Season Finale: Father's Day 2009

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

Start to finish: The first reference to Father’s Day was on May 12 by Barnes & Noble. The final reference was on June 22, the day after Father’s Day.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for Father’s Day emails was Sunday, June 14, followed by Sunday, June 7. Retailers sent the majority of their Father’s Day-themed emails after June 8.



Most interesting emails: This June 13 Neiman Marcus really stood out because of its soft-sell approach, appealing to subscribers’ feeling toward their fathers rather than a discount. The black-and-white treatment adds to the sentimentality and timelessness of the moment, and gives them an older feel, which probably appeals to their older customer base. I imagine that these are photos of NM staff members’ fathers.



This May 28 email from Orvis is a solid example of messaging aimed at presenting a variety of gift paths—from a number of product categories and personalized gifts to an experiential gift of fly fishing school.



Home Depot does a good job of working lots of elements into this May 28 Father’s Day email. There’s a viral appeal, three highlighted product categories, a countdown until the end of guaranteed delivery with standard shipping, a box about gift cards, and a “shop by price” module.



Most bizarre email: There were many retailers that mixed Father’s Day and graduation messaging, a well-established “dads and grads” tradition. But you have to be careful when changing the language associated with various images. In this June 9 email, Office Depot pairs Father’s Day messaging with a graduation message. Presumably, at some point the language referenced both Father’s Day and graduation.



Standout subject lines:
Hallmark, 6/17 — Father's Day is Sunday! Get great ideas for Dad!!‏
NFLshop, 6/15 — Guaranteed Delivery for Father's Day + Great Gift Ideas‏
Neiman Marcus, 6/13 — FATHER'S DAY is June 21 + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
Orvis, 6/8 — Free Shipping - We make it easy to find the perfect Father's Day gift.‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/8 — Father's Day Best Sellers‏
Sports Authority, 6/7 — Father's Day Gift Center + $10 Off Your $50 Purchase‏
Costco, 6/6 — Celebrate Dad and Make Lasting Memories!‏
Home Depot, 5/28 — Make Dad Happy and Save!‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 5/29 — Gift Ideas for Every Dad‏

Read previous Father’s Day Season Finales: 2008, 2007

Explore Father’s Day tag.
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AM Inbox: List hygiene and preference updates ahead of holidays

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Lane Bryant, 6/29 — Adjust Your Fashion Attitude + Summer Sale‏
In the months ahead we’ll be seeing many more messages like this one asking subscribers to update their account information to ensure that fall and Christmas catalogs get to the right address and that emails are heading to the most current addresses. We’ll also see retailers asking subscribers to update their preferences to ensure that their emails are the most relevant going into the holiday season.



Diamond.com, 6/29 — First Lady Inspired Style - 20% OFF Plus Free Shipping‏
With the 4th of July in a few days, it seems like an appropriate time to hook an email to the President or First Lady. Michelle Obama has become a well-established fashion plate by all the fashion and celebrity magazines, so playing off that in emails like this makes sense. While a picture of the First Lady would have made sense here, the other thing that was a bit confusing was that the “know more” call-to-action links to a kind of junky looking blog that doesn’t carry any Diamond.com branding but does have links to sister brand Ice.com. I found myself confused about the relationship between Diamond.com and the blog.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
1800Flowers, 6/29 — Celebrate the Fourth with gifts starting at $24.99!‏
Cooking.com, 6/29 — Recipes for Fourth: Stuffed Burgers, Grilled Veggies + Frozen Chocolate Desserts‏
Coldwater Creek, 6/29 — Catch the spirit! Shop our TOP stars of summer‏
Hanna Andersson, 6/29 — Take A Sneak Peek At New Fall Backpacks!‏
Home Depot, 6/29 — New Lower Prices on Summer Essentials‏
Alloy, 6/29 — Best of Summer: Up to 30% Off + Free Shipping‏
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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
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Week-End Trends: 4th of July references to explode

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index fell 6% to 241 during the week ending June 26, 2009, and is on par with where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that the top 100 online retailers sent about 2.4 promotional emails each on average last week.

Year-over-year, the Retail Email Index is up 15% (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).



The Retail Email Participation Rate: In a rare occurrence, Monday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: The 4th of July will mentioned in about one-third of retail emails this week. Also, references to back to school should pick up this week and will be the dominant seasonal reference for the remainder of the summer.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Independence Day (7/4): 4th of July 2008 Season Finale
Back to school (June-Sept.): Back to School 2008 Season Finale
Labor Day (9/7): Labor Day 2008 Season Finale
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Ping Time: FixOutlook, email-social integration, etc.

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

>>The Email Standards Project is trying to send a message to Microsoft that it REALLY needs to fix Outlook with its new FixOutlook initiative. Support this effort. >>Follow the parade of marketers supporting HTML and CSS standards

>>And here’s Microsoft’s arrogant response to the Email Standards Project’s FixOutlook initiative. (They’re so interested in what the email community has to say that they’ve cut off comments.) >>Follow the ping

>>The Email Experience Council’s Email Design Roundtable members share a discussion of how to integrate email and social media. >>Follow the ping

>>Anna Yeaman of Style Campaign discusses how to add 360 views of products to emails. >>Follow the ping

>>Kelly Lorenz of Bronto Software correctly advises us to not send opt-out confirmation emails. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss the fall of direct mail and the rise of social media and the effects those will have on email marketing. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Firing off a list of benefits

Executive Series on Email Marketing: How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail. Download this free report now.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Urban Outfitters, 6/25 — URBAN IN YR MOBILE‏
Urban Outfitters announces that they’ve launched a mobile website. Two things that I like about this email: (1) I like how Urban Outfitters uses highlighting to create buttons. None of the other retailers I track does that, so it’s unique designwise. And (2) I like their use of bullets and short copy listed the benefits. Bullets are used much more in B2B marketing, but there are certainly opportunities for B2C marketers to use them. They make emails much more scannable.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Kmart, 6/25 — Free Shipping and Online Only Deals at the Pre-4th of July Sale‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 6/25 — New looks for Back to School‏
SonyStyle, 6/25 — Free shipping on Sony products for all your Summer activities‏
Coldwater Creek, 6/25 — 25% off! Indulge in New Looks. Decadent details. Sweet value!
Gap, 6/25 — Don't Miss Our New Arrivals. Plus, Last Chance to Get 20% Off Sale.‏
Bloomingdale’s, 6/25 — What Every Man Must Have‏
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AM Inbox: Buy.com returns with another Tweet n Seek game

Executive Series on Email Marketing: How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail. Download this free report now.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Buy.com, 6/24 — Hurry - Buy.com's Tweet n Seek II is On Now‏
After debuting their Tweet n Seek game at the end of last month (see May 28 AM Inbox), Buy.com returns with a new Tweet n Seek, which it promoted in this email. This time around a lot more gifts are being offered, with the list of prizes dominating this email much more than the last. The email design could benefit greatly from a button directing folks to the contest rules and to Buy.com’s Twitter stream, which you’re required to follow to participate in the game. The current design doesn’t give subscribers much direction and seems more informative than directive. As before, the game promises to take you on a hunt for answers that will take you to buy.com and other websites. It’s a very clever way of engaging subscribers across multiple digital channels and exposing them to several popular products and tools.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Linens ’n Things, 6/24 — Are You Ready for the 4th? Save up to 88%
Cabela’s, 6/24 — 4th of July Sale @ Cabelas.com‏
AbeBooks, 6/24 — Best of the Summer Reading Lists‏
Fingerhut, 6/24 — Fingerhut: Save 10% + Stay Cool with Home Cooling Products‏
Ann Taylor, 6/24 — Jewelry & Sunglasses: 30% Off + Save up to 60% Off during the Semi-Annual Sale‏
L.L. Bean, 6/24 — Start Packing: Summer Vacation Favorites from $19.95‏
Lands’ End, 6/24 — 2 days only: 40% off Beach Living Swimwear + Free Shipping‏
Norm Thompson, 6/24 — The envelope, please! See what you've won...‏
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AM Inbox: Color swatch treatments

Executive Series on Email Marketing: How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail. Download this free report now.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Bed Bath & Beyond, 6/23 — Luxurious Royal Velvet® bath towels in 24 amazing, brilliant, perfect colors.
I’ve been a little obsessed with swatch treatments in emails lately. This Bed Bath & Beyond email gives us three in the same creative: (1) the life-size stack of towels along the right-hand side of the design, which is a great device for encouraging scrolling; (2) the fan of bath mats; and (3) the swatch boxes for the shower curtains. Demonstrating the colors available for a particular item may be just the thing that gets subscribers clicking to learn more, so look for creative ways to integrate that information into your emails.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Bass Pro Shops, 6/23 — 4th of July Savings at BassPro.com‏
Spiegel, 6/23 — FREE SHIPPING + Up to 70% OFF at Our PRIVATE Pre-July 4th SALE!‏
MLB, 6/23 — Kids & Summer, a Great Combination!
Oriental Trading, 6/23 — Summer parties start here - and delivery is free‏
Office Depot, 6/23 — 10% is 10%. Why spend it when you can save it?
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AM Inbox: The style quiz that wasn't

Executive Series on Email Marketing: How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail. Download this free report now.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

The Company Store, 6/22 — Save on Sheets & Much More - Summer White Sale‏
I’ve been researching polls in emails for a client for the past few days so I got excited when I saw this email. But my excitement quickly ebbed when I discovered it wasn’t a poll after all. It was just copy that linked to a landing page for their White Sale. This was a big missed opportunity. Not only could they have linked to individual landing pages for the three style choices, which would have provided easier browsing and likely boosted conversion rates, but they also missed the opportunity to collect preference data that could have been used for a triggered email featuring the chosen style, future segmentation for hero images, or dynamic content in future emails.



Omaha Steaks, 6/22 — Want 74% Savings PLUS Free Burgers, Free Cutlery and Free Cutting Board? Just open this...
Omaha Steaks promoted a true “style” quiz in this email, with the landing page asking 10 questions to determine what cut of steak is best for you. I question the science behind this quiz, but it was still interesting and I’m sure lots of subscribers took the quiz just for the heck of it. Other style quizzes include Oriental Trading’s Duck Personality Quiz (see Apr. 27 AM Inbox) and most notably Spiegel’s Signature Style Quiz (see March 17, 2008 AM Inbox). The question now is whether Omaha Steaks leverages the results of these quizzes in future emails.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Orvis, 6/22 — 25 patriotic styles to show your colors this 4th of July.
Hanna Andersson, 6/22 — New! Save On Stars And Stripes For Babies, Girls And Boys!
Cooking.com, 6/22 — Quick Fourth of July Recipes: Potato Salads, Corn Salads + Bean Salads‏
Bluefly, 6/22 — EXTRA 10% OFF Everything - Summer's Officially Here!
J. Crew, 6/22 — NEW ARRIVALS: love them...need them...can't resist them (+ free shipping)
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Executive Series on Email Marketing: How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail

The knowledge and expertise needed to succeed at email marketing is significantly different from what’s needed to excel at direct mail and online marketing.

The third installment in our Executive Series on Email Marketing, “How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail,” helps you make this case to executives who may not fully understand the email channel. The one-page issue explores four critical ways that email and direct mail are different with supporting data from surveys and studies. It's also accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation that includes supporting charts and graphs to make sharing the information easier.

>>Download “How Email Marketing Is Different from Direct Mail” for free. (This is a direct download of the zip file. There are no forms to complete.)

Other reports available from Smith-Harmon (which is now part of Responsys):
Email Design Look Book 2009
Why the Marginal Cost of Sending 1 More Email is Higher than You Think
Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation
Why Now Is a Critical Time to Be Investing in Email Marketing
Going-Out-of-Business Email Strategies
Soon Even More Emails Won't Be Optimized for Width
Best Practices for Apology Emails
Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys' Downloads page.
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AM Inbox: Petco redesigns 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:

Petco, 6/19 — PETCO The Summer Sitewide Sale Is Here + FREE Shipping!‏
Petco has redesigned their emails, in addition to changing their sender address. Among the changes: (1) Because of the address change, their preheader text is now three lines instead of two. (2) They’ve made their logo a tad smaller and brought the navigation bar up next to it. (3) Their nav bar is now rendered in HTML text rather than images as it was before. (4) To better delineate the products in the product grid, they’ve added dashed boxes around the price and call-to-action. (5) They’ve softened their calls-to-action, changing them from “Buy Now” to “View Details.” (6) They’ve dropped the logo at the bottom of their emails. And (7) they’ve made their social media bar larger and more prominent.

Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from a May 22 email:



Backcountry, 6/19 — Coupon Ending for 20% Off select brands‏
After not doing a good job of utilizing their preview pane real estate in recent emails (see May 29 AM Inbox), Backcountry does a much better job in this email, using the space to the right of their logo to add urgency by highlighting the expiration date for the coupon in the email. Backcountry used this exact same creative in a June 9 email, but left that space blank.



Oriental Trading, 6/19 — July 4th Finale: Get $3.99 shipping plus a free gift‏
Here’s a nice example of how a preheader message can build and reinforce a subject line. The preheader for the email is: “Order by June 24: $3.99 Shipping + a FREE Gift* Shop now»”.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sports Authority, 6/21 — 1st Day of Summer Sale - $25 Off $100 Orders All Week Long‏
J&R, 6/20 — Apple Mac® for Dads and Grads!
JCPenney, 6/21 — Happy Dad's Day! Enjoy 40% Off Original Prices, Online Only‏
Ralph Lauren, 6/21 — Happy Father's Day From RalphLauren.com‏
Toys “R” Us, 6/19 — Only 2 Days Left for Super Deals on Disney Bikes, Father's Day Gifts and more!‏
Sports Authority, 6/19 — Father's Day Sale: $25 Off $100 Coupon + Online Gift Certificates Available!‏
Office Depot, 6/19 — 2 Days Left - Get Dad the Perfect Gift. Coupon Enclosed‏
Spiegel, 6/21 — Summer Wedding Ahead? Find Perfect Looks from Just $30 + Pay NOTHING Until October!‏
Bluefly, 6/19 — Eco-Friendly Arm Candy from Matt & Nat!‏
Chadwick’s, 6/19 — 30% off your entire order - first time ever!‏
Sephora, 6/20 — Try Bare Escentuals' #1-selling makeup item‏
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Week-End Trends: Father's Day propels Retail Email Index to new YTD high

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index rose 5% to a year-to-date high of 252 during the week ending June 19, 2009, and is up 2% from where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that the top 100 online retailers sent about 2.5 promotional emails each on average last week.

Year-over-year, the Retail Email Index is up 12% (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).



The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: We had our first reference to the back-to-school season last week. Those references will stay very rare until we get past the 4th of July. Messages targeting Independence Day will build this week and peak next week.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Independence Day (7/4): 4th of July 2008 Season Finale
Back to school (June-Sept.): Back to School 2008 Season Finale
Labor Day (9/7): Labor Day 2008 Season Finale
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Ping Time: WhichTestWon, Agassi Foundation makeover, etc.

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

>>Anne Holland has launched a new site that challenges you to determine which design in an A/B test won. >>Follow the ping

>>Chris Frasier and Rachael Anderson of BlueHornet discuss some of the key successes of the eec’s work with the Andre Agassi Foundation, including their newsletter redesign, which Smith-Harmon did. >>Follow the ping

>>Stefan Pollard of Responsys writes that changes at Yahoo Mail are boosting the imperative to get your sender address added to your subscribers’ address books. >>Follow the ping

>>John Caldwell debunks five email marketing urban myths about spam filters. >>Follow the alligators in the sewer

>>StrongMail releases a survey showing that social media is being claimed by direct marketers rather than public relations and other departments. >>Follow the ping

>>John Harrison of Yesmail shares a win-back email from Timberland. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss the failing I’m seeing in nailing down the first and last miles of email design: the preview pane and landing page. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Know who you're speaking to

>>The Email Design Look Book: Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy. Download this free report now

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

The Company Store, 6/18 — 15% Off - 4 Days Only + Camp Gear‏
This email, which was sent under the Company Kids sender name, is the first in a while that I’ve seen in a while that tries to recruit subscribers (explore Recruiting tag). Because they’re more engaged than your non-subscriber customers, email subscribers can be an excellent source for recruiting—for models, focus groups, etc. The problem with the messaging in this email is that it doesn’t know who its audience is. While it’s trying to reach children, surely there are few kids on their email list. Their subscribers are parents, so the messaging should appeal to them with something like: “Want your kid to be a Company Kid model?”



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Bass Pro Shops, 6/18 — Father's Day gifts for the Outdoorsman‏
1800Flowers, 6/18 — Celebrate Dad & Save $10!
Walgreens, 6/18 — Great Last-Minute Gifts for Dad at Your Local Walgreens‏
Ann Taylor, 6/18 — NEW SUMMER STYLES ADDED! Up to 60% off our Semi-Annual Sale‏
Sam’s Club, 6/18 — Print summer's smiles. Order digital prints at home, pick up in an hour.
Sephora, 6/18 — It's back! Lash Stash + 9 new Sephora kits‏
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AM Inbox: First back to school reference

>>The Email Design Look Book: Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy. Download this free report now

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Lillian Vernon, 6/17 — 24 Hours Only! Get 20% Off Easier than Ever!
Lillian Vernon gives us our first back to school reference. For inspiration and help planning your back to school campaigns, check out the 2008 Back to School Season Finale.



Target, 6/17 — Home is where the deals are: Free shipping when you spend $50 on home updates.
Just like Bed Bath & Beyond’s content partnership with Real Simple (see May 4 AM Inbox), Target has joined forces with Daily Candy for product picks and content for their Red Hot Shop.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Victoria’s Secret, 6/17 — Up to 70% Off at the 1-Day Swim Event, 65+ Styles. Get them by July 4 with Free Shipping! Details Inside.‏
Hallmark, 6/17 — Father's Day is Sunday! Get great ideas for Dad!!
Cabela’s, 6/17 — Save Over 50% on Overnight Shipping for Father's Day @ Cabelas.com‏
RedEnvelope, 6/17 — RedEnvelope: Unique gifts for the Dad who has everything - Save 15%
J&R, 6/17 — Save and Celebrate J&R's Music Instrument Store Grand Opening!
Urban Outfitters, 6/17 — Exclusively At Urban: The Alexander Girard Collection‏
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AM Inbox: Short-form story-telling in email

>>The Email Design Look Book: Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy. Download this free report now

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Neiman Marcus, 6/15 — What do pizza, origami, and TANO bags have in common?
After highlighting some nice long-form story-telling by Drs. Foster & Smith in yesterday’s AM Inbox, here’s a nice example of short-form story-telling around a product from Neiman Marcus. Just because inbox attention spans are short doesn’t mean that there’s no opportunity to capture subscribers’ attentions with a quick story that adds depth to a product. Neiman Marcus has been featuring quotes from designers in many of their emails this year and I think it’s been very effective at bringing the personality and authoritative voice of those designers forward, as well as highlighting the access that Neiman Marcus has. Featuring these blurbs by designers also gives their emails a little bit of a fashion magazine vibe. Do you have opportunities to be the conduit for the authoritative voice of your product designers and suppliers?



Omaha Steaks, 6/16 — $0.00 SHIPPING plus 4 FREE Steaks and 56% Savings - ENDS TODAY‏
People read from left to right so be careful about where you’re placing your copy. This is of extra concern if your emails are wider than the recommended 600 to 700 pixels (see Soon Even More Emails Won’t Be Optimized for Width). For instance, in this Omaha Steaks email, which is 750 pixels wide, they place a Father’s Day reminder in a dot-whack in the upper right-hand corner. In that position it’s less likely to be seen.



However, if you move it to the left—as it is in the mockup below—it’s suddenly much more apparent. If you have doubts about the placement of copy, it’s an easy thing to run an A/B test on to confirm the optimal placement for your subscribers.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Brookstone, 6/15 — Last Day for Free Shipping Sitewide—Shop our Top Father's Day Gifts!
RedEnvelope, 6/16 — Final day to save with Standard Shipping rates + 20% off for Dad
Kmart, 6/16 — Last-Minute Gift Savings for Dad and Two $5 Coupons‏
Barnes & Noble, 6/15 — This Week -- Coupons, Last-Minute Father's Day Gifts, More‏
NFLshop, 6/15 — Guaranteed Delivery for Father's Day + Great Gift Ideas‏
1800Flowers, 6/16 — Free Shipping Upgrade for Father’s Day! Limited Time Only!
Lands’ End, 6/16 — Extended: Fast Free Shipping for Father's Day + up to 50% off swim‏
Harry & David, 6/16 — FREE Father's Day Delivery on featured gifts!
Omaha Steaks, 6/15 — Father's Day Recipes for Beer-Cooked Mains + Krups Beer Tender Savings‏
Sears, 6/15 — Save On All Tools and Appliances. Plus Great Gifts For Dad.‏
Hanna Andersson, 6/15 — New Splash Landing - Swimwear Just Added To Our Sale!
Lands’ End, 6/15 — Click, save, swim: half off + Free Shipping ends today‏
Nordstrom, 6/15 — Everyday Sandals Get Sophisticated‏
Bed Bath & Beyond, 6/16 — Outdoor living. Everything for your pool, patio or deck.
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AM Inbox: The footer isn't dead space

>>The Email Design Look Book: Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy. Download this free report now

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Sears, 6/12 — Super Saturday Sale Plus Doorbusters Start at 9am‏
Sears has added an announcement to the end of their email about their new MySears community. (Kmart had a similar link to the MyKmart community.) The new community features product reviews, buying guides and discussion boards. Besides the fact that Sears has launched this social site, the placement of the link is also interesting. As much as I talk about optimizing for preview panes, some subscribers do actually scroll to the bottom of your emails. For those that do, give them something interesting to click on. Images stand out particularly well among the footer text, as you can see in this Sears email. In addition to the link to MySears, Sears has been including EnergyStar and LiveGreener logos that link to those product categories for a while now. While these links probably don’t generate many sales, it too minimal effort to add those links to the template.



Urban Outfitters, 6/12 — FREE SHIPPING!
Urban Outfitters is engaging the fashion blogging community by giving them clothing and featuring them in this email and on their site. I like how they’re being above board with it and not trying to secretly influence bloggers. Bloggers and people with large Twitter followings can be big social influencers for your brand. Are you doing enough to target and reach out to these individuals?



Sephora, 6/12 — 6 new beauty inventions‏
Sephora includes a call-to-action in this email that allows subscribers to be emailed when Urban Decay’s new Complexion Primer Potion debuts in stores. While I’ve seen plenty of instances on websites where the retailer offers to email you when a product launches, this may be the first time I’ve seen that service brought forward into an email.



Sam’s Club, 6/14 — Celebrate July 4th Savings at Sam's Club‏
Sam’s Club has notified subscribers that they are making upgrades to their newsletter system and that their preferences won’t be active during the upgrade.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lillian Vernon, 6/12 — 4th of July Product Blowout Sale! Save Over 80%
Sam’s Club, 6/14 — Celebrate July 4th Savings at Sam's Club‏
Ralph Lauren, 6/14 — IT'S FLAG DAY: Show Your Pride With Flag Polos‏
Office Depot, 6/12 — The Dads and Grads Sale You've Been Waiting...Starts Sunday‏
Linens ’n Things, 6/14 — Two Days Left to Save on Dads 'n Grads‏
Kohl’s, 6/14 — LAST DAY to get it there for free by Father's Day!
eBags, 6/14 — Final Day for Father’s Day Delivery‏
Cabela’s, 6/13 — Ends Tuesday! $5 Shipping for Father's Day @ Cabelas.com‏
Orvis, 6/12 — There's still time to give Dad the perfect gift.‏
Sports Authority, 6/14 — Save $25 Off $100 on Father's Day Gifts + Guaranteed Delivery‏
Harry & David, 6/14 — Delicious gifts for your hero - FREE Express Upgrade for Father's Day arrival!‏
Kmart, 6/12 — Transform Your Dad with Savings on Grills, Tents, Workboots and More‏
Neiman Marcus, 6/13 — FATHER'S DAY is June 21 + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/13 — Polos Dad will love‏
Diamond.com, 6/14 — Father's Day Sale Reminder - Save Up to 71% Plus Free Shipping‏
RitzCamera, 6/14 — Gifts for Dad, Free Shipping over $100 & No Sales Tax‏
BabyUniverse, 6/12 — Make travel easier for Dad!
Sports Authority, 6/14 — LA Lakers are 2009 NBA Champions - Get Your Champs Gear!
HSN, 6/14 — HSN Top Searches: Your Most Sought-After Items & Stores‏‏
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AM Inbox: Show don't tell at its finest

>>The Email Design Look Book: Examples of Outstanding Email Design and Copy. Download this free report now

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Drs. Foster & Smith, 6/10 — "Pet Tails" - Stories from our Clinic‏
After seeing that educational content can actually boost the power of promotional content when the educational content is put first (see MarketingSherpa case study), Drs. Foster & Smith have launched “Pet Tails,” which are educational stories from their clinic. If the rest of the stories follow the format of this first one, then the moral of each story will be tied directly to a product or product category. Drs. Foster & Smith’s story approach makes a more emotional case for buying the product and is more genuine because of its real world nature. Saying you should by heartworm medication for your dog doesn’t have nearly the same impact as conveying a real world case where a lack of diligence with giving a dog their medicine resulted in several visits to the vet and mortal risks to the pet.



ShopNBC, 6/10 — ShopNBC is everywhere. Connect with us in new and exciting ways.
ShopNBC dedicates an entire email to promoting other ways for subscribers to interact with them. It’s a straightforward presentation of the options, but they probably made it too clean and simple. They could have done a better job of explaining the unique benefits of each channel. For instance, what does their iPhone app do? Relegating that to the landing page may have lightened the sales pitch too much. You could certainly A/B test a version like this and one that explains the channels more fully with some quick bullets.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Linens ’n Things, 6/10 — Shop for Dads 'n Grads: 10% Coupon Enclosed‏
Ralph Lauren, 6/11 — LAST DAY To Receive Free Shipping For Father's Day‏
Bass Pro Shops, 6/10 — Last Minute Gift Ideas for Dad‏
eBags, 6/11 — 3 Days Left for Father’s Day Delivery + Bonus Savings‏
Barnes & Noble, 6/11 — 4 Days Only -- 40% Off Father's Day Savings Event‏
Walgreens, 6/10 — Save 33% on Gifts for Dad: 4 Days Only‏
Buy.com, 6/10 — Father's Day Gift Guide: LG Bluetooth Headset $14.99, Air Purifier $26.99, Deluxe Tote $24.99,..
Harry & David, 6/10 — Special gifts for Father's Day - Delivered FREE!
Williams-Sonoma, 6/10 — Great Grilling Gifts for Dad: Under $50‏
Cabela’s, 6/10 — $5 Shipping for Father's Day @ Cabelas.com‏
1800Flowers, 6/10 — 20% Sitewide Savings for Every Dad and Everyone Else on your List!
Finish Line, 6/10 — Free Shipping On Great Styles For Your Dad!
Eddie Bauer, 6/11 — Great Savings On Wrinkle-Resistant Styles For Dad‏
Macy’s, 6/11 — Give dad a piece of New York baseball history!‏
Harry & David, 6/11 — Juicy gifts for Father's Day - delivered FREE!
Home Depot, 6/11 — 10% Off Appliances + Hurry for Father's Day Gifts‏
J&R, 6/11 — Joe's Father's Day Picks‏
RedEnvelope, 6/11 — Father's Day Email Exclusive Pricing AND 25% Off
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Email Design Look Book 2009

The Smith-Harmon team reads tens of thousands of emails each year to stay current on trends and gather new ideas to give our clients an edge in the inbox. We’ve assembled 20 B2C emails from the past year that really stood out in the minds of our staffers and compiled them into the first annual Email Design Look Book.

Highlighting innovative designs and superior copywriting, the Look Book includes a screenshot of each featured email, plus a commentary from a Smith-Harmon designer, copywriter, account manager or executive on what makes the message stand out.

Our hope is that this email compilation will inspire you as you plan your future email campaigns.

The 2009 Email Design Look Book features promotional and triggered emails from Adidas, American Eagle Outfitters, Anthropologie, Apple, Benefit Cosmetics, Betty Crocker, Bluefly, Coach, Crate & Barrel, FontShop, Giggle, HPshopping, J. Crew, Johnnie Boden, Kate Spade, Neiman Marcus, PB Teen, Sephora, Tommy Bahama, and Urban Outfitters.

>>Download the “Email Design Look Book” for free. (This is a direct download of the PDF. There are no forms to complete.)

Other reports available from Smith-Harmon (which is now part of Responsys):
Why the Marginal Cost of Sending 1 More Email is Higher than You Think
Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation
Why Now Is a Critical Time to Be Investing in Email Marketing
Going-Out-of-Business Email Strategies
Soon Even More Emails Won't Be Optimized for Width
Best Practices for Apology Emails
Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study
Holiday Retail Email Volume Sets Record
Retail Email Year-End Trends for 2008
Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys' Downloads page.
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The Retail Email Blog turns 3 years old!

On June 15, 2006, the first AM Inbox post debuted and the Retail Email Blog as you know it was born. Since then I’ve collected data on more than 31,000 retail emails and published more than 1,170 posts—all of which are thoroughly tagged by post category, selling season, retailer and topic, making it easy to mine past content.

I sincerely hope that you’ve enjoyed all the content and that it has helped you plan your campaigns, inspired you to try to tactics, and given you ammo to justify email program changes and redesigns. I’m truly thankful for your readership and your kind words of support and appreciation throughout the year.

This past year brought two significant changes:

First, I joined Twitter under @RetailEmailBlog. In addition to giving me a way to share tidbits that didn’t warrant a blog post or were slightly outside of the scope of my blog, Twitter allowed me to take part in some great conversations. I turned some of those conversations into Bird Watching posts, making them easier to follow. Other conversations gave me ideas for posts and research projects. If you’re not on Twitter yet, I recommend trying it out.

Second—and more importantly—I joined email marketing agency Smith-Harmon. For me, it means that I get to work with some extremely talented designers, copywriters and coders, and some great clients like Alaska Airlines, REI, Shutterfly, Williams-Sonoma and Yahoo. For you, it means that all of my latest research reports are available for free in Smith-Harmon’s Research Library. I hope that you’ll check them out and stay tuned for more reports, including the always popular Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, which will be released in August.

Thanks again for your support. I look forward to continuing the conversation for another year.
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AM Inbox: How hard are you making your subscribers work?

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Lands’ End, 6/9 — Free Shipping + 20-50% off summer! Swim, shorts, polos and more‏
I really liked this checklist approach to listing departments. It feels less like it’s pressing for a sale. However, I was quickly disappointed when I tried to clickthrough to see their selection of water shoes. Instead of being taking to a landing page for water shoes, I was taken to a landing page that said my discount had been activated (nice to have that reassurance) and then dumped onto a landing page that included a mix of everything summer. When I click on a product category name or a product image in an email, I expect to be taken to that category or product. In this case, Lands’ End left it up to subscribers to scroll through it all to find what they wanted. Instead of making your subscribers work to find what they want from your email, do the work of creating intuitive links from your emails to landing pages that serve up the right information.



L.L. Bean, 6/9 — Save up to 50% at Our Largest Sale of the Season‏
With this email, L.L. Bean has added SWYN functionality. However, they just drop the Facebook and Twitter icons in without any explanation. The icons should really be prefaced with “Share:” at a minimum, and preferably something like “Share this email:”, “Share this email via:”, or “Share this email with your friends on:”.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Newegg, 6/9 — Dads & Grads Specials: $49.99 160GB ATA-6 Laptop HDD, $149.99 TomTom 4.3" GPS...‏
NFLshop, 6/9 — NFL Father's Day Shopping Guide + Guaranteed Delivery‏
Diamond.com, 6/9 — Father's Day Sale - Save Up to 71% Plus Free Shipping‏
RedEnvelope, 6/9 — Unique Gift Ideas for Dad and 25% Off
MLB, 6/9 — Save up to 20% and shop for Father's Day
Hallmark, 6/9 — Top E-Cards Picks: All-New Fun for Father's Day.
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 6/9 — Save 15% In Our Father's Day Collection!
TigerDirect, 6/9 — 100 Deals Under $100: LCDs, PCs, Cameras, GPS & More Great Gifts for Dad‏
Kmart, 6/9 — Up to 40% off Menswear and More Gifts for Dad on Sale‏
Harry & David, 6/9 — FREE Standard Delivery on sweet, FRESH gifts for Father's Day‏
Avon, 6/9 — Tighten, Smooth & Lift - In All the Right Places + FREE SHIPPING‏
Wal-Mart, 6/9 — What's New in Entertainment: Free Jonas Brothers Download‏
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AM Inbox: Harry & David's giftlist service

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Harry & David — A message about your Harry and David account ...
In the wake of a recent purchase from Harry & David, I got this email about their new My Giftlist service, which keeps track of my gift purchases (who got them, what they got, when they got them) to make reordering easier. That’s a nice convenience. Unfortunately, the data pull to personalize my email appears to have failed.



Urban Outfitters, 6/8 — New Right Now‏
Subtle? No. Fun and eye-catching? Yes. More importantly, it’s on-brand for Urban Outfitters. If Blue Nile, Nordstrom or Williams-Sonoma sent this email it would seem really bizarre.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Staples, 6/8 — Tech gifts for Dads and Grads at a great price
Saks Fifth Avenue, 6/8 — Father's Day Best Sellers‏
Buy.com, 6/8 — Gifts for Dad: Samsung 21.5" LCD $169.99, USB Flash Drive $7.65, Video Transfer Device $49.99, Kingston 8GB microSDHC $17.99,..‏
Williams-Sonoma, 6/8 — Perfect for Dad: Breville Panini Press & 'wichcraft Spreads‏
Omaha Steaks, 6/8 — SAVE 70% on the Dad Pack PLUS get a Free TOOL SET...3 Days Only‏
Montgomery Ward, 6/8 — Get Ready for Father's Day with NASCAR® Gear from Wards‏
Orvis, 6/8 — Free Shipping - We make it easy to find the perfect Father's Day gift.
Ann Taylor, 6/8 — New Sun Dresses Are Here‏
Coldwater Creek, 6/8 — The value of carefree crinkle skirts!‏
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Season Finale: Memorial Day 2009

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

Start to finish: The first reference to Memorial Day was on Apr. 28 by Oriental Trading. The final reference was on May 28 by HPshopping.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for Memorial Day emails was Memorial Day itself, Monday, May 25, followed by Friday, May 22. Retailers sent the majority of their Memorial Day -themed emails after May 21.



Most interesting emails: The unusual clipped art technique and subtle use of animation in REI’s May 22 email made it really stand out. The campsite scene provides an entry point to several product categories while communicating a family focus.



And here are the animated portions of the email:





I also like the military discount that Home Depot promoted in a May 21 email. There’s something genuine about a special discount just for military personnel on Memorial Day.



In their May 21 email, Musician’s Friend tried to tap the same genuineness as Home Depot, but with a wider scope, with their Private Memorial Weekend Salute‏. The special sale is open to anyone associated with the military or civil service and their families—which covers a good chunk of the population. The primary call-to-action is to call Musician’s Friend and use the discount code “HERO,” which is a nice touch.



Standout subject lines:
J. Jill, 5/22 — Memorial Day savings—4 ways to save!
Musician’s Friend, 5/21 — Musician's Friend: Private Memorial Weekend Salute‏
eBags, 5/21 — Memorial Day Sale Preview: Save up to 60%
Home Depot, 5/18 — Get Fired Up for Memorial Day!‏Cooking.com, 5/18 — Memorial Day BBQ Recipes: Easy BBQ Chicken, Skewers and Kabobs, + Seafood on the Grill‏

Subject lines that stand out for the wrong reasons:
Alibris, 5/24 — GRAB your coupon and raid our shelves
Using what some might interpret as a war reference seems a little inappropriate the day before Memorial Day.

ShopNBC, 5/22 — Ready, set, summer Memorial Weekend Event starts now‏
Since its missing a hyphen or dash after “summer,” this subject line reads awkwardly.

Read previous Memorial Day Season Finales: 2008

Explore Memorial Day tag.
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AM Inbox: Cutting the preheader text down to size

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Lands’ End, 6/5 — Free Shipping + Up to 50% off: legendary swimwear, temporary savings‏
I still see a lot of marketers wasting precious preheader space with blank lines and unnecessary whitespace. Here, Lands’ End has redone their preheader text, collapsing it from 3 to 2 lines, while adding whitelisting instructions. The change resulted in the new preheader taking up about 20 pixels less than the previous design. Considering that most preview pane windows only show about 200 pixels, that’s a pixel savings of 10%. Here’s the new preheader:



And here’s the old preheader from a June 3 email:



Disney Store, 6/6 — Take an Extra 30% Off at the Summer Clearance Sale!
Every time you change or add a new sender address you’re discarding the whitelistings of the past address or asking your subscribers to make a decision about the safety of the new address. There are certainly reasons to change your sender address, but don’t make this decision lightly. With this email, which was sent under the sender name “Disney Outlet,” the Disney Store introduces another sender address (disneyoutlet@disneyoutlet.rsys1.com) to their email program. This is on top of the sender name and address changes that occurred last month when they rebranded themselves the Disney Store, dropping the old DisneyShopping brand (see May 4 AM Inbox). Considering that there wasn’t a separate opt-in for the Disney Outlet emails, there’s really no reason to send them from a different address. Just change the sender name to indicate the different focus of the email.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Staples, 6/5 — TWO WORDS: Bo. Nus.
Old Navy, 6/7 — Father's Day is June 21! Save Up to 50% on Stuff for Guys‏
Sports Authority, 6/7 — Father's Day Gift Center + $10 Off Your $50 Purchase‏
RitzCamera, 6/7 — Father's Day Tips, 25% Off Digital Frame, Sale Savings‏
Costco, 6/6 — Celebrate Dad and Make Lasting Memories!
Crutchfield, 6/7 — FREE Blu-ray player w/select Samsung TVs, gift ideas for dad‏
NFLshop, 6/5 — NFL Golf Gear for Dads‏
Kmart, 6/5 — Great Gifts for Dad - Save on Grills, Tents and More‏
Sportsman’s Guide, 6/5 — Outdoor Gift Ideas for Father's Day! Shipping Coupon from The Guide...
Brookstone, 6/5 — Free Shipping on our Top Father's Day Gifts!‏
Sam’s Club, 6/7 — Vacation or Staycation. Find it all at Sam's Club.‏
Neiman Marcus, 6/5 — How to be the hottest thing on the beach + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
Lane Bryant, 6/5 — Find Out What To Wear This Weekend + 30% Off Swimwear‏
J. Jill, 6/5 — Spontaneity meets summer style. Plus, 20% off select wear-now styles!‏
J. Crew, 6/5 — Arm candy
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