AM Inbox: If two nav bars are better than one, then three…
The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:
Old Navy, 6/26 — New Arrivals $10 & Up, Plus $5 Swim & Shorts for the Family
How effective does Old Navy think navigation bars are? So effective that they’ve put the same nav bar in this email three times—once below the header, again in the primary message, and finally once more in the secondary message. I particularly like the arrow head on that last one. It’s like the caret so often used at the end of calls-to-action; it strengthens the signal to “click here.” For more on email navigation, download Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation for free.
HSN, 6/28 — Customer Picks: Top-Rated Favorites
HSN has redesigned their header and navigation bar. Besides updating the branding to match their website, they’ve made better use of the whitespace in their header so that the new header is about 25% shorter than their old one. That will allow more of the primary message to be displayed in the preview pane. The nav bar links are the same, but HSN has changed the color to white text on blue. Unfortunately, the nav links are graphical text instead of HTML text floated over a blue background color. Here’s their new header and nav:
And here’s the old header and nav from a June 20 email:
REI, 6/26 — REI Summer Sale and Clearance on Now
REI has added icons to their “click to view” links. I don’t believe I’ve seen any of the other retailers I track doing that. Icons and buttons tend to add visibility to links, so I wonder if more folks will click on those links, giving them a better idea of the percentage of subscribers who are viewing their emails on mobile devices and with images off.
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/26 — Amazing Digital Albums, Frames, & More
Some products scream for animated gif treatments. Digital photo frames are definitely one of those.
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sports Authority, 6/28 — 4th of July Celebration: $25 Off $100 Order + Summertime Deals
Cabela’s, 6/27 — 4th of July Sale @ Cabelas.com
Office Depot, 6/26 — 4th of July Blowout. Plus 2-Day Coupon
HPshopping, 6/28 — HP's Fourth of July Sale STARTS NOW!
Toys “R” Us, 6/26 — Summer's Here! Enjoy Big Fun and Big Savings at Toys"R"Us
Lands’ End, 6/26 — Up to 40% off Summer Sale Favorites + Free Shipping
JC Whitney, 6/26 — Jump Start Summer Free Shipping Plus $30 Off!
Neiman Marcus, 6/28 — FALL PREVIEW: The best of runways first
eBags, 6/28 — Is it wrong to love bags this much?
Musician’s Friend, 6/27 — Musician's Friend: Announcing Used Gear! Up To 60% Off MSRP
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive
Old Navy, 6/26 — New Arrivals $10 & Up, Plus $5 Swim & Shorts for the Family
How effective does Old Navy think navigation bars are? So effective that they’ve put the same nav bar in this email three times—once below the header, again in the primary message, and finally once more in the secondary message. I particularly like the arrow head on that last one. It’s like the caret so often used at the end of calls-to-action; it strengthens the signal to “click here.” For more on email navigation, download Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation for free.
HSN, 6/28 — Customer Picks: Top-Rated Favorites
HSN has redesigned their header and navigation bar. Besides updating the branding to match their website, they’ve made better use of the whitespace in their header so that the new header is about 25% shorter than their old one. That will allow more of the primary message to be displayed in the preview pane. The nav bar links are the same, but HSN has changed the color to white text on blue. Unfortunately, the nav links are graphical text instead of HTML text floated over a blue background color. Here’s their new header and nav:
And here’s the old header and nav from a June 20 email:
REI, 6/26 — REI Summer Sale and Clearance on Now
REI has added icons to their “click to view” links. I don’t believe I’ve seen any of the other retailers I track doing that. Icons and buttons tend to add visibility to links, so I wonder if more folks will click on those links, giving them a better idea of the percentage of subscribers who are viewing their emails on mobile devices and with images off.
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/26 — Amazing Digital Albums, Frames, & More
Some products scream for animated gif treatments. Digital photo frames are definitely one of those.
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sports Authority, 6/28 — 4th of July Celebration: $25 Off $100 Order + Summertime Deals
Cabela’s, 6/27 — 4th of July Sale @ Cabelas.com
Office Depot, 6/26 — 4th of July Blowout. Plus 2-Day Coupon
HPshopping, 6/28 — HP's Fourth of July Sale STARTS NOW!
Toys “R” Us, 6/26 — Summer's Here! Enjoy Big Fun and Big Savings at Toys"R"Us
Lands’ End, 6/26 — Up to 40% off Summer Sale Favorites + Free Shipping
JC Whitney, 6/26 — Jump Start Summer Free Shipping Plus $30 Off!
Neiman Marcus, 6/28 — FALL PREVIEW: The best of runways first
eBags, 6/28 — Is it wrong to love bags this much?
Musician’s Friend, 6/27 — Musician's Friend: Announcing Used Gear! Up To 60% Off MSRP
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive
Labels: AM Inbox, Animation, Design Issues, Email Redesigns, HSN, Navigation, Old Navy, Preheaders, REI, Saks Fifth Avenue
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posted at 10:19 AM 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.
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