Season Finale: 4th of July 2010

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

Start to finish: The first reference to the 4th of July was on May 12. The final reference was on July 21. The biggest day for Independence Day emails was the 4th of July itself. Retailers sent the majority of their 4th of July-themed emails after June 30.



Most interesting emails: In this June 29 email, Newegg seamlessly works in an “update your preferences” request into the Independence Day theme. Using a banner, they reiterated this request in several emails during the 4th of July selling season.



Standout subject lines:
Fingerhut, 6/29 — Fingerhut: Answer this 4th of July Trivia + Get a FREE Gift!‏
Banana Republic, 7/1 — Happy July! Take a fourth off sale items + free shipping.‏
Old Navy, 7/4 — Patriotic Styles As Low as $5! Go Fourth & Save!

Subject lines that stand out for the wrong reasons:
Office Depot, 6/29 — SAVINGS so BIG you'll see fireworks!
I think they were trying to pun on “you’ll see stars” but the phrasing just doesn’t quite work.

Read previous 4th of July Season Finales: 2009, 2008, 2007

Explore 4th of July tag.
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AM Inbox: Video gif usage remains anemic

>>The 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download the 41-page guide for free. Register for the accompanying holiday planning 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, 8/30 — Fingerhut: Find Great Web-Exclusive Products Today!
Over the past 12 months, only 4% of the retailers I track have used a video gif in one or more emails. That includes Fingerhut, which sent this email with a video gif yesterday. Video gifs are compressed, streaming animated gifs that generate frame rates similar to video. Despite the increasing need to stand out in the inbox and the fact that many retailers promote video content in their emails, video gifs haven’t grown beyond a very niche tactic. View the video gif in this email in action.



Neiman Marcus, 8/30 — Dress to express: Which "Ooh!" are YOU?
When I saw Neiman Marcus asking subscribers to target their specific sense of style, I got excited, expecting that they were doing some progressive profiling a la Spiegel (see Mar. 17, 2008 AM Inbox). Collecting which style subscribers clicked on could have been the basis for dynamic content in future emails or a triggered email dedicated to apparel in that style.



However, Neiman Marcus didn’t use a click map for the image so regardless of which style you click on, it all goes to the same landing page (shown below). Even worse, that landing page has completely different “shop by” criteria. So while a subscriber may have been interested in the “Sophisticate” style, the landing page cuts off that avenue of exploration and forces them to choose a new path. Disconnects like this between email content and landing pages can significantly dampen conversion rates.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 8/30 — Celebrate Labor Day with more than $300 in savings! Sept 1-6 only‏
Cooking.com, 8/30 — Labor Day BBQ Recipes: Saucy BBQ, Egg Salads + More‏
Ross-Simons, 8/30 — EXTRA 20% Off Clearance – Labor Day Clearance Sale‏
Toys “R” Us, 8/30 — Save Like it’s Cyber Monday! One Day Only, Thousands of Items on Sale‏
Harry & David, 8/30 — National Trail Mix Day - Create-Your-Own and SAVE 15% + FREE Delivery‏
Northern Tool, 8/30 — Share Your Opinion And Win A $600 Hitachi Combo Kit‏
Lands’ End, 8/30 — Your opinions matter - thanks! 20% off top-rated styles ends today + free shipping.‏
Spiegel, 8/30 — OUR TOP 5 FOR FALL! What You Absolutely Can't Be Without This Season!
J. Jill, 8/30 — Our new off-to-work styles are here! Plus, $10 off pants.
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AM Inbox: First reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month

>>The 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download the 41-page guide for free. Register for the accompanying holiday planning 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:

Oriental Trading, 8/27 — Support Breast Cancer Awareness & Get Free Shipping‏
Oriental Trading gives us our first reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is October. For ideas and insights for your own Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaigns, check out the Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2009 Season Finale.



Eddie Bauer, 8/27 — Be the First to Write a Review On Eddiebauer.com‏
As mentioned in the 2010 Retail Guide to the Holiday Season, the pre-holiday period is a great time to spur product reviews and to launch product reviews, if you don’t already offer them. Product reviews have proven to be highly influential to sales, so now is a great time to make sure that you have plenty of reviews ahead of the holidays.



Lands’ End, 8/27 — Your opinions matter - thanks! Save 20% on top-rated customer favorites + free shipping.‏
Of course, once you have a nice supply of product reviews, you can leverage that back into your email marketing messages like Lands’ End does here. Lands’ End injects some extra branding into their messaging by using sailboats instead of the usual stars for their product ratings. Sam’s Club does something similar, using green diamonds that are similar to their logo.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Harry & David, 8/27 — 15% OFF and FREE DELIVERY just because ... it's Just Because Day!
REI, 8/27 — REI Labor Day Sale and Clearance on Now‏
Home Depot, 8/29 — Labor Day Savings: Grills $249 or More Ship Free Plus 25% Off Wicker Patio Furniture‏
ShopNBC, 8/28 — Get your game on in The Man Room‏
Orvis, 8/27 — Exclusively made in America: our newest collection.
Williams-Sonoma, 8/27 — Discover Jamie Oliver’s New Artisanal Food Collection‏
Ann Taylor, 8/27 — Naomi Watts For Ann Taylor + More New Arrivals!‏
Avon, 8/27 — the Hottest Trend for Fall 2010‏
Chadwick’s, 8/27 — First come, first serve! Lunch Break Event!‏
J. Jill, 8/28 — Too busy to save 15%? Didn't think so. Ends tomorrow!‏
Disney Store, 8/29 — Buy & Save! Create a Super Hero Headquarters‏
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Week-End Trends: Mysterious volume spike dissipates

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: Top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 2.6 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 27, 2010. That’s down 8% week-over-week, down 3% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 8% year-over-year. The mysterious spike in volume the week before last has subsided.



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: This week Labor Day messaging will spike. Last week we had our first reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For ideas and insights for your own Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaigns, check out the Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2009 Season Finale.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Columbus Day (10/11): Columbus Day 2009 Season Finale
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (Oct.): Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2009 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2009 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2009 Season Finale and the 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
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AM Inbox: Sports Authority template redesign

>>The 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download the 41-page guide for free. Register for the accompanying holiday planning 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:

Sports Authority, 8/26 — Free Shipping On All Games - Limited Time Only‏
Sports Authority has redesigned their email template, making dramatic changes to their header and introducing a new call-to-action button that’s unique and compelling. They rolled back some of the optimization for image blocking that they did in their last redesign (see Apr. 21, 2009 AM Inbox). For instance, this new design abandons using HTML text for the navigation bar links. However, they did streamline the navigation in the header, which allowed them to use larger font sizes. They also added nice “Follow the Authority” headline by their social links, clarifying that they are community links and not SWYN links.

One change that they didn’t make was to reduce the width of their template, deciding to keep it at a very wide and mobile-unfriendly 775 pixels. At this point, tt’s unclear if they’ve abandoned or redesigned their dreadful recovery section (see June 9 AM Inbox).

Here’s the new design:



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



Linens ’n Things, 8/26 — Skool iz Kool! Save an Extra 20% Off!‏
Not sure if this is an awful, out-of-date, mis-targeted subject line or if it’s awfully great because it’s LOLCats-inspired spelling gets your attention. I lean toward the former…

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Kmart, 8/26 — Earn Points, Tone While You Walk & Get Ready For Class With Kmart‏
Backcountry.com, 8/26 — Join The Community‏ [promoting their Facebook page]
Bluefly, 8/26 — Make It A LONG Night! Fall 2010 Evening Dresses - Up To 40% Off‏
Disney Store, 8/26 — Check out the Phineas and Ferb Arcade App Now‏
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AM Inbox: Inverted pyramid form and email design

>>The 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download the 41-page guide for free. Register for the accompanying holiday planning 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:

Coldwater Creek, 8/25 — Final chance! FREE Shipping + $25 OFF. Save NOW on FALL + SALE!
When news journalists write their stories, they arrange the details according to the “inverted pyramid” form that places the most important information first and then follows with less important supporting details. This form of communicating can also inform your email design. For instance, this Coldwater Creek email buries the important discount code call-to-action at the bottom of the primary message block.



Bringing that discount code up higher in the design would give it more attention. One way to do that would be to move the banner with the discount code up so it sits at the top of the primary message block, as in this mockup:



Of course, that change of positioning can be supplemented by an additional mention of the discount code even higher up the email hierarchy, either in the preheader message or in the subject line. @Digital_Melissa recently tested using a discount code in a subject line and it doubled their open rates.

Sears, 8/25 — Save big on Auto, Tools and Footwear‏
July through mid-October is the time to introduce pre-holiday messaging that gets your brand top of mind for holiday shopping. Sears’ Be the Santa campaign is a great example of this type of early holiday messaging. It’s wise to get your viral, user generated content and social campaigns in during this early period, because once we get to mid-November subscribers will be all about the deal.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Furniture.com, 8/25 — Work It: Labor Day savings for every room!‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/25 — It's a No Brainer - Save up to 90% on TEXTBOOKS!‏
JCPenney, 8/25 — What's New For You: Denim Styles For Back To School!
Kmart, 8/25 — New "What a Doll!" - Dress Her, Accessorize Her & Find Matching Outfits‏
Orvis, 8/25 — More than 90 new fall items now in our Men's Sporting Tradition catalog.‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/25 — What is the Chemeddy? Find out with $15 off your order.
J. Jill, 8/25 — Enjoy 15% off! Plus, our new Pure Jill collection is here.
Hanna Andersson, 8/25 — Our New Tee Is All About The Sea...
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AM Inbox: Are tables of contents obsolete?

>>The 2010 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Download the 41-page guide for free. Register for the accompanying holiday planning 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:

GameStop, 8/24 — This edition is packin'‏
GameStop has added a table of contents (TOC) to their weekly “Games of the Week” emails, making their hero image smaller to accommodate the addition. TOCs are pretty rare in B2C emails—and when used they typically appear in monthly newsletter emails. For example, Backcountry.com uses a TOC in the top right-hand corner of their monthly newsletters. But besides Backcountry, I’m actually hard pressed to think of another retailer among those that I track that use TOCs. It would appear that new email design strategies have rendered TOCs a bit obsolete.

What do you think? Are TOCs outmoded?



Overstock, 8/24 — Overstock.com Invites You to Eziba.com‏
Overstock introduces their subscribers to experience their sister brand Eziba. Overstock does several things right in this email: (1) They use their usual sender name and address. (2) They use their usual header. (3) They explain what’s special about Eziba. And (4) they include some current promotions so folks can get a better idea of what Eziba sells. Plus, the email uses a lot of HTML text. I would normally have liked to see an email sign-up call-to-action for Eziba, but since you have to register to access the site, the email sign-up pitch is made there instead. This email also includes an unsubscribe link for Eziba emails, which indicates to me that Overstock at least wants to keep the door open to sending additional messages like this to Overstock subscribers. For more on promoting sister brands, check out Cross-Promoting Sister Brands Safely.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
JC Whitney, 8/24 — Get Ready for Labor Day Travel - All Orders Ship Free‏
Dell, 8/24 — Time is running out on back to school PCs‏
Linens ’n Things, 8/24 — School Bells Ring with Extra Savings!‏
OfficeMax, 8/24 — Kodak Savings Event – Save up to 50% + Great Back-to-School Deals‏
Office Depot, 8/24 — Go Back SMARTER: Supplies Starting at $2‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/24 — The hottest new boyfriend sweatpants give you the perfect butt!
Neiman Marcus, 8/24 — Our best pieces straight from the world's runways‏
Kmart, 8/24 — Groceries delivered for FREE with a prescription order‏
Ralph Lauren, 8/24 — Ralph Lauren Home Presents Fall 2010‏
Cooking.com, 8/24 — Stir It Up! Introducing Marley Coffee‏
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Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2010: 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 5,250 emails from more than 100 top U.S. 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.

This 41-page guide includes benchmarks and advice on when to begin your campaigns, 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 more than 83% of major online retailers increased their email volume during November and December, with retailers boosting their send frequency by 39% on average compared to the preceding July-October period.

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

Other topics covered 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 71% 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 discusses tactics such as using holiday headers, gift services footers, and animated gifs, which so far this year have been used in twice as many email campaigns as last year.

● To target procrastinators, the guide discusses several strategies to employ during the final days before Christmas, including promoting e-gift cards, which were mentioned in more than 30% of retail emails during the three days before Christmas last year. That was 50% more often than during the same period in 2008.

● 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 41-page “Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2010” 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 webinar, which will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 1, at 12:15pm EST/9:15am PDT.

Other reports available from Responsys:
Email Design Look Book 2010
Cross-Promoting Sister Brands Safely
Animated Gif Usage Surging
Retail Email Unsubscribe Benchmark Study
Majority of Retailers Fail Hotmail-Firefox Rendering Test
Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement
Many Retailers Not Optimizing Preheader Text
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys' Downloads page.
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Season Finale: Memorial Day 2010

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

Start to finish: The first reference to Memorial Day was on Apr. 25. The final reference was on June 6. The biggest day for Memorial Day emails was Monday, May 31, followed by Thursday, May 27. Retailers sent the majority of their Memorial Day-themed emails after May 27.



Most interesting emails: In this May 31 email, Office Depot makes this printer promotion more relevant to Memorial Day by tying sales to supporting military families. They also promoted this program in a secondary message banner in a May 28 email.




Email 2.0 angle: In this May 28 email, L.L. Bean capitalized on the fact that Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer by asking subscribers to say on Twitter how they plan to kick off their summer. It was smart positioning to make the conversation about summer rather than Memorial Day.



Standout subject lines:
RitzCamera, 5/29 — Super Memorial Day Savings & Fireworks Photo Tips‏
Office Depot, 5/31 — Buy a Printer and Support Military Families‏
Ralph Lauren, 5/31 — Honor Memorial Day With Our Flag Polos + Free Shipping‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 5/31 — Looking for a great sale this holiday? Well...

Read previous Memorial Day Season Finales: 2009, 2008

Explore Memorial Day tag.
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AM Inbox: Another great animated gif from Bed Bath & Beyond

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, 8/23 — Sherwin-Williams helps complete any Bed Bath & Beyond room.
For a long time now I’ve singled out Harry & David and Williams-Sonoma as masters of the animated gif. It might be time to add Bed Bath & Beyond to that list. After using animation in a fun Father’s Day email (see June 2 AM Inbox), Bed Bath & Beyond used it in this great email that promotes their partnership with Sherwin-Williams and demonstrates how their bedding is complemented by three shades of paint. It’s a great concept executed well.



And here’s the animated portion of the email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
1-800-Flowers.com, 8/23 — It's Kiss & Make Up Day! Send Petite Summer Roses, just $19.99‏
Disney Store, 8/23 — Dress Up in Dreams - Halloween Shop Now Open!
Sam’s Club, 8/23 — Time for tailgating. Savings on grills, team logo chairs and more‏
Fingerhut, 8/23 — Fingerhut: Think You Know the Answer? Check Out Our Football Trivia!‏
Coldwater Creek, 8/23 — 200 New Fall Arrivals + FREE Shipping + $25 OFF. Enjoy the view!
Orvis, 8/23 — Enjoy summer while it lasts - fall is on the way.
Hanna Andersson, 8/23 — Save On Winter While The Sun's Still Bright!
Eddie Bauer, 8/23 — Plaid & Denim: A Perfect Match - Save Up To $20 On Jeans‏
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AM Inbox: Out of sync email and landing page 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:

Macy’s, 8/22 — Free Shipping on women's fall clothes & accessories‏
Are your emails generating good open and click rates, but the conversation rates are weak? Your emails may be suffering landing page issues like this Macy’s email. Calling out individual trends sets the expectation that subscribers can click on them to find out more. However, when you click on “the satchel” or “the military coat”—which even has a box around it so it looks like a giant button—you’re taken to a top-level landing page for this promotion. From there it’s one more click to get into the merchandise, but even worse is the fact that this landing page for Fall Trends doesn’t include “the clog,” “the ceramic watch” and “the satchel,” so the email content and landing page content are very out of sync.



OfficeMax, 8/20 — Preview Our August 22 Weekly Ad‏
OfficeMax has tweaked their preheader and built out their social media bar. In the preheader, they’ve removed a blank line. They also added a forward-to-a-friend link to the right-hand side of their header. In the social media bar, they’ve given it a headline and deck and added a link to their Facebook page, mobile app and loyalty program. Here’s the new design:



And here’s the old design from an Aug. 19 email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 8/20 — Are You the Ultimate Tailgater?
Harry & David, 8/20 — Enter the Ultimate Tailgating Sweepstakes + FREE Delivery on entire purchase!
Cooking.com, 8/20 — Preview Our Labor Day Sale and Save an Additional 10%
RitzCamera, 8/22 — Dorm Essentials, Top Ten Tips For Better Photos, New Nikons‏
eBags, 8/21 — Only 24 Hours Left: Extra 10% Off for Back to School + Free Shipping‏‏
Office Depot, 8/20 — Go Back Smarter: Check Out Hot Deals on Cool Tech + Preview the 8/22 Ad‏
J&R, 8/20 — Weekend Sale - Back to School Edition!
Sephora, 8/22 — What's hot for fall‏
Ralph Lauren, 8/20 — New Fall Colors: Shop The Create Your Own Collection‏
REI, 8/20 — REI Fall Forecast: Cool and Casual‏
Ann Taylor, 8/20 — Our New Pant Collection Is Here! $20 Off + Free Shipping On Any Pant Purchase‏
Spiegel, 8/20 — Help Us Find Our NEXT REALITY DRESSING MODEL And Save 20%!
Orvis, 8/20 — Want to know what customers just like you like best at Orvis?
Home Depot, 8/22 — Under $50: Start Updating Your Bath Today‏
Avon, 8/20 — Don't Gloss Over This Offer‏ [promoting lip gloss]
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Week-End Trends: Mysterious spike in email volume

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: Top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 2.9 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 20, 2010. That’s up 9% week-over-week, up 14% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 23% year-over-year. It’s not clear what caused the spike in volume, as back-to-school messaging volume was in-line with last year’s numbers.



The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week. However, the surprise was the strength of Sunday. Sunday has beat out a weekday on four occasions this calendar year, but this is the most impressive support. Sundays become much more popular send days during November and December, so this portends big Sunday volumes ahead.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: This is the start of a multi-week decline for back-to-school messaging that will come to an end in late September. Halloween messaging will remain low until we get into September. Labor Day messaging will spike the week prior to the holiday.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to School (June-September): Back-to-School 2009 Season Finale
Labor Day (9/6): Labor Day 2009 Season Finale
Columbus Day (10/11): Columbus Day 2009 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2009 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2009 Season Finale and the 2009 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season (2010 Holiday Guide coming soon)
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Ping Time: Top email mistakes, inactive subscribers, etc.

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

>>Alchemy Worx totally nails the top email mistakes. >>Follow the ping

>>Bonnie Malone of Return Path discusses new research on how retailers treat inactive subscribers. >>Follow the ping

>>Loren McDonald of Silverpop provides tons of advice on how to address inactive subscribers. >>Follow the ping

>>Spencer Kollas of StrongMail talks about the reasons that campaigns aren’t relevant. >>Follow the ping

>>Which Test Won? shares an email sign-up page A/B test. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Visual cues to convey 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:

Buy.com, 8/19 — Office Supply Coupons, iPhone 4 Case $6.99, DVD+R 100-Pk $17.95, Fujifilm 12.2MP Camera $74.00, ASUS Netbook $239.99,..‏
When subscribers only spend a few seconds looking at your emails, you need to use all the visual cues you can to help them understand your content quickly. People are culturally programmed to associate coupons with boxes made of dashed lines. Tap into that, as Buy.com does in this email, to quickly indicate that you’re presenting subscribers with a coupon.



Sears, 8/19 — Enter the Rock the Scene contest at a Sears near you!
This is one of the most difficult to read emails I’ve received in a while. The tiny, grey-on-white text is unnecessarily hard to read, as there’s plenty of white space in the email to have gone with a larger font size. Plus, the “Only at Sears” under the “Here + Now” was almost completely illegible. I had to magnify the email 200% to decipher it.

On the plus side, the dynamic content that provides the nearest store holding the auditions is great. That’s a much stronger call-to-action than providing a link to a landing page with a list of event sites.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Bass Pro Shops, 8/19 — Labor Day Sale + Save 25% off Zoom Baits‏
Dell, 8/19 — It's not too late to get the latest technology for school‏
Hanna Andersson, 8/19 — New Hannas + Early Savings In Time For BTS!
Sony, 8/19 — Get a free PlayStation 3 system or save up to $300 Shop VAIO at your local Sony Style Store‏
Cooking.com, 8/19 — You Voted: Top 5 YUMMIEST Summer Desserts‏
Sportsman’s Guide, 8/19 — Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube!... From The Sportsman's Guide‏
Chadwick’s, 8/19 — What's the possibility? Your favorite offer is waiting!
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AM Inbox: One way to encourage scrolling

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, 8/18 — Free Shipping + Save An Additional 50% Off On Markdowns‏
People’s eyes tend to follow lines, so adding vertical elements to emails can encourage scrolling, whether it’s necklaces (see June 23 AM Inbox), Christmas stockings (see Dec. 17 AM Inbox) or a ginormous woman (see Mar. 31, 2009 AM Inbox). In this email, Lane Bryant uses vertical lines plus some intrigue to get people to scroll. Preview pane sizes vary (and we like 300 pixels as a standard for testing), but here’s what this email looked like in my inbox:



JCPenney, 8/18 — Get Down With Our Low Prices-School Styles Starting at $6.99!
I recently commented on how JCPenney has been breaking the grid to visually break up the blockiness that plagues most email designs (see Aug. 9 AM Inbox). Well, here’s another great example of this from JCPenney. They not only have the kid’s elbow poking out on the right, but they use spiral notebook-inspired edging along the left-hand side of the email and as the top border of the bottom banner. These elements—along with the diagonal headline and call-to-action button—add a lot of texture to the email.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Barnes & Noble, 8/18 — Rent Textbooks Up to 70% off. Hurry - Classes start soon!
Office Depot, 8/18 — Ready For Back-to-School? Shop Supplies Starting at $1+ More Savings Inside‏
J&R, 8/18 — Storm Season Is Here, Are You Prepared? [promoting surge protectors]
Sephora, 8/18 — We've gone mobile‏ [promoting new mobile website]
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/18 — What are the top 10 styles of the year? Find out with free shipping.
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AM Inbox: Aerial view in the inbox

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

CB2, 8/17 — Blueprint for affordable modern. New CB2 fall catalog is here.‏
I love the fresh, aerial view in this email. It allows subscribers to appreciate some of the products in a new light—particularly the teepee dining table, red club rug and lantern arc floor lamp. The “blueprint” design is also refreshing and fun. On the downside, the preheader is a big mess and I’m not sure why the product names and prices are so small.



Crate & Barrel, 8/17 — New improved website design. Room ideas, expert advice, and more.‏
Crate & Barrel tells subscribers about their new and improved website in this email. It’s a little dense (probably could have dropped the image captions for starters), but there’s a lot of good information and it uses color blocks in an “S”-curve to guide readers through the email.



Nordstrom, 8/17 — Blueprint for affordable modern. New CB2 fall catalog is here.‏
Nordstrom alerts subscribers that they’ll soon be relaunching their website. I’ll be watching to see if they also redesign their email template at the same time. (Fingers crossed.)



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Dell, 8/17 — Great deals on Back To School PCs‏
PC Connection, 8/17 — Back-To-School Deals From PC Connection Express!
Finish Line, 8/17 — New Markdowns for Back to School--Up to 65% Off!
Williams-Sonoma, 8/17 — Just Arrived: Exclusive Table Linens for Fall‏
Costco, 8/17 — Season Ending Savings For Your Backyard & Other Great Offers From Costco.com!
Neiman Marcus, 8/17 — Our lookbook with MEGA-WATT shine‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/17 — Save 30% off Exciting New Reads + Download FREE NOOK apps Today‏
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AM Inbox: What's the buzz about what I'm signing up for?

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, 8/16 — So What's The Buzz?
Sears announces the launch of theSearsbuzz, which includes articles, videos, product-finders and more. The personal shopper service is nice, upscale offering that’s surprising. Design-wise, the secondary message block is a little hard to read with the green background color. Also, while the email sign-up for theSearsbuzz is prominent, they might have been better off saying something about the email content instead of offering an incentive. Are the emails a compilation of content from theSearsbuzz or exclusive content or something else? Unfortunately, the email sign-up page also doesn’t provide any clues either about just what content people are opting in to receive.

TheSearsbuzz replaces the BuzzHub, which Sears told subscribers about in May (see May 28 AM Inbox).



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
TigerDirect, 8/16 — Back-to-School Blowout...up to 48% Off‏
B&H Photo Video, 816 — B&H Invites you to the Canon Expo 2010 in NYC‏
Norm Thompson, 8/16 — It can't go on forever. Warehouse Sale + 20% off ends tonight.
J. Jill, 8/16 — Embrace your tomboy spirit & take $10 off denim.
Bluefly, 8/16 — Make a Statement in Leather - New Fall Outerwear - Up To 65% Off‏
Bloomingdale’s, 8/16 — Scene-Stealing Leather Jackets‏
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AM Inbox: First reference to Labor 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:

Omaha Steaks, 8/15 — 50% OFF EVERYTHING! Yes, shipping too!...72 HOURS ONLY‏
Omaha Steaks gives us our first reference to Labor. For insights and inspiration for your Labor Day campaigns, check out the Labor Day 2009 Season Finale.



Petco, 8/15 — PETCO Summer Scavenger Hunt! Win Prizes + FREE Shipping on $25‏
Reminiscent of Buy.com’s Tweet ’n Seek campaign (see May 28, 2009 AM Inbox), Petco is running a scavenger hunt campaign that exposes participants to four of their Facebook pages, two of their Twitter accounts, and their blog.



Target, 8/13 — Two days only: Two days only: Save 10% on clothing, baby finds + home updates.
Ignoring the duplication in the subject line, this email is really interesting as Target likely caught people’s attention with this postcard email because it ditches their usual template. It not only doesn’t use any preheader text, but it also jettisons their usual header and navigation bar. It positions the Target logo prominently on the right-hand side of the email and brings the navigation bar back in next to the primary call-to-action. Although they use alt text, Target missed a great opportunity to use HTML text for the body copy—or at least a big chunk of it.



Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/13 — The sexiest new legwear, new markdowns + free shipping.‏
This Frederick’s design is novel because of its right-to-left diagonal design that guides the eye down the email to the inset image in lower right-hand corner. A clear call-to-action in the form of a button would have made this design even more powerful.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Kohl’s, 8/13 — Back-to-School Essentials: Save an extra 30%, 20% or 15%
Office Depot, 8/13 — Make the Grade with SMART Savings - Preview the 8/15 Ad‏
Target, 8/15 — Class in session: Deals on great stuff for college life.
eBags, 8/13 — Extra 10% Off + Top Back to School Brands Equals A+ Deals‏
Dell, 8/14 — Highly rated customer favorites – popular systems for back to school.‏
eBags, 8/14 — Ends Sunday - Extra 10% Off + Free Shipping for Back to School‏
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 8/15 — Great Prices on All Your Back-to-School Needs!‏
Lillian Vernon, 8/13 — Costumes are Back! Plus, Find Your Last Minute Back to School Needs!
NFLshop, 8/15 — Pre-Season Is Here - Check Out Our New Line Up!
Dell, 8/13 — The new Dell Streak. More than a smartphone. More than a tablet.‏
Hallmark, 8/15 — The Martha Stewart Show is Moving to Hallmark Channel!‏
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Week-End Trends: Back-to-school messaging to start decline

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: Top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 2.6 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 13, 2010. That’s down 4% week-over-week, up 2% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 7% year-over-year.



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Last week gave us our first reference to Halloween. This week should finally bring us the first reference to Labor Day. I forgot that Labor Day was a little later this year, so looking for the first Labor Day reference last week was a bit premature. Meanwhile, back-to-school messaging should start to decline a bit, while Halloween messaging stays at a low level until we get into September.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to School (June-September): Back-to-School 2009 Season Finale
Labor Day (9/6): Labor Day 2009 Season Finale
Columbus Day (10/11): Columbus Day 2009 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): Halloween 2009 Season Finale
Christmas (12/25): Christmas 2009 Season Finale and the 2009 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season (2010 Holiday Guide coming soon)
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Ping Time: Retail email sentiment, wording of promotions, etc.

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

>>The Bronto Software strategy team tackles subscriber sentiment around retail email promotions. >>Follow the ping

>>Linda Bustos of GetElastic discusses the psychology of prices and percentages in promotions, information that’s applicable to writing subject lines and body copy for email promotions. >>Follow the ping for up to 50% off

>>Bryan Dreller of Return Path shares the fix for managing background colors in Hotmail on Firefox. >>Follow the ping

>>Microsoft is getting ready to launch Internet Explorer 9, so get ready to add that browser to your list of environments in which to check the rendering of your emails. >>Follow the ping (hat tip to Dylan Boyd of eROI)

>>Anna Yeaman of StyleCampaign looks at support for the marquee tag in email clients. >>Follow the ping

>>In Smith-Harmon’s latest Email Insider column, Alex Madison and Lisa Harmon share some holiday email marketing advice. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Are you optimizing your navigation bar?

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

Home Depot, ‏8/12 — Save 50% on Select Faucets & Bath Items for a Limited Time. Online Only!‏
Your navigation bar occupies prime real estate within your email. What are you doing to ensure that you’re maximizing subscribers’ response to it? Here are several variable to test: (1) HTML text links vs. graphical text links, (2) color of nav bar and links, (3) size/boldness of nav links, (4) number of nav links, (5) order of nav links, and (6) swapping links out by season. It’s with those last two points in mind that Home Depot’s nav caught my eye. It turns out that they were using this exact same navigation bar in January. Are Home Depot customers’ interests in the middle of the summer really no different than in the dead of winter? Seems like a clear opportunity to optimize this vital email element.



Bluefly, 8/12 — FALL In Love With NEW Statement Coats - At 20%-65% Off!
Taking refer-a-friend a step beyond the usual referral email, Bluefly rewards subscribers when their friends create accounts and make their first purchase.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Kmart, 8/12 — Back to School Savings on All Route 66 and Shoes‏
Barnes & Noble, 8/12 — Back-to-School Sale! Great Savings on Kids Books, LeapFrog & More!
J&R, 8/12 — The New iMac: The Essential Tool for School‏
GameStop, 8/12 — Be the first to know - Like Us. [appeal to join them on Facebook]
Hanna Andersson, 8/12 — Ends Sunday - School Deals And Unders Sale!‏
TigerDirect, 8/12 — The DROID 2 is Here! See Our Launch Day Discount...Limited Time Only‏
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AM Inbox: Upselling complementary products

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

Saks Fifth Avenue, 8/11 — Men's Jewelry: John Hardy, Stephen Webster, more‏
Saks gives us a great example of creating an upsell opportunity by using a secondary message to promote products that are complementary to the item promoted in the primary message. They even use a little animation to expose subscribers to some additional complementary products. This is a tactic that’s rarely used, particularly among apparel retailers where you’d think it would be leveraged regularly.



Here’s the animated portion of the email:



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Office Depot, 8/11 — Pop Quiz! How Much Can You Save on a Laptop Bundle? Answer Inside.
Barnes & Noble, 8/11 — Save up to 90% on Textbooks! Buy, Rent or Download Today!
Williams-Sonoma, 8/11 — “Everyone who cooks should own this knife” – Now Under $100‏
B&H Photo Video, 8/11 — World in focus Photo Contest – enter by August 23rd for the chance to win great prizes‏
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Season Finale: Graduation 2010

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

Start to finish: The first reference to graduation season was on Mar. 23. The final reference was on June 15. The biggest day for graduation emails was Tuesday, June 8, followed by Tuesday, May 28. Retailers sent the majority of their graduation-themed emails after May 24.



Noteworthy trends: There were two interesting trends to emerge during graduation season this year. First, some retailers spoke directly to older grads with their messaging, rather than speaking to parents, which is the norm. For example, in this Apr. 30 email, Ann Taylor speaks directly to soon-to-be college graduates. To reach more grads directly, the email includes a secondary call-to-action to “Pass it on to your favorite student.” This is a refreshing 180 on the usual graduation messaging.



And in this May 13 email, Banana Republic also spoke to new grads, offering them style advice.



And the second trend was a new focus on very young graduates, looking to reach out to parents who recognize kids moving on from middle school, elementary school and even kindergarten. For example, in this May 18 email, Barnes &Noble promoted “Great Books for Little Grads.”



And in this May 17 email, Toys “R” Us goes after the full spectrum of graduates with landing pages with assortments that are tailored to each age group. Beyond the advantage of the targeted landing pages, subscribers’ clicks can be used for progressive profiling, giving Toys “R” Us a better idea of the ages of kids in a subscriber’s household. This can be used for segmentation and dynamic content in later emails.



Email 2.0 angle: Looking to tap into the musical talents of their subscribers, the Company Store ran a “rockin’ bedtime song” contest, which it promoted in this May 12 email.



Standout subject lines:
Toys “R” Us, 5/17 — Grad Gifts for Scholars of ANY Age! View our favorites‏
RitzCamera, 5/15 — Graduation Gift Deals, Tips For Memorable Graduation Photos‏
The Company Store, 5/12 — Win Scholarships up to $5000 & more!‏

Read previous graduation Season Finales: 2009, 2008

Explore graduation tag.
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