AM Inbox: Non-promotional content to hook subscribers
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The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:
Ralph Lauren, 7/23 — Polo Golf Salutes Tom Watson's Historic Run
Emails that play off current events in a non-promotional way can really add some much needed variety to your email program. This Ralph Lauren email is a good example of that. As they say in journalism, the hook for this email is Tom Watson’s victory in the British Open. It highlights their 16-year sponsorship of Watson and involvement in golf, which strengthens their brand messaging. While there’s a link to their Polo golf apparel, it’s a secondary banner, so the “buy now” message isn’t in your face. They’ve captured subscribers’ interest with the non-promotional message, which should make them more willing to explore the promotional message.
My only question about this creative is: Since the text is on the right, would the call-to-action have received more eyeballs had Ralph Lauren flipped the image so that Watson was looking at it, like so:
UPDATE: I didn't take the time to flip the Polo logo to the other side of his shirt, but a little artful Photoshopping could fix that. The other option to test, of course, is moving the text box to the left-hand side of the design, like so:
OfficeMax, 7/23 — $30 Coupon - Save Through Friday
OfficeMax, 7/23 — 2 Days Left to Save - $30 Coupon
OfficeMax was running an A/B subject line test with this email, but apparently didn’t keep its groups separate because I got both them. In this test, they varied the placement of the time and promotional elements, plus the wording of the time element (specific day vs. number of days left).
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
J&R, 7/23 — Back To School Savings: Apple Macbook 13.3" Now $999.99 + FREE SHIPPING
Toys “R” Us, 7/23 — Friday & Saturday Buy More, Save More 2-Day Sale – It’s Christmas in July!
NikeStore, 7/23 — Track Your Runs With the Nike+ SportBand
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The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:
Ralph Lauren, 7/23 — Polo Golf Salutes Tom Watson's Historic Run
Emails that play off current events in a non-promotional way can really add some much needed variety to your email program. This Ralph Lauren email is a good example of that. As they say in journalism, the hook for this email is Tom Watson’s victory in the British Open. It highlights their 16-year sponsorship of Watson and involvement in golf, which strengthens their brand messaging. While there’s a link to their Polo golf apparel, it’s a secondary banner, so the “buy now” message isn’t in your face. They’ve captured subscribers’ interest with the non-promotional message, which should make them more willing to explore the promotional message.
My only question about this creative is: Since the text is on the right, would the call-to-action have received more eyeballs had Ralph Lauren flipped the image so that Watson was looking at it, like so:
UPDATE: I didn't take the time to flip the Polo logo to the other side of his shirt, but a little artful Photoshopping could fix that. The other option to test, of course, is moving the text box to the left-hand side of the design, like so:
OfficeMax, 7/23 — $30 Coupon - Save Through Friday
OfficeMax, 7/23 — 2 Days Left to Save - $30 Coupon
OfficeMax was running an A/B subject line test with this email, but apparently didn’t keep its groups separate because I got both them. In this test, they varied the placement of the time and promotional elements, plus the wording of the time element (specific day vs. number of days left).
SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
J&R, 7/23 — Back To School Savings: Apple Macbook 13.3" Now $999.99 + FREE SHIPPING
Toys “R” Us, 7/23 — Friday & Saturday Buy More, Save More 2-Day Sale – It’s Christmas in July!
NikeStore, 7/23 — Track Your Runs With the Nike+ SportBand
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive
Labels: A/B Testing, AM Inbox, Design Issues, OfficeMax, Oopsy, Ralph Lauren, Subject Lines
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posted at 10:33 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.
3 Comments:
Would you not place the text to the left of the image to achieve the same result as your flip? That would also allow for left to right reading and you'd be sure the text appears in all vertical preview panes. I enjoy golf but did not know what Tom Watson looked like. When I first looked at the picture I did not see Tom Watson but an older guy wearing a very uncomfortable looking turtleneck.
Scott, that's definitely the other--and probably best--way to go. I've updated the post to include that option. Thanks.
I totally agree with the last one
We made a lot of best to figure about this
A face looking at the text increase the click on the call to action
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