AM Inbox: Look for animation and video gif opportunities

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, 8/28 — Costumes are Flying Off the Shelves - Get Yours & 15% Off!‏
When I got this email, I was immediately amused by the pun in the subject line—then was less enchanted with the errant coding in the preheader text. When I scrolled down and saw the promotion for the “talking tree face” I got that sinking feeling from seeing an opportunity missed. Instead of writing, “Visit our site to the talking tree face come to life!” this would have been a great opportunity to use an animated gif or video gif to show the product in action. I was even more disappointed by the landing page experience, which sends you to this page not found error and then launches a YouTube pop-up that plays the video of the talking tree face. Why not embed the YouTube video into the product page? The missteps here are very reminiscent of the poor landing page experience used by Hallmark earlier this month (see Aug. 3 AM Inbox).



Lands’ End, 8/29 — Up to 30% off the top Tops + Free Shipping sitewide‏
I don’t believe that the inset photo is of a customer, but it certainly has that vibe. If you allow photo reviews, consider pulling those images into your emails for a treatment similar to this.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
The Company Store, 8/28 — Going Somewhere? Luggage and Backpacks on SALE‏
Ralph Lauren, 8/29 — Shop Official Ralph Lauren US Open Apparel‏
Ann Taylor, 8/28 — Find Out Why The NEW ANN Is So Amazing + 30% Off & FREE SHIPPING‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/30 — Piranhas, chihuahuas, and fashion! Meet Leyendecker‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/28 — Are you a frill seeker? Here's something just for you.
Sears, 8/28 — 2 Day Economic Recovery. Friday & Saturday at Sears‏
Sam’s Club, 8/30 — Media center makeover. Deals on HDTV, Blu-ray and XBOX.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/30 — Rip them on, Rip them off...
REI, 8/28 — REI Labor Day Sale and Clearance on Now‏
Crutchfield, 8/30 — Over 1,600 Labor Day specials: free gear and great savings‏
J. Crew, 8/28 — her back-to-school checklist‏
HPshopping, 8/30 — Last Chance for Back to School at HP's Express Store!‏
JCPenney, 8/28 — Free Shipping + Lowest Prices for Back-to-School!‏
PC Connection, 8/28 — Hurry - Last chance to Save on Top Products for Back To School!
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Week-End Trends: Labor Day references to surge

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index fell 1% to 242 during the week ending Aug. 28, 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: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Back-to-school references continue to ebb, while Labor Day references prepare to surge this week.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Labor Day (9/7): Labor Day 2008 Season Finale
Columbus Day (10/12): Columbus Day 2008 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2008 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2008 Season Finale, Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
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Ping Time: Mystery shopper sign-ups, 5 stages of email viewing, etc.

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

>>Anna Yeaman of StyleCampaign went into the stores of 10 retailers and tried to sign up for their email programs. To see what happened… >>Follow the ping

>>Kristina Schott of ExactTarget lists the five stages of email viewing, which are critical to planning your overall email design. >>Follow the ping

>>Nic Winters of SubscriberMail looks at the opt-in process, welcome emails and first few emails of Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards. >>Follow the ping

>>Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports interviews several email experts about video in email for two posts. >>Follow ping 1 and ping 2

>>Ed Henrich of Responsys discusses the power of a well-done welcome email program and what it should entail. >>Follow the ping

>>J.D. Falk of Return Path talks about why you shouldn’t use shortened URLs in your emails. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss the “18 Phases of Christmas.” >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: The next level of 'join our community' efforts

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

1-800-Flowers, 8/27 — SAVE 20% on Birthday Gifts--This Weekend Only!
This Twitter promotion by 1-800-Flowers represents the next level of “join our community” efforts. While many retailers have added links to their emails to “Become a fan on Facebook” or “Follow us on Twitter,” most subscribers will need an extra reason or incentive to do so. 1-800-Flowers gives us a great example of such an incentive—and having it focus on birthday greetings is relevant to their brand.



Hanna Andersson, 8/27 — New Fall Markdowns + Further Reductions Up To 40% Off For Back To School!
Somehow the creative for Hanna Andersson’s welcome email was sent out instead of the intended back-to-school creative for this email. Can’t say I’ve ever seen this particular mistake before. Very bizarre. (On the upside, it is a really nice welcome email.)



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
NikeStore, 8/27 — Battleproof Protection: Find Your Pro Combat Gear‏
Sony, 8/27 — PRE-ORDER TODAY Introducing 2 NEW Sony Reader Digital Books‏
Kohl’s, 8/27 — As Seen On Entertainment Tonight: Get the Celebrity Look for Less‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/27 — Trend COZY KNITS to keep your cool quotient high‏
Home Depot, 8/27 — Beat the Labor Day Rush with Great Savings!‏
Linens ’n Things, 8/27 — Pre-Labor Savings: Up to $24 off Your Order. Coupon Inside.
Lands’ End, 8/27 — Ends today: Up to 50% off back to school + free shipping!‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/27 — Free Shipping and Lower Prices on New Textbooks‏
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AM Inbox: WOW, that's a big font

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

Alibris, 8/26 — WOW starts now: Save at least 25% on books‏
This morning a Twitter conversation was sparked by a blog post by The Messaging Times about the best email font. With that in my head, I went back to this Alibris email, which uses an absolutely huge font. In fact, the first word of the main message doesn’t even fit into your average 300-pixel preview pane. Since just about every retail email promises savings, telling people they can “Save” is probably not going to motivate people very much, especially when they can’t immediately see how much they can save.



As you can see in the mockup below, by reducing the font size a bit, you can get the “Save 25% or more” message above the fold, plus part of the “Shop our Books on Sale page” message. It took me about a minute to modify this image, so there’s little reason not to make small modifications like this and run an A/B test to see which performs better.



Ann Taylor, 8/26 — Fall In Love With The New ANN: Enjoy 30% Off In Stores & Online‏
I really like this creative. While the text could probably benefit from being broken up a little, the messaging tries to make an emotional connection between subscribers and the brand. Both the necklace and the model create strong vertical lines that encourage scrolling. And the primary message is backed up with a more promotional submessage that includes a barcode so folks can easily redeem the offer in a store and a call-to-action to share this offer with your friends.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Art.com, 8/26 — 20% off entire site+ Top 5 Travel images!
Sephora, 8/26 — Just In: Twilight Venom and more!
Urban Outfitters, 8/26 — All Cardigans: $29 + The Impossible Project‏
Lillian Vernon, 8/26 — Up to 70% Off in the Back to School Sale‏
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AM Inbox: Using different formats to communicate different content

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

TigerDirect, 8/25 — Read Carl's Story: HP Extreme Laptop & Tiger Super Deal...You'll Love This One‏
TigerDirect sends plenty of emails that follow the best practice of making them short and highly scannable…and then they occasionally send out emails like this—long-form emails with tons of copy. This one weighs in at more than 5,000 pixels long. This is a nice example of breaking the rules to stand out and for long-time subscribers these emails will be very familiar. This format is used when TigerDirect secures a particularly fantastic deal, so subscribers should interpret the format as a signal to move fast on this great deal. Do you use different email formats to communicate different content or opportunities to your subscribers?



Montgomery Ward, 8/25 — New Fall Products Have Just Arrived Start Exploring!
Montgomery Ward is tapping their subscriber pool for photos to use in their catalog and on their website. (See landing page.) REI and a few other retailers have done this as well. It’s a nice way to get inexpensive or free photography, plus it gives customers a chance to participate in the brand.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
J&R, 8/25 — J&R MusicFest & Tech Expo: A Week of Free Music & Cutting Edge Technology! - August 27th to the 30th‏
Toys “R” Us, 8/25 — The 2009 Toys"R"Us Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids has arrived!
NFLshop, 8/25 — Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the AFL - Legacy Gear Available‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/25 — Ways to wear an INSPIRATIONAL piece + Free online shipping‏
Finish Line, 8/25 — Free Shipping Ends Soon On Dress Code Approved Shoes!
Diamond.com, 8/25 — A Pendant for Every Personality - Save an Extra 20%
Macy’s, 8/25 — Ends Wednesday! FREE SHIPPING on this fall's sweetest home trend!‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 8/25 — Marc & Chairlift Video Event + A Gift‏
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AM Inbox: Are you leveraging your suppliers' logos?

>>Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download this free 43-page report. Register for the companion webinar

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

Fingerhut, 8/24 — Fingerhut: Shop Our NEWEST Brand-Name Fashions‏
Manufacturers spend billions making sure their logos are instantly recognizable and bring to mind their desired brand image. Make use of their logos to enhance messaging, as Fingerhut does here, or use them in a banner featuring popular brands, as REI, Sports Authority, Target and others have done.



The Company Store, 8/24 — NEW! 2009 Holiday Merchandise, Available for Pre-order‏
Pre-orders are a popular early holiday season reference. For sure-to-sell-out products, they create early sales. They also create urgency and get subscribers thinking about their holiday lists.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Linens ’n Things, 8/24 — Final Countdown for Back to School Savings: Coupon Inside‏
Norm Thompson, 8/24 — FREE SHIP! 2009 Go-To List just announced...
Ann Taylor, 8/24 — Meet Our New Designer + Shop Our New Perfect Pieces.
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AM Inbox: The 3 levels of SWYN usage

>>Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download this free 43-page report. Register for the companion webinar

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, 8/21 — Share Your Code & Win $500 + Get FREE Shipping Now!‏
There are three ways to use “share with your network” (SWYN) functionality to encourage sharing, each more persuasive than the last: (1) Include SWYN links in the footer or header of your email, like Hallmark does (see May 15 AM Inbox). (2) Integrate SWYN into the message itself, like Staples did in an email last month (see July 23 AM Inbox). And (3) incentivize SWYN usage, as Petco does in this email. This Petco promotion rewards sharers while also allowing Petco to identify sharers, which could be used in segmentation later in addition to the follow-up email delivering the reward. What Petco has created is a two-tier promotion where sharers are rewarded for driving more sales from sharees. When some retailers are troubled by promo code sharing, this provides an interesting way to deal with it—make the code less valuable but reward the sharing.



Lane Bryant, 8/21 — Free Shipping 3 Days Only + Go Site-Seeing At The New lanebryant.com‏
Lane Bryant announces the relaunch of their website in this email, which has been redesigned to match the style of the new site. The changes to their email design are largely cosmetic—the adoption of a darker color pallet, slightly larger logo and navigation bar, and dropping their slogan and top forward-to-a-friend link. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old design from an Aug. 17 email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 8/22 — It's Football time. It's Tailgating time. It's Savings Time.‏
RitzCamera, 8/22 — Super Student Special, 10% OFF (Use Coupon Code 1828)
Sports Authority, 8/22 — Best Brands for Back 2 Sports + Free Shipping on Footwear‏
Lands’ End, 8/22 — Backpack savings, up to 50% off Back to School + Free Shipping‏
The Company Store, 8/21 — Free Express Shipping + 10% Off ALL College Bound‏
Linens ’n Things, 8/21 — Last Chance to Save on Back to School: Coupon Enclosed‏
Office Depot, 8/21 — Limited Time Back to School Bargains PLUS $10 Coupon‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/22 — Emerging talent + Fresh perspectives? OUR NEW ADDITIONS‏
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Week-End Trends: Back-to-school peaks a week earlier this year

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index rose 4% to 243 during the week ending Aug. 21, 2009, and is down 2% from 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: Monday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: This year the back-to-school email season peaked higher and a week earlier than in 2008, when the peak was the week ending Aug. 22.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Labor Day (9/7): Labor Day 2008 Season Finale
Columbus Day (10/12): Columbus Day 2008 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2008 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2008 Season Finale
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AM Inbox: Barnes & Noble newsletter redesign

>>Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download this free 43-page report. Register for the companion webinar

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

Barnes & Noble, 8/18 — This Week -- Coupons, Philippa Gregory, New Lower Textbook Prices, More‏
Barnes & Noble has redesigned their “This Week” email again. (You can see their previous redesign effort in the Mar. 5, 2008 AM Inbox.) This time there are three major changes: (1) They’ve introduced a two-column design to bring more links up in the email. (2) At about 2,400 pixels, this email is about 33% shorter than the previous most recent “This Week” email. And (3) while old design also used HTML text for their navigation bar links, the new design makes much more use of HTML text in the body of the email so that it renders better when images are disabled. In addition to those changes, they’ve made some minor changes like giving the newsletter a subtitle and adding a date.

Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from an Aug. 11 email:



Toys “R” Us, 8/20 — Get FREE Shipping on Dolls, Action Figures and more!‏
Starting with an Aug. 17 email, Toys “R” Us has redesigned their navigation bar, dropping their “Wish Lists” link and adding a forward-to-a-friend link and a “join our community” appeal for their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old design from an Aug. 15 email:



Hanna Andersson, 8/20 — Halloween Hannas That Help Kids In Need!
Hanna Andersson uses some clever wordsmithing to promote their “eek-o-friendly” Halloween sleepwear. You also don’t see much cause marketing paired with Halloween promotions, so it’s bit different in that regard too.



Gap, 8/18 — Now Only $35, The Ultimate Weekend Khaki‏
Gap uses a bit of animation to draw attention to the “join our community” appeals at the bottom of this email. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else use an animated gif for this purpose.



Here’s the animated portion of this email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Bass Pro Shops, 8/19 — Labor Day Sale + Win a $100 Gift Card‏
NikeStore, 8/20 — Hoodies for All: Back to School Basics‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/20 — Don't Miss Our New Lower Textbook Prices plus Free Shipping‏
J&R, 8/20 — Apple Computers: The Essential Tool for School‏
Blair, 8/18 — The dog days are here. So is $1.99 shipping.‏
Bluefly, 8/19 — For an Evening You Will Never Forget…
L.L. Bean, 8/18 — Layers You'll Love--in Irresistible Fall Colors‏
Harry & David, 8/19 — Bibs optional (but highly recommended!) [promoting peaches]
CB2, 8/18 — what's that amazing new chair on our catalog cover?
J&R, 8/18 — Pre-Order the Beatles Remastered CDs starting at $11.99‏
Orvis, 8/19 — Go organic with our new pure cotton chinos for men. Plus, 9 other organic styles.
Norm Thompson, 8/19 — NEVER BEFORE: 25% OFF EVERYTHING!
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/19 — Get an hourglass body + $15 off your order.‏
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AM Inbox: The right channel for the right job

>>Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download this free 43-page report. Register for the companion webinar

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

HPshopping, 8/17 — Your HP Home & Home Office Store Deals - Week of August 17, 2009
While at the DMA Annual conference last year, I met an online retailer of crafts supplies who was thinking about launching a mobile alerts program to tell customers about deals. Since they didn’t have any stores for mobile subscribers to pull into while out running errands, I questioned the logic behind the decision. The marketer just felt they should have a mobile program because everyone else was talking about them.

I had that same reaction when I saw this banner promoting HP’s Toner Club, which sends mobile “reminders” to buy HP ink. Why does this need to be mobile? Do they expect customers to reorder ink on their cellphones? And if so, they’re limiting their upsell opportunities by not sending folks through their website. The program is also a little fuzzy on how many alerts they’re going to send you and what it’s based on (it’s not based on usage). Another approach would be to offer this program as an email preference and then use a dynamic content module to insert ink deals into HP’s emails.



Spiegel, 8/17 — VOTE for Our Next Big Idea and get $10 instantly!‏
Spiegel continues to do a great job of periodically reaching out to subscribers for feedback (see Feb. 23 AM Inbox). This time they’re asking subscribers about the kinds of clothing designers that they like best. Not only does this help Spiegel make decisions about merchandising, catalog covers, etc., but it also gives them preference data on subscribers so that they can receive segmented offers that are more relevant. The other great thing that they do in this email is that the P.S. tells subscribers to email them any additional ideas on designers. When there are still retailers that use donotreply addresses, these kinds of appeals are refreshing.



Williams-Sonoma, 8/14 — Shop New & Exclusive Foods‏
To put the focus squarely on their food offerings, Williams-Sonoma uses a food-oriented navigation bar in this email that’s different from their standard nav bar. Do you have opportunities to support the focus of your email with a custom nav bar? For more on navigation bars, check out Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 8/14 — Simple steps to saving green with Sam's Club‏
Linens ’n Things, 8/15 — Staycation Savings: 10% Off Your Order Over $50‏
Cooking.com, 8/17 — Favorite Cake Recipes: Angel Food and Devil's Food‏
Crate & Barrel, 8/17 — New Strut Office works through dinner. Upholstery Sale starts 8/28.‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/14 — See who's starring in fall's sexiest screen romance.
Lands’ End, 8/16 — Ends today: Fast, Free Shipping + Back-to-School Sale‏ ‏
Kmart, 8/15 — Buy One, Get One 50% Off Shoes, Free Shipping on School Supplies and More‏
Office Depot, 8/14 — School's Back! Save Now - $10 Coupon Inside‏
Dell, 8/14 — Smart Back-to-School Prices on Dell's Electronics & Accessories‏
Lands’ End, 8/14 — Fast, Free Shipping + up to 40% off: back-to-school Sale
Lillian Vernon, 8/14 — Back to School 15% Off Special - This Weekend Only‏
Newegg, 8/14 — Limited-time coupon: 15% Off Hard Drives + 72-Hour Back-to-School Essentials Sale!
TigerDirect, 8/14 — Final 24 Hours of Laptop Week: 20 Amazing Laptop Deals Starting at $329...Hurry‏
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Join me and Lisa Harmon for a free webinar on holiday email campaign planning

The summer is still heating up, but it’s already time for email marketers to look ahead to the holidays. We’re excited to help you get started by offering you access to hot tips for getting your holiday email program rolling, covering everything from sending frequency to video gifs. Get stats on what worked for retailers last year, drawn from thousands of 2008 holiday emails, and find out what new trends will hit inboxes during the 2009 holiday season.

It’s Christmas in August!: 2009 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
Wednesday, Aug. 26
12:15pm-1:15pm EDT/9:15am-10:15am PDT

Speakers:
Chad White, Research Director, Smith-Harmon
Lisa Harmon, Co-founder and Principal, Smith-Harmon

>>REGISTER for this no-cost webinar!
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Miss the 'Video Email Marketing in 2009' webinar? Watch it now

If you missed the “Video Email Marketing in 2009: Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities” webinar, you now have two options to view it. You can watch the webinar as a video or you can view the slides without any narration.

The webinar, presented by Justin Foster of Liveclicker and Lisa Harmon of Smith-Harmon, covers the possibilities and drawbacks of including video in email marketing. In it you’ll learn all you need to know about video in email, including:

● Important industry advancements that make inclusion of video possible
● Limitations to video success and ways to avoid major missteps
● Business value, content considerations and subscriber impact

>> Watch the webinar
>> View the slides
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Bird Watching: Shopping cart abandonment emails

If you’re not on Twitter yet, here are the kinds of conversations that you’re missing:

@RetailEmailBlog >> Not sure that I agree with Listrak that shopping cart abandonment emails should be sent within 24 hours: http://tr.im/woqJ

@ryankeiser >> @RetailEmailBlog Right now we are sending one at least 24 hours later. Up to 2 days. Has worked well.

@RetailEmailBlog >> @ryankeiser If you offer an incentive in your shopping cart abandonment email you have to be careful not to train shoppers to bail to get it

@timbay >> @RetailEmailBlog Do you think it should be more than 24 hours (cart abandonment email)? What do you think is the right time frame?

@KNLorenz >> @RetailEmailBlog Re: Cart Abandon emails - it's a tough balance: top of mind vs. non-annoyance. What would be your window? W/in 3 days?

@Bryce_Marshall >> @RetailEmailBlog wait too long to send cart abandon email u risk a) shopper buys elsewhere meantime, b) disconnect with orig shop experience

@Kerip >> @RetailEmailBlog - what time frame for response would you recommend, Chad, and why?

@RetailEmailBlog >> @Bryce_Marshall Send cart abandonment email too soon you risk 1) appearing Big Brother/desperate, 2) annoying them, 3) training them to bail

@ryankeiser >> @RetailEmailBlog We don't have an incentive in the message. Kind of just a simple reminder. Found rates were close w/o added offer.

@Bryce_Marshall >> @RetailEmailBlog agree on all counts- so many reasons a shopper bails, as many arguments for the timing. tweak timing 4 some known cust segs

@RetailEmailBlog >> RT @ryankeiser: We don't have an incentive in the message. Kind of just a simple reminder. Found rates were close w/o added offer.

@RetailEmailBlog >> Your cart abandonment email can be more subtle, incenting the product category rather than the exact product in the cart

@andrewkordek >> @RetailEmailBlog but what if you had the exact product and product recos in the email?

@email_queen >> @RetailEmailBlog we have tested taking one product from cart and 2 related products and that performs well 4 us. Haven't tested category yet

@Bryce_Marshall >> @RetailEmailBlog @ryankeiser you can seem desperate+intrusive whether sending 12hrs or 72hrs after. it's a messaging issue as much timing.

@amargello >> RT @RetailEmailBlog: cart abandonment email can be more subtle, incenting the product category rather than the exact product in the cart

@EmailJuan >> @RetailEmailBlog our cart ab msg is service oriented so we call out items. Have category specific msgs for users who browsed but didnt add
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Week-End Trends: Retailers emphasizing back-to-school more

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index fell 4% to 233 during the week ending Aug. 14, 2009, and is down 3% from where it was four weeks ago. The Index score indicates that the top 100 online retailers sent about 2.3 promotional emails each on average last week.

Year-over-year, the Retail Email Index is up 18% (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Retailers are pushing harder for back-to-school sales. Last week 23% of retail emails mentioned back-to-school; during the comparable week last year, it was only 18%. And next week should be the peak of the season, so expect even more references to back-to-school then.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to school (Jul-Sep): Back to School 2008 Season Finale
Labor Day (9/7): Labor Day 2008 Season Finale
Columbus Day (10/12): Columbus Day 2008 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2008 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2008 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Shopping cart abandonment emails, bounce strings, etc.

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

>>Listrak examines shopping cart abandonment email usage among the top 500 etailers. >>Follow the ping

>>The eec’s Deliverability & Rendering Roundtable has created a repository of common and available bounce strings senders might see from current ISPs. >>Follow the BL001011 ping

>>Stefan Pollard of Responsys shares some good advice on how to safely increase holiday email frequency. >>Follow the ping

>>Bill Nussey of Silverpop interviews Deirdre Baird of Pivotal Veracity about the impact of ISPs incorporating domain-based reputation into their filtering systems. >>Follow the ping

>>Dela Quist lists more than a dozen triggered email ideas. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss the barriers to faster adoption of SWYN functionality. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: The evolution on Musician's Friend's preheader and header

>>Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download this free 43-page report. Register for the companion webinar

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

Musician’s Friend, 8/13 — Musician's Friend: New Video! Guitar Wizard Robin Trower Talks Gear‏
Musician’s Friend has been making a number of changes to their preheader and header lately. In the latest incarnation they use a preheader message along with a “view with images” and whitelisting request. Then in the header they have a “Stay Informed” section with links to their Price Cuts email sign-up, RSS feed, and iPhone app, and a “Make Connections” section with links to Twitter, Facebook and Harmony Central, which is a musician’s community. While a few other retailers have put their “join our community” appeals above the fold, this is the most prominent placement that I’ve seen.



Here’s their old preheader and header from an Aug. 10 email:



And here’s their old preheader and header from an Aug. 8 email:



J. Jill, 8/13 — New Wearever styles have arrived! Mix, match & multiply!
J. Jill has one of the most muted, neutral color pallets around. As a consequence, sometimes you get emails like this one where there’s white text on a muted background. Some of J. Jill’s subscribers were surely squinting pretty hard to read the text here. Dark grey text would have probably been a much better choice here. Keep in mind the readability of your emails, especially if you have older customers.



1-800-Flowers, 8/13 — Save $10 Sitewide and Celebrate "Happy Anything!"
Gift retailers are all about holidays and other gift-giving occasions. I like 1-800-Flowers’ creativity here in dealing with the fact that there are no national holidays in August.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
NikeStore, 8/13 — Actually, It Is Rocket Science‏ [promoting their new Lunarglide shoe]
Hanna Andersson, 8/13 — Last Chance For School Deals And Unders Savings!‏
J&R, 8/13 — Back to School Essentials: Gateway 15.4 Notebook $469.99 + Free Shipping!
Gap, 8/13 — Introducing Gap 1969 Premium Jeans‏
Home Depot, 8/13 — Save Green & Live Green with 10% Off Energy Star Appliances + More‏
Bluefly, 8/13 — They're Here...NEW Fall Coats!
Victoria’s Secret, 8/13 — Introducing the New VS Makeup Collection - In Stores + Online Now!
Banana Republic, 8/13 — Today only! Save 25% after 5 PM!‏\
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Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2009: Executive Summary

Long before retailers hang any wreaths or tinsel in their stores, they send out emails promoting their Christmas deals to their subscribers—lots of emails! Last year we tracked more than 4,700 emails from more than 100 top online retailers during the fourth quarter and released daily reports on strategies, tactics and trends via the Retail Email Blog. Based on that monitoring, we have produced this helpful roadmap to the email holiday season so retailers and other B2C companies can better formulate their campaigns this year.

“For those of us in email marketing, Christmas comes in August!” says Lisa Harmon, co-founder and principal of Smith-Harmon. “Happily, this Guide makes it easy for us to make the quick shift from sunny-day tactics to snow-time strategies.”

This guide includes benchmarks and advice on when to begin your campaign, how much to increase your email volume, which days to send on, and how to stand out in the inbox during the holidays. For instance, last year nearly 90% of major online retailers increased their email volume during the holiday season, with retailers boosting their send frequency by 43% on average compared to the pre-holiday period.

This guide also discusses and provides examples of the “18 Phases of Christmas,” the 18 strategies that retailers use at different points in the holiday season. Those strategies include promoting e-gift cards and “in store pickup” services.

Other topics covered in the guide include:

● Cyber Monday may not be “the biggest online shopping day of the year” as billed, but last year it was the most popular day of the year to send retail emails, with 70% of retailers sending at least one email on that day. Helping you make your scheduling decisions, the guide also details other days among the 20 most popular days to send retail email last year.

● Standing out in the inbox during the holiday season is tough. The guide offers tactics such as using video, which is an up-and-coming tactic, and animated gifs, which were used by 22% of major online retailers in at least one email during November and December last year.

● The guide discusses several strategies to employ during the final days before Christmas, including promoting e-gift cards, which were mentioned in more than 20% of retail emails during the three days before Christmas last year.

● Formulating the right subject lines during the holidays is critical. The guide includes numerous examples of subject lines used last year during the various phases of the holiday season to help you devise your subject lines for the crucial November and December months.

Get the Full Report
>>Download the full 43-page “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2009” for free. (This is a direct download of the PDF. There are no forms to complete.)

Sign Up for the Webinar
>>Register for the accompanying “It's Christmas in August!: 2009 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season” webinar, which will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 12:15pm EST/9:15am PDT.

Other reports available from Smith-Harmon (which is now part of Responsys):
FTAF vs. SWYN
Executive Series on Email Marketing: Installments 1-5
Email Design Look Book 2009
Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation
Going-Out-of-Business Email Strategies
Soon Even More Emails Won't Be Optimized for Width
Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys' Downloads page.
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AM Inbox: Invoking executives' names to discuss serious initiatives

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

Toys “R” Us, 8/12 — A Message from Gerald L. Storch, Chairman and CEO, Toys R Us Inc.‏
While the date at the top of this email is gratuitous (and out of sync with the email’s send date), this is a good example of how to use a letter from a CXO. Lately I’ve seen some letters that simply promote extensions of sales. That’s a poor use of the cache of your executives. As they’ve done in the past, Toys “R” Us invokes Gerry Storch’s name when talking about major safety initiatives—in this instance, announcing the launch of an infant safety website. I particularly like how they invite subscribers to learn more and continue the conversation by signing up for safety alerts. That’s a great way of allowing subscribers to indicate that this is a concern of theirs. Adding this option to Toys “R” Us’s preference center is another way to allow folks to self-select into this group.



Buy.com, 8/12 — Save on SanDisk Top Sellers. Exclusive offers end 8/16.
Poor branding has always been an issue with Buy.com’s “Deal” emails because they don’t use a branded banner, but this email veers into the realm of confusing branding because of the SanDisk banner they use. Is this an email from SanDisk? Subscribers who just glance at the email and don’t read the “from” line may think so.



Buy.com, 8/12 — Instantly Save up to $300 on Select Samsung Products‏
In addition to the SanDisk branded email, Buy.com also sent this Samsung branded email yesterday as well.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lillian Vernon, 8/12 — Halloween Hauntquarters Is Open! Scare Up Some Treats‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/12 — New Lower Textbook Prices plus Free Shipping‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/12 — FALL TREND launch: Options you simply can’t afford to miss‏
Cabela’s, 8/12 — New Fall Clothing @ Cabelas.com‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/12 — Why sing the blues when you can buy new lingerie?
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AM Inbox: The urgency of countdowns

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

Dick’s Sporting Goods, 8/11 — Save an Additional 25% On Your Team’s Gear - 3 Days Only!
Retailers use countdowns on many holiday occasions, with the most popular being a countdown to Christmas. Countdowns inform subscribers and create urgency to take action. In this email, Dick’s Sporting Goods takes that same tactic to promote collegiate apparel, counting down to the start of the NCAA football season. It’s a refreshing use of the countdown element.



L.L. Bean, 8/11 — NEW Looks for Fall + Save 20% on Popular Items‏
L.L. Bean is the latest retailers to promote an iPhone app in their emails. While not the most original app, their Moosentration app is fun. Other retailers promoting iPhone apps in their emails include Barnes & Noble, (see July 8 AM Inbox), Ralph Lauren (see March 27 AM Inbox), REI, and ShopNBC (see June 15 AM Inbox).



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
J&R, 8/11 — Back to School Savings‏
Newegg, 8/11 — 100 Back-to-School Deals Under $100! $49.99 TomTom GPS, $99.99 Acer 19" Monitor...
Barnes & Noble, 8/11 — This Week -- Coupons, New Lower Textbook Prices, Pat Conroy, Complimentary Wi-Fi, More‏
Office Depot, 8/11 — Save On Office & School Supplies a $10 coupon inside‏
Crate & Barrel, 8/11 — Our new Fall collection is in and the word is...COLOR‏
Nordstrom, 8/11 — Fall Coats at Fantastic Prices‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 8/11 — Sweaters: Fall's best are here‏
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AM Inbox: Bringing trusted sources into your emails

>>“Video Email Marketing in 2009 - Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities” webinar with Liveclicker and Smith-Harmon. Register for this free webinar

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

Ann Taylor, 8/10 — Editors Love...Our New Leopard Sheath Dress‏
Last month MediaPost shared some research on which sources of information are most trusted by consumers. Email was in the middle of the pack. Consider ways that you can bring more trusted sources into your email program. For instance, magazines are trusted more than email, so consider doing what Ann Taylor does in this email by prominently quoting what a reputable magazine says about your products. It’s a smart way to bring more credibility to your message.



Brookstone, 8/10 — Win the Ultimate Dorm Room Makeover‏
To boost sales, Brookstone is running a back-to-school sweepstakes. What I really like is the tailored language on the SWYN call-to-action. It probably would have performed better had they moved it up before the prize section or beside the “Click for details…” button, but I like how SWYN was integrated into the message, not just a generic appeal at the bottom of the email.



Hanna Andersson, 8/10 — First Time Backpack Savings For Girls Hurry Before School Deals End!‏
In yesterday’s AM Inbox I mentioned how Hanna Andersson was one of the few retailers to include icons in their navigation bar. Here’s what it looks like:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lands’ End, 8/10 — Ends today: Up to 30% off Back-to-School Sale + Free Shipping‏
Linens ’n Things, 8/10 — Save an Extra 10% on Back to School Bedding: Coupon Inside‏
Sears, 8/10 — Up To 50% Off Back To School Styles‏
Eddie Bauer, 8/10 — New Fall Collection - Be First To Shop!
Coldwater Creek, 8/10 — $25 off + New Looks = A fabulous, value-filled Fall!
Urban Outfitters, 8/10 — Fall Essentials (In Stores & Online!)
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AM Inbox: NFLshop and Walgreens email redesigns

>>“Video Email Marketing in 2009 - Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities” webinar with Liveclicker and Smith-Harmon. Register for this free webinar

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

NFLshop, 8/7 — Save up to 25% at NFLShop - 4 Days Only!‏
NFLshop has redesigned their emails, debuting the new email design on Aug. 4. The new template abandons the turf background in favor of a cleaner, but less branded white background. Other big changes include a much more extensive use of HTML text, not only in the body of the email but also in the smaller, more scannable navigation bar. This will make it render much better when images are disabled. NFLshop also did away with their vertical nav bar, converting that into a secondary horizontal nav bar that runs under the primary message. Instead of providing an alphabetical list of all teams, it presents teams in the two conferences, which makes more organizational sense.

Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from a July 27 email:



Walgreens, 8/7 — Last 2 Days! 75 4x6 Prints for $9.99‏
Walgreens has added a cute navigation bar that couples the link names with icons. I believe that Hanna Andersson is the only other major online retailer that uses iconography in their nav bar. The only other change is that they moved their “Forward to a Friend” link from the header area down into the footer, where they’ve change their wording to “Share with a Friend” and added a button. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old design from an Aug. 2 email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lillian Vernon, 8/9 — New Catalog, Free Shipping, and All Your Halloween Needs in One Place‏
Sam’s Club, 8/9 — Back to College Electronics and more at Sam's Club‏
Target, 8/9 — Cool College Deals: Save 15% when you spend $125.
Lands’ End, 8/9 — Hurry! Up to 30% off Back-to-School Sale + Free Shipping‏
Sports Authority, 8/9 — Calling All Teams - Back to Sports Footwear Sale!
Linens ’n Things, 8/7 — Back to School Bedding Send-Off: Extra 10% Coupon Inside‏
TigerDirect, 8/7 — 72Hr Back to School Blowout: $399 Lenovo Dual-Core Laptop...$75 Microsoft Office...$199 Projector...$139 22" LCD...Hurry‏
Office Depot, 8/7 — Amazing Back to School Deals! $10 Coupon Inside‏
Kmart, 8/7 — Everything You Need to Head Back to Campus - Up to 40% off‏
Norm Thompson, 8/7 — Your SECRET OFFER is hidden in here - open it!‏
Avon, 8/8 — Save on Celebrity Summer Beauty Pick's + Free Shipping‏
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