Week-End Trends: Holiday references to double this week

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The average weekly promotional email volume sent by top online retailers to each of their subscribers fell 3% to 2.5 emails during the week ending Oct. 30, 2009. It’s up 4% from where it was four weeks ago and it’s up 11% year-over-year (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: With Halloween out of the way, Christmas messaging should just about double next week. Coming into this weekend, a number of retailers used Daylight Savings as the hook for their emails. We also had our first reference to Veterans Day this week.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Thanksgiving (11/26): Thanksgiving 2008 Season Finale
Cyber Monday (11/30): Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
Christmas (12/25): Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, Christmas 2008 Season Finale
New Year’s (1/1): New Year’s 2009 Season Finale
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Ping Time: Preference center justification, quality assurance, etc.

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

>>Stephanie Miller of Return Path helps you make the case for the addition of a preference center. >>Follow the ping

>>Derek Harding of Innovyx talks about the need for better quality assurance in email production. >>Follow the ping

>>Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports publishes Part 3 of his series looking at the future of deliverability. >>Follow the ping

>>My favorite British cake-baker/email marketer Becs Rivett has started a blog about email fails in the U.K. >>Follow the smell of that fresh-baked ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I share some highlights from our soon-to-be-released Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement. >>Follow the ping
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: Lea este email en español

>>Smith-Harmon has joined forces with Responsys! Learn about our expanded capabilities.

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

Macy’s, 10/29 — Levi's: Free Shipping + Lowest Prices of the Season!
I’ve seen retailers use their emails to drive their Spanish-speaking subscribers to call centers staffed with reps that speak their language and to Spanish-language websites, but until this Macy’s email I hadn’t seen a major U.S. retailer offer a Spanish-language email—which is accessible through links in the preheader and body of the email. Because of the velocity of email creation and deployment, translations can be tricky. Congratulations to Macy’s for pulling it off. Hopefully they’ll be adding this Spanish-language option to their registration process and preference center (though I don’t think Macy’s has one). Another tactic to consider is to send a triggered email to all subscribers who clicked on the link to the Spanish-language version and offer to send them only that version. Here’s the English-language version (left) and the Spanish-language version:



Fingerhut, 10/29 — Fingerhut: Introducing the NEW Ask & Answer Feature‏
To augment their product reviews, Fingerhut has introduced Ask & Answer. It’s early, but it looks like it’s a way for shoppers to get advice and product recommendations at the category and department levels. So it’s one level up from the more specific product review. Interesting idea.



Abercrombie & Fitch, 10/29 — Abercrombie & Fitch Milan Flagship is now open!
I can’t see how this could possibly be relevant to U.S. subscribers. Perhaps their segmentation went awry. If you have zip code data, new store opening emails should really be geo-targeted rather than broadcasted.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Newegg, 10/29 — 72-Hour Halloween Special: $139.99 21.5" 1080P Monitor, $29.99 Bluetooth Headset...
1-800-Flowers.com, 10/29 — Treat yourself to 20% Sitewide Savings‏
Bluefly, 10/29 — All Treats, No Tricks: EXTRA 10% OFF Everything - Today Only!
Ralph Lauren, 10/29 — Ralph Lauren Celebrates An American Holiday‏
Sportsman’s Guide, 10/29 — Holiday Gift Previews & New Catalog Info. from The Guide!‏
Hanna Andersson, 10/29 — Enjoy 20% Off Every Hanna And Get Just What You Wish‏
Eddie Bauer, 10/29 — Rave Reviews On Eddie Bauer's First Ascent Outerwear & Gear‏
Barnes & Noble, 10/29 — Save 10% in the New BN.com Kids Store‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Smith-Harmon joins forces with Responsys

Smith-Harmon is delighted to announce that it is joining forces with Responsys, a global provider of email and cross-channel marketing solutions. The merging of Smith-Harmon’s and Responsys’s digital services capabilities allows us to offer strategic and technology development services—as well as deliver award-winning creative across email, mobile, web and social channels—while still serving clients on ANY email service provider platform.

“Smith-Harmon and Responsys have a number of clients in common, as well as a common dedication to delivering best-in-class service,” said Aaron Smith, principal of Smith-Harmon, now director of creative technologies at Responsys.

“We’ve long respected the platform—and the people—at Responsys, and are excited to be joining the team,” said Lisa Harmon, principal of Smith-Harmon, now director of creative services at Responsys.

For my part, I look forward to working with our expanded client base and continuing to provide content and research that helps you improve your email programs. On both fronts, I’m thrilled to be able to collaborate with my new Responsys team members, which include Ed Henrich, Stefan Pollard, Heather Blank and Kirill Popov. Expect to see insightful contributions from them in upcoming reports.

>>Learn more about our expanded capabilities.

>>Read the official press release announcing the acquisition.
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Bird Watching: How to measure the success of subject lines

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

@RetailEmailBlog >> Confused when people say a subject line is better because it produced more opens. The best one produces more conversions.

@jbillingsley >> @RetailEmailBlog The best one's produce the most revenue, profitably. :) Don't forget AOV and margin!

@stiggy1 >> RT @RetailEmailBlog: Confused when people say a subject line is better because it produced more opens. The best produces more conversions.

@glennedley >> RT @RetailEmailBlog Confused when people say a subject line is better because it produced more opens. The best 1 produces more conversions.

@EmailKarma >> @RetailEmailBlog depends on your goals. Sometimes all you want is opens.

@RetailEmailBlog >> @jbillingsley True enough. My point is you have to move beyond email metrics to business metrics to measure email success of subject lines.

@LorenMcDonald >> RT @RetailEmailBlog My point is U have to move beyond email metrics 2 biz metrics to measure email success of subject lines (LM: agree!)

@justinpremick >> @RetailEmailBlog agree in broad sense, but to what extent does the rise of engagement metrics for deliverability change that?

@sharonmostyn >> RT @LorenMcDonald @RetailEmailBlog U have to move beyond email metrics 2 biz metrics to measure email success of subject lines (LM: agree!)

@MarkatEMR >> @justinpremick @RetailEmailBlog Working out the blend of metrics that best defines *long-term* email success is a challenge

@RetailEmailBlog >> @justinpremick Great point. Engagement metrics are changing the game, but I still think you have to move beyond opens to clicks, fwds, etc.

@dusty_scott >> RT @RetailEmailBlog: Confused when people say a subject line is better because it produced more opens. The best one produces more conversions

@indie_preneur >> @RetailEmailBlog -- I think it's more that those people are confused about what metrics they are considering for a campaign to be effective.

Want to join the conversation? Just reply to @RetailEmailBlog to chime in.
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: Holiday headers debut

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

Disney Store, 10/28 — Our Holiday Shop is Now Open! Share the Magic with Disney Decor‏
Disney is among the first retailers to debut their holiday header. Crate & Barrel, Kohl’s and Montgomery Ward have also launched theirs. Disney chose to dress up their logo with seasonal elements, but some of the others added a “holiday” or “gifts” link to their navigation bar or did both. I expect many more holiday headers to be unveiled over the next two weeks. For more on holiday headers, check out the Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season.



REI, 10/28 — Your REI Events Calendar for November and December‏
Using zip codes as the basis for local-store emails can be a bit dangerous. Sometimes a subscriber’s preferred store is near their work or perhaps on the way to their favorite national park. REI uses subscribers’ zip codes to determine their preferred store, but they also include prominent preference update links in case a subscribers wants to designate a different store as their favorite. Not only do they include a banner at the bottom of the email, but they also include a preference update link in their preheader text.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Lillian Vernon, 10/28 — Last Chance for Free Shipping in the Early Christmas Sale‏
The Company Store, 10/28 — Bigger Is Better - Supersized Comforters‏
Neiman Marcus, 10/28 — Resortwear for wherever you may roam‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: This deal's surprise is not a good one

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

Norm Thompson, 10/27 — By invitation only...here's your exclusive surprise offer.‏
This Norm Thompson email seems to be a mystery deal email, like the ones sent by Banana Republic, Dell, Gap, and HSN lately; however, the landing page is their home page. There may be deals there, but none of them are exclusive. Not a good surprise.



Cooking.com, 10/27 — Top Turkey Roasters and other Thanksgiving Essentials‏
I was intrigued by this call-to-action to share a virtual Halloween treat—Was it a virtual gift on Facebook? Was it in the form of an email? The messaging was vague so I clicked through only to discover that the sharing mechanism was password-protected.



L.L. Bean, 10/27 — "The Warmest Jacket" from Just $49 + NEW Sale Items‏
This is a very small component of the messaging in this email, but I found it to be very timely and thoughtful. It’s good to know that L.L. Bean is looking out for the safety of their subscribers.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Linens ’n Things, 10/27 — Fall Back and Save 10% Off Your Order‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 10/27 — Five of our favorites for Christmas!
Ralph Lauren, 10/27 — Elegant Eveningwear For The Holiday Season‏
PC Connection, 10/27 — Get great Halloween pictures then watch a scary movie on a brand new TV with our last-minute Halloween Specials!
1-800-Flowers.com, 10/27 — All treat, no trick--Free Shipping Upgrade for Halloween‏
Oriental Trading, 10/27 — Last chance for Halloween! Next day delivery is just $14.95‏
Victoria’s Secret, 10/27 — Achieve Perfection! Come in for Your Free Fitting & Get a Free Lip Gloss.
Neiman Marcus, 10/27 — KATE SPADE wows us! Introducing Apparel & Jewelry‏
Spiegel, 10/27 — Introducing, The LUXE LEGGINGS SHOP! Create Your Signature Style from $19!‏
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 10/27 — Email Exclusive Offer - 50% Off Shipping on Select LIVESTRONG Fitness!‏
Diamond.com, 10/27 — Designer Showcase - Manami Collection - Save 20%
Montgomery Ward, 10/27 — Stay Warm & Cozy with a New Fireplace from Wards‏
MLB, 10/27 — Stay warm this offseason in cool-weather gear.
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: First reference to Veterans Day

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.com, 10/26 — Orange Roses & White Callas + FREE Vase, only $29.99‏
1-800-Flowers.com gives us our first reference to Veteran’s Day, which is Nov. 11. Veterans Day is referenced in retail email messaging less than half as often as Columbus Day, so it’s a very small selling season.



Chadwick’s, 10/26 — FREE SHIPPING! Hurry for a Limited Time only!
Following the lead of Norm Thompson (see Aug. 18, 2008 AM Inbox) and L.L. Bean (see July 16 AM Inbox), Chadwick’s is inviting subscribers to vote for their favorite catalog cover. This is a great tactic that allows subscribers to participate in the brand without necessarily buying something—although it certainly never hurts to reward voters with incentives like Chadwick’s does here. Where this email falls down is that it never mentions the opportunity to vote for the cover in either the subject line or preheader message, so Chadwick’s misses out on engaging subscribers who are not in the market.



Ann Taylor, 10/26 — Introducing LISA LOVES: Our Head Designer Shares Her Favorites For The Month...‏
Ann Taylor is launching a new recurring email around the picks of their head designer, Lisa. Bringing forward knowledgeable personalities is definitely a growing trend in email and Ann Taylor does it well in this email. Right in the subject line they explain who Lisa is; then they do it again in the body of the email, including a picture of Lisa to humanize the email more. Those are things that J. Crew has failed to do with their email feature Jenna (see May 5 AM Inbox). Ann Taylor also avoids making the mistake of changing their sender name to Lisa, risking that subscribers won’t recognize the sender and hit the “report spam” button. This is a mistake that Neiman Marcus has made (see Feb. 2 AM Inbox).



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 10/26 — Congratulations New York - American League Champions!
MLB, 10/26 — Celebrate the Yanks 40th AL Pennant
Eddie Bauer, 10/26 — It Only Happens Once A Year – Save On The World's Best Down®!
Fingerhut, 10/26 — Fingerhut: A SPOOKTACULAR Free Gift for Halloween‏
Coldwater Creek, 10/26 — What a treat! Over 300 sweet deals up to 70% off in Outlet‏
Harry & David, 10/26 — Hurry ... FREE Express Delivery Upgrade on select Halloween gifts ends soon!
Cooking.com, 10/26 — Holiday Potato Recipes: Easy & Inexpensive‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Season Finale: Columbus Day 2009

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

Start to finish: The first reference to Columbus Day was on Sept. 28 by 1-800-Flowers.com. The final reference was on Columbus Day, Oct. 12.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for Columbus Day emails was Sunday, Oct. 11. Retailers sent the majority of their Columbus Day -themed emails after Oct. 9.



Standout subject lines:
Staples, 10/9 — Save like it's 1492!
Bluefly, 10/11 — New World, New Dress! EXTRA 15% OFF DRESSES!
Harry & David, 10/8 — Columbus Day: 14.92% OFF Moose Munch Collections - Online ONLY‏
Chadwick’s, 10/11 — Columbus Day CLEARANCE! (Who will get the 6.99 shirts?)

Subject lines that stand out for the wrong reasons:
Bluefly, 10/9 — Extra 15% Off Coats Today Only – Thank You Columbus!
This subject line needs a comma after “You” because it’s addressing Columbus.

Read previous Columbus Day Season Finales: 2008, 2007

Explore Columbus Day tag.
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: My favorite Halloween animated gif

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, 10/23 — LAST DAY for Halloween treats with Standard Delivery - Free on select items‏
This is my favorite animated gif of the Halloween season. It’s eye-catching, fun, on-brand and supports the message of the email.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sephora, 10/24 — Go, go gadget girl‏ [promoting beauty gadgets]
Linens ’n Things, 10/25 — Save 15% at LNT.com When You Become a Fan on Facebook‏
The Company Store, 10/23 — Holiday Gift Guide + $25 Gift Card With $75 Purchase Banner‏
Lillian Vernon, 10/25 — Get 15% Off Ways to Thrill Your Guests this Holiday Season‏
Walgreens, 10/25 — How Boo-tiful: 30 Prints for $3 + 20% Off Gifts, More‏
Oriental Trading, 10/23 — Up to 75% off Halloween. Plus $0 shipping + a FREE gift‏
Old Navy, 10/23 — Save up to 50% With Our Mystery Offer‏
Ralph Lauren, 10/24 — Trend Report: Perfect Plaid‏
J. Jill, 10/23 — Warm layers to chase the chill. Plus, last days for Double Discount.
REI, 10/23 — Bring on the Snow: Top Women's Ski Gear + Cool Weather Fashions‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Week-End Trends: And so it begins...

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The average weekly promotional email volume sent by top online retailers to each of their subscribers fell 2% to 2.6 emails during the week ending Oct. 23, 2009. It’s up 4% from where it was four weeks ago and it’s up 12% year-over-year (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: With standard shipping deadlines expiring for Halloween delivery, holiday promotions will begin ramping up this week. The online holiday season is officially upon us. Good luck, everyone.




Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Thanksgiving (11/26): Thanksgiving 2008 Season Finale
Cyber Monday (11/30): Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
Christmas (12/25): Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, Christmas 2008 Season Finale
New Year’s (1/1): New Year’s 2009 Season Finale
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Ping Time: Reactivation campaigns, transactional emails, etc.

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

>>Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports shares advice on reactivation campaigns. >>Follow the ping

>>Lisa Harmon of Smith-Harmon discusses all the best practices encapsulated in Williams-Sonoma’s transactional emails. >>Follow the transactional ping

>>Matt Blumberg of Return Path talks about why he joined the DMA’s board and executive committee. >>Follow the ping

>>Anna Yeaman of StyleCampaign shares the results of an A/B test that looked at using an animated gif to spur clicks on video content. >>Follow the ping

>>So your boss read that Wall Street Journal about email dying (again). Have them read the statistics pulled together by Morgan Stewart of ExactTarget. >>Follow the ping

>>Bryan Quilty of MindComet talks about using photos as background images (which holds the most promise for lifestyle and aspirational brands). >>Follow the ping

>>Techcrunch reports that Gmail is using favicons in their inbox…although Netflix seems to be the only beneficiary so far. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss the use of text and images in emails while explaining the secret language of sales. >>Follow the ping
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: Hey, Dodgers fans, get your Philly championship gear!

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, 10/22 — Congratulations Philly - National League Champions!‏
This is a timely, urgent email from Dick’s Sporting Goods, but it could have been so much more if they had more information about their subscribers. Dick’s doesn’t ask for a zip code when non-buyers sign up for email, which about a quarter of retailers do, and they don’t ask about subscribers’ favorite sports or teams, like NFLshop does. They also don’t appear to have a preference center to collect any of this information later in the relationship. Imagine how the messaging could have been more pointed if they knew a subscriber lived in Philly or that they loved the Phillies? For one, information about store hours in Philly could have been brought higher up for subscribers that were local. And perhaps more importantly, if you knew a subscriber was a LA Dodgers fan, perhaps you wouldn’t send them this email at all, avoiding the risk of making them mad for rubbing the loss in their face.



Bluefly, 10/22 — Splurge or Steal? FAB Handbags at Any Budget!
I really like the messaging in this Bluefly email. It points out trends and then allows subscribers to decide if they want to act on that trend by spending a little or a lot of money. Having the higher price point there for comparison makes the cheaper item seem like a better deal.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Newegg, 10/22 — Windows 7 Launch Party! $99.99 Home Premium, $399.99 Windows 7-installed Lenovo Laptop...
PC Connection, 10/22 — Windows 7 Now Shipping Get Your Copy Today - Plus Deal of the Day Is Back!
J&R, 10/22 — Microsoft Windows 7 -- Get It Now!
Buy.com, 10/22 — The New Windows 7 Upgrade and Full Versions Now Available‏
OfficeMax, 10/22 — Now Available: Windows 7 + More Software Savings‏
B&H Photo Video, 10/22 — Free Shipping on Microsoft Windows 7 - Upgrade Today!
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 10/22 — The sexiest costumes + free shipping upgrade.
Blair, 10/22 — We've gone batty! 99¢ shipping special is extended‏
Bed Bath & Beyond, 10/22 — Thanksgiving solutions from Real Simple®.‏
CB2 (Crate & Barrel), 10/22 — Ho-ho-ho. The affordable CB2 holiday catalog is here.
Eddie Bauer, 10/22 — Last Day: Free Shipping - No Minimum Purchase - New Holiday Arrivals‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

Season Finale: Back to School 2009

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

Start to finish: The first reference to back to school was on June 17 by Lillian Vernon. The final reference was on Sept. 23.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for back-to-school emails was Sunday, Aug. 9, followed by Sunday, Aug. 2. Retailers sent the majority of their back-to-school-themed emails after Aug. 7.



Most interesting emails: In this Aug. 28 email, PC Connection uses some fun hyperbole to encourage customers to upgrade their products for back to school.



Office Depot, in this July 31 email, appealed to their customers’ sense of charity and school pride by offering to give 5% of your purchase total back to your school.



In this Aug. 5 email, Bed Bath & Beyond engages subscribers by asking if they have any ideas for dorm room products. Bed Bath used this same tactic earlier in the year to reach out to women shoppers (see Mar. 10 AM Inbox). Does one of your customers have the next hot product idea?



Looking to address the problem of school-mandated (or job-mandated) all-white or all-black shoes, Finish Line sent this Aug. 5 email with the subject line “Dress Code Approved And Free Shipping!” What problems are you making easier for your subscribers to solve?



Email 2.0 angle: While last back-to-school season was characterized by a heavy use of video, I expected this year’s to have a heavy social media tone. I was wrong. Sears was one of the only retailers to include a social media angle in their emails, promoting their CampusReady page on Facebook in a July 20 email.



Lands’ End promoted their Packland microsite in an Aug. 5 email. The site allows kids to add various fantastical elements to a Lands’ End backpack like magic wands and ‏rocket-boosters. It doesn’t appear that the site was very successful as it’s already been pulled down.



Standout call-to-action: While the “Shop Now” language is boring in this July 5 Toys “R” Us email, the pencil is fun. I wonder if they would have gotten more clicks if the pencil tip had been pointing to the right instead of the left.



Standout subject lines:
Lillian Vernon, 7/26 — Back to School Plus 15% Off Equals an A+‏
Hallmark, 8/1 — Ideas to encourage kids on the first day of school
RitzCamera, 8/22 — Super Student Special, 10% OFF (Use Coupon Code 1828)

Subject lines that stand out for the wrong reasons:
Sam’s Club, 7/23 — Go back totally stacked. Shop for college at Sam's Club.‏
I’m not sure what definition of stacked they were going for. Does Sam’s Club sell boob jobs now?

Read previous Back-to-School Season Finales: 2008, 2007, 2006

Explore Back-to-school tag.
_____________________
SEARCH... By Post Category / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: HP latest retailer to redesign their email template

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, 10/21 — Your HP Home & Home Office Store Deals - Week of October 21, 2009‏
Starting with an Oct. 18 email, HP has redesigned their emails, making a couple of big changes above the fold. First, they abandon their logo banner, opting to integrate their logo into the body of the message like Neiman Marcus does (see Sept. 14 AM Inbox). The other change is that they’re right-justifying their preheader text—which is highly unusual—and added division branding. Considering that the division (Home & Home Office Store) is already in the subject line, this seems like a waste of space—unless they’re planning on ditching their standard subject line and calling out the content of the email more specifically. It’s hard to tell if HP is increasing the width of their template as many element in this email are breaking the grid and making the email wider. Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from an Oct. 15 email:



Toys “R” Us, 10/21 — Create Your Wish List Today!‏
Wish lists can be great early holiday messaging. In addition to elevating their social links into their navigation bar, Toys “R” Us has been running this Facebook preview pane banner in their last few emails.



Drs. Foster & Smith, 10/21 — FREE SHIPPING on Dog & Cat Supplies!
Drs. Foster & Smith provides us with a reminder that you should set up your processes so as to avoid opportunities to make mistakes. This email was initially sent with the sender name “PROOFING,” which is a decidedly poor way to keep track of your progress on an email. Later in the day they followed up with this apology email.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Coach, 10/21 — Coach news. Let the holidays begin!
Abercrombie & Fitch, 10/21 — Christmas 2009‏
Victoria’s Secret, 10/21 — Make it a Victoria's Secret Holiday + Save Up to $150!‏
Eddie Bauer, 10/21 — Free Shipping - No Minimum Purchase + New Holiday Arrivals‏
Cooking.com, 10/21 — Holiday Gravy Recipes: Classic Turkey, Portobello & More‏
Lillian Vernon, 10/21 — Free 2-Day Shipping to Get Your Order by Halloween‏
Harry & David, 10/21 — Free Standard Delivery: 3-Days Left to Trick or Treat‏
J&R, 10/21 — DJ Hero Exclusive NYC Release Party with DMC and DJ Johnny Juice!
Fingerhut, 10/21 — Fingerhut: Stay Warm + Stylish this Season!
Neiman Marcus, 10/21 — GUCCI Cruise Collection‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: Barnes & Noble and Crutchfield email redesigns

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, 10/20 — Meet the World's Most Advanced eBook Reader‏
With the announcement of their ebook reader, the Nook, Barnes & Noble has redesigned their email template. In addition to adding a “nook” link to the navigation bar, they’ve moved their nav bar in line with their logo. This move shortens their header to 90 pixels from 125. However, it also resulted in them having to widen their template to 750 pixels from 650. That places them among a teeny tiny minority of retailers with emails that are wider than 700 pixels, according to Soon Even More Emails Won’t Be Optimized for Width. One solution would be to move the “Store Locator” link into the space right above the nav bar, perhaps adding a little store icon beside it so it’s not lonely looking. That would allow them to get back down to around 650 pixels wide, which Smith-Harmon highly recommends for the time being. Next year we’ll probably start recommending a width closer to 600, so if you’re increasing the width of your email over 650 pixels then you’re trending in the wrong direction. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old header from an Oct. 15 email:



Crutchfield, 10/20 — Free 19'' LCD TV, plus Blu-ray, camcorder, and speaker deals‏
After launching their Crutchfield Signature site earlier this month, Crutchfield redesigned their emails starting with an Oct. 14 email to make it easier to navigate to their three stores. The new design does away with the orange bullet and rounded edges in their buttons, and the tabbed arrangement of their store links suggests that the department navs will change based on which store the email is focused on. While the nav links are different in the new design, they’ve held the number of links to six. The new design also adds a tag line to their logo. Overall, the new design is just a smidge wider than the old one—655 pixels vs. 650. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old header design from an Oct. 7 email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Bluefly, 10/20 — EXTRA 10% OFF Everything - Happy FROCKTOBER! [promoting flocks]
Office Depot, 10/20 — Pre-order Windows 7 today‏
1-800-Flowers.com, 10/20 — Save up to $15 on Tasty Halloween Treats from our Family of Brands‏
Kmart, 10/20 — 40% off Costumes + Save Big on Candy‏
Oriental Trading, 10/20 — Final week for free shipping. Plus 15% off toys & treats‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: Two examples of complimentary pre-holiday messaging

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, 10/19 — A Free Gift for You - Receive Gift Card With Purchase‏
In the Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season I discuss complimentary pre-holiday messaging, which is messaging that helps set you up for a good holiday season. We have two examples of that kind of messaging today. The first is from the Company Store, which incentivizes current spending by offering a gift card for later use. The snowflakes strongly suggest that the “tomorrow” they refer to is the holiday season.



Macy’s, 10/18 — We're listening: extra 20% off + free shipping with our thanks!‏
The second example of complimentary pre-holiday messaging is this email from Macy’s, which outlines a number of improvements that they’ve made this year. Bringing up these changes now increases the chances that subscribers will be thinking about Macy’s when it comes time to pull the trigger on their Christmas lists. This email is very similar to the one they sent last November (see Nov. 13 AM Inbox) and in October of 2007 (see Oct. 24, 2007 AM Inbox).



Gap, 10/19 — Bring This Email to a Gap Store and Win, Starting 10/19‏
Gap gives us another example of a mystery coupon, with theirs only redeemable in stores. Since Banana Republic sent a mystery coupon a couple of weeks ago (see Oct. 15 AM Inbox), this is clearly something the Gap brands are experimenting with.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
HPshopping, 10/18 — Windows 7 is here!
Dell, 10/18 — Be One of the First: Windows 7 Now Preinstalled on Select Dell Laptops‏
TigerDirect, 10/19 — "Everything Else Seems Decades Old" - Read My Full Review of Windows 7, plus Windows 7 Laptops from $399‏
TigerDirect, 10/18 — Windows 7 is Here...Place Your Order Today!‏
Harry & David, 1018 — Your NEW Fall Holiday Catalog has arrived!‏
Lillian Vernon, 10/18 — Shop the Early Christmas Sale & Save 70%c
Toys “R” Us, 10/18 — Shop This Week's Super Deals plus Big Gift Layaway!‏
Orvis, 10/19 — Gift giving for men made easy - Combos from $89!‏
Cooking.com, 10/19 — Recipes for Apple and Pecan Holiday Desserts‏
Drs. Foster & Smith, 10/19 — Halloween Clearance Sale‏
Walgreens, 10/18 — A Treat: 25 Free Prints + 25% Off Books + Calendars‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: The evolution of Sony's preheader

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

Sony, 10/14 — October OUTLET SAVINGS Offer ends 10/17/09‏
Sony has been gradually tweaking their preheader over the past month. As seen in this Sept. 23 email, they used to have a preheader message on one line followed by “view with image” and “view on mobile” links on another line:



Starting with a Sept. 30 email, they condensed their “view with images” and “view on mobile” language down so that it could fit on the same line as their preheader message:



And then starting with this email, they’ve added five community links to their preheader for greater visibility:



The other change in this email is that they used “Sony Outlet” as their sender name. In the past they stuck with “Sony Electronics” when sending outlet messages. So long as you lead off with the overarching brand, this can be a good messaging tactic. HSN is a big believer in this tactic (see Oct. 17, 2008 AM Inbox).

Kohl’s, 10/16 — Must-Have Savings + 15% Shopping Pass, Shop Now!
Kohl’s gives us our first holiday header of the season. As discussed in the Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, holiday headers can include countdowns, seasonal colors and imagery, and links to a “Holiday” or “Gifts” department—as Kohl’s does in theirs. Some retailers change their holiday header over time, so it’s possible that Kohl’s may add other elements in a few weeks when we’re closer to Christmas.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Costco, 10/14 — Spruce Up Your Home For The Holidays and More from Costco.com‏
Petco, 10/16 — PETCO Huge Sale Event! Save On Fall And Holiday Items + FREE Shipping!
Sam’s Club, 10/15 — Build and share Halloween slideshows and scrapbooks‏
Williams-Sonoma, 10/14 — Under $20: No-Bake Halloween Haunted House Kit‏
RitzCamera, 10/14 — Up to $100 Savings + Halloween Costume Photo Contest!
Lillian Vernon, 10/14 — Don't be Scared, There's Still Time to Save Big on Halloween Needs‏
Target, 10/14 — Don’t miss out: Great offers on Halloween costumes, apparel and furniture.
Kmart, 10/14 — The Savings Will Make You Scream - Costumes and Decor on Sale‏
Harry & David, 10/15 — Free Standard Delivery + $5 OFF Select Halloween Treats and Gifts‏
Oriental Trading, 10/16 — Special Halloween Offer - Get FREE Shipping on ANY order‏
Linens ’n Things, 10/16 — SpooktacularSavings: $15 Off Your Order Over $149 plus Free Shipping‏
Norm Thompson, 10/14 — 48 hrs: FREE SHIP. What's your color personality? Take a look.
Neiman Marcus, 10/14 — Multiply the ways to wear your favorite coat + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
Bluefly, 10/14 — Win this Season's Most Coveted Bags - Sweeps Starts Today!
Brookstone, 10/16 — Digital picture frames now play videos and music + FREE Sitewide Shipping‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive

AM Inbox: eBags email redesign + an inflated preheader

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

eBags, 10/9 — You're Invited: eBags' Friends & Family Sale Event‏
As the month before the holiday really gets going, October is a popular month for website relaunches and email redesigns. We’ve already seen email redesigns from Art.com and Bloomingdale’s (see Oct. 15 AM Inbox) and Saks Fifth Avenue (see Oct. 7 AM Inbox). Now eBags has redesigned theirs. They’ve made their header longer by making their logo larger and moving their navigation bar under the logo to make room for a new search box. The new nav bar is graphical text, whereas the old one was HTML text that would render when images are blocked. The other big change is that they’ve widened their emails to 660 pixels from 600, giving themselves more room to play with. Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from an Oct. 5 email:



Bloomingdale’s, 10/12 — Ends Today: 5 Day Home Sale + 25-40% Off‏
Two blank lines + a preheader message broken up onto three lines + a whitelisting request + blank lines between everything = one giant waste of preheader space. What should have been two lines text has been exploded to nine! That severely harms how the email appears in preview panes. Here’s the first 300 pixels of the email, which is what will appear in many subscribers’ preview panes. Not terribly helpful.



ShopNBC, 10/11 — The BIG Countdown Continues 75 days till Christmas‏
Problems with returns is one reason that consumers don’t buy Christmas gifts sooner. ShopNBC eliminates that issue by allowing returns of gifts bought now until the end of January. Kicked off their holiday campaign 100 before Christmas by offering free shipping back on Sept. 16 (see Sept. 17 AM Inbox)



Oriental Trading, 10/13 — Save $20 on Halloween's sweetest deals. Shipping is free‏
Not sure which direction to take your email content? It never hurts to ask your subscribers directly, as Oriental Trading does in this email. Subscribers that clicked through were asked if they wanted more customer reviews, articles and tips, projects and craft ideas, or how-to videos. While you might get ambiguous results from such a poll, that wasn’t the case with Oriental Trading, which saw nearly a majority of their subscribers asking for projects and craft ideas. That’s pretty clear direction from your subscribers.



Spiegel, 10/13 — Important Shopping Update from Spiegel.
Not being direct about why they were emailing, this “update” probably led many subscribers to question whether something has happened to their Spiegel transactional data. Just reading the first paragraph I assumed that Spiegel had been hacked, when it turns out that Newport News was. Being clear and direct would have raised fewer alarms. As is, I wonder if subscribers who read this will be more hesitant about buying something online from Spiegel because of security concerns—which is the exact opposite of what they were trying to do.



Harry & David, 10/11 — 14.92% OFF Columbus Day SAVINGS on Moose Munch Collections‏
See a flavor here that has you drooling a little? Well, if you tried to click on the flavor to buy it you’d be out of luck because none of those are hot linked—not to the individual product page or even the Harry & David homepage. It turns out that only the “Set Sail…” headline and the “Shop Now” button are hyperlinked. Don’t make your subscribers work to click though from your email to the desired page. If you think a subscribers might click on it—like a product image, for instance—then hot link it to the appropriate page to minimize the number of clicks between them and checkout.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Neiman Marcus, 10/11 — The perfect evening? We have a few ideas‏
Crutchfield, 10/12 — Announcing Crutchfield Signature‏ [promotes new website for premium products]
Kmart, 10/9 — Kmart has Pet Supplies + Great Savings for Your Home‏
Staples, 10/9 — Save like it's 1492!
Bluefly, 10/11 — New World, New Dress! EXTRA 15% OFF DRESSES!
Harry & David, 10/9 — Set Sail for SAVINGS: 14.92% OFF for Columbus Day‏
Chadwick’s, 10/11 — Columbus Day CLEARANCE! (Who will get the 6.99 shirts?)
Sports Authority, 10/12 — Columbus Day Sale - Take 15% Off Online Orders - Today Only!
Diamond.com, 10/11 — Columbus Day Sale Reminder - 50% Off Plus $1 Shipping‏
Diamond.com, 10/9 — Columbus day Sale - 50% Off Plus $1 Shipping‏
Macy’s, 10/9 — Ends Monday: Free Shipping + great financing offers at the Columbus Day Sale!
Sears, 10/9 — Don't Miss Our Columbus Day Sale!
Chadwick’s, 10/9 — New prices from only $6.99! The Columbus Day Clearance Event‏
Toys “R” Us, 10/10 — Only 2 Days Left: Save Over $725 During Our Columbus Day Sale!
Sears, 10/11 — 3 Day Specials Columbus Day Sales‏
SmartBargains, 10/11 — 2 Days Only Columbus Day Sale & Clearance Event!
Musician’s Friend, 10/11 — Musician's Friend: Columbus Day Call 'N' Save Up To $200‏
Montgomery Ward, 10/13 — New Holiday Products Just Added Buy Now & Pay Later‏
Hanna Andersson, 10/12 — The Adorable Little Red Dress Holiday Dress And Sweater Sale‏
HSN, 12/13 — New Arrivals + Special Pricing for the Holidays! Sorelle, Royal Doulton & Jeffrey Banks Premiere‏
Disney Store, 10/13 — New Limited Edition Holiday Ornaments from Disney Store Europe‏
RitzCamera, 10/9 — Halloween Photo Tips, $89 Olympus 12MP Digital Camera‏
J&R, 10/12 — J&R Is Your Halloween Headquarters‏
Williams-Sonoma, 10/10 — New & Exclusive Personalized Halloween Totes + Treats‏
Oriental Trading, 10/9 — Get free shipping & save 15% on the ultimate Halloween party‏
Oriental Trading, 10/12 — Don't miss out! Create your own Monster Mash-up video‏
_____________________
SEARCH... Recent Posts / By Selling Season / By Retailer / By Topic / Monthly Archive