced their usual “Send to a Friend” CTA with the more seasonal “Share the Love”.
Standout subject lines:
Finish Line, 2/13 — XOXO--Free Shipping--XOXO
J. Crew, 2/9 — Free shipping + J.Crew = Love.
Oriental Trading, 1/31 — Cupid's coming: get reduced shipping + a free gift
Tiffany, 1/16 — Cupid's Secret Weapon
Frederick’s, 1/21 — Set hearts aflame + free shipping.
Tiffany, 1/23 — Love at First Sight, Plus Complimentary Shipping
Harry & David, 1/26 — Perfect match: Gifts as extraordinary as your Valentine.
Harry & David, 2/9 — Express Your Love (just in time) … with a FREE Express Delivery Upgrade!
Tiffany, 1/31 — Make a Date with Tiffany for Valentine's Day
Costco, 2/6 — Only 3 Days Left! Have You Ordered Her Flowers Yet?
Subject lines that stand out for the wrong reasons:
TigerDirect, 1/27 — 100 Deals Under $100: 1tb Ext HD $99...New GPS w/ Case $99...19" LCD $99...V-Day Deals from $22.99
I suppose the approach to Valentine’s Day is an appropriate time to promote V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. But having a V-Day sale is a bit tacky. Perhaps TigerDirect would have been better off just promoting “Valentine’s Day” deals.
Harry & David, 2/5 — Ladies: Here's the Way to Your Man's Heart! FREE delivery on select gifts for Valentine's Day!
Harry & David didn’t gender segment this campaign so all the men on their email list also got this email addressing them as “ladies.”
Read previous Valentine’s Day Season Finales: 2008, 2007
Explore Valentine’s Day tag.
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4 comments:
I hope Costco segmented by gender on that one, and...sexual orientation?
That's a good point, Linda. I caught the gender problem in the Harry & David subject line, but somehow looked over the Costco one. Thanks.
As a Mac enthusiast, the DELL ad subject line would have been confusing to me. The design is great though.
The Dell Ad is really cool.. the best..
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