AM Inbox: First reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month

>>Viral & Community Links in Email: Download the 9-page report for free.

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

Kohl’s, 8/30 — Think Pink: New FILA Women's Health Items $5 or $10.
Kohl’s gives us our first reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, although they don’t mention it by name. While we tend to see the earliest references around the end of August, messaging doesn’t jump until Oct. 1, the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For insights and inspiration for your own campaigns, check out the Breast Cancer Awareness Month Season Finale.



Neiman Marcus, 8/30 — Pump Trend including Brian Atwood
Heatmapping and eyetracking can lead to interesting discoveries about design, but sometimes it’s really easy to determine the eye-flow of an email, as is the case in this email. The eye has a clear and simple Z-shaped path, starting in the upper left-hand corner, cascading down the headline and then the eyes follow the lines of the legs, with the heels of the pumps pointing to the beginning of the secondary message. If you’re looking for them, there are lots of natural lines that can be used to guide the reader’s eyes through your design so they see the most critical information.



Ralph Lauren, 8/30 — Denim & Supply: Your Fall Fix
One of the many ways that email is different from direct mail is that recipients don’t tend to see the full creative all at once. They only see chunks of the creative at a time, the size of which varies depending on their platform and settings. That can lead to some unintended consequences, such as Bloomingdale’s holding a “ho sale” (see Oct. 17, 2008 AM Inbox). This Ralph Lauren email is also unfortunately not designed well for email viewing. Below is how the email appeared in my preview pane.



Perhaps Ralph Lauren was trying to be suggestive with the placement of the black banner in respect to the female model, but the cropping in the preview pane amplifies the suggestion since you can’t see her right hand without scrolling down.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Drs. Foster & Smith, 8/30 — SALE - Celebrate Labor Day with USA-Made Pet Supplies!
JC Whitney, 8/30 — A Sneak Peek at Labor Day Sale: $40 Off your Order!‏
Office Depot, 8/30 — Pre Labor Day Savings Start Now - Save Up To 50% On Select Items
Newegg, 8/30 — LABOR DAY SALE: Over 100 major deals inside!
Musician’s Friend, 8/30 — Labor Day Sale! Save $100 + Free Shipping
Coldwater Creek, 8/30 — A+ Deals!
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 8/30 — Kick Off the Season with 15% Off Our Tailgate Gear Collection
Oriental Trading, 8/30 — Scared to be alone on Halloween? Party with $0 shipping
Toys “R” Us, 8/30 — 15% Off Your Total Party Supply Purchase at the Birthdays“R”Us Party Shop!
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AM Inbox: Target redesign + year-round free shipping

>>Viral & Community Links in Email: Download the 9-page report for free.

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

Target, 8/29 — Love your taste in furniture deals. Rugs, too.
Target has redesigned their emails, making changes throughout the design. At the top, Target has dropped their whitelisting request from their preheader and inverted the order of their logo and navigation bar, which is now composed of HTML text links instead of graphical text. Target has repeated shown a willingness to experiment with their logo placement (see Apr. 22 AM Inbox, Apr. 5 AM Inbox and Aug. 16, 2010 AM Inbox), so this isn’t a radical move for them. Throughout the body of the email, Target has injected much more white space and changed the color of their calls-to-action to blue from red. At bottom, Target bookends the body copy with a red social media bar that mirrors the red nav bar at the top of the email. Their footer, which has tended to be very long on occasion, is reorganized, with bold headers marking off the three sections of the footer. The casual, friendly tone of the “okay, here’s the fine print:” header is a nice touch that’s on brand for Target. They also continue the use blue text links that make it easy to locate the five calls-to-action in the footer, with the effect amplified by the back that they use keywords for the links instead of generic “click here” links. Retailers have been showing their footers a little more design love lately, which has been good to see since many footers are inhospitable tangles of gray text.

Here’s the new design (left) and the previous design from an Aug. 21 email:



Nordstrom, 8/29 — Introducing Free Shipping & Returns: No Minimum, Every Day!
Nordstrom is the latest retailer to move to an everyday free shipping offer. With more retailers like Macy’s and Target offering free shipping every day, that puts more pressure on other retailers to at least offer free shipping throughout the holiday season, which is also a growing trend thanks to retailers like Eddie Bauer and J&R. Free Shipping Day is becoming more laughable all the time.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Toys “R” Us, 8/29 — The 2011 Toy Guide for Differently-Abled Kids is Here and ONLY at Toys''R''Us!
Williams-Sonoma, 8/29 — 4 Hours Only: 10% off Premium Meats - Just in time for Labor Day grilling
Coldwater Creek, 8/29 — Great Labor Day Deals!
Sears, 8/29 — Get a new TV for football: up to 33% off Samsung TVs + more
NikeStore, 8/29 — College Fan Gear to Get You Set For the Season
NFLshop, 8/29 — Get Ready For The New York Giants Season - Customize Your Own Gear!
J. Crew, 8/29 — The need for tweed
Ann Taylor, 8/29 — Shop Our New Must-Have Skirts...
J. Jill, 8/29 — Introducing our new fall collection! Plus, take 20% off.
Neiman Marcus, 8/29 — VIP TRIP to the American Music Awards?
Blue Nile, 8/29 — Free Ring Engraving & Free Shipping Both Ways
ShopNBC, 8/29 — Lowest prices EVER...limited time
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Viral & Community Links in Email: Executive Summary

Retailers are more focused on using their email programs to promote their social communities and less focused on email for social sharing, according to the findings of Responsys’ latest report, Viral & Community Links in Emails.

Email continues to be a key tactic for raising awareness of and driving traffic to retailers’ communities on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Among the top online retailers, 88% of them include community links in their promotional emails, up from 75% in 2010, approaching near universal adoption.

“This is a strong endorsement of email’s ability to raise awareness of and drive traffic to brands’ social media pages on an ongoing basis,” said Ed Henrich, Senior Vice President of Professional Services at Responsys. “It’s also further evidence that cross-channel integration is increasingly vital to future marketing success.”

Facebook and Twitter dominate retailers’ community efforts, although YouTube has grown to become a strong third-place contender. Every retailer in the study linked to Facebook from their emails; 84% linked to Twitter; and 29% linked to YouTube.”

However, fewer retailers are including share-with-your-network (SWYN) links in their emails, instead relying on their websites to spur social sharing. The percentage of retailers that include a SWYN link in every promotional email dropped to 25% from 26% in 2010 after rising from 12% in 2009.

“Three times as many retailers include share-with-your-network (SWYN) links on their product pages as regularly as they include them in their emails,” said Chad White, Research Director at Responsys and author of the report. “That’s a strong indication that retailers are sold on the benefits of SWYN, but that placement further down the sales funnel is more effective in general.”

Meanwhile, forward-to-a-friend (FTAF) usage continues its long-term decline, dropping to 41% from 44% in 2010 and 48% in 2009. Overall, 52% of retailers now include some viral mechanism—either SWYN or FTAF—in their emails, down from 56% in 2010.

Get the Full Report
>>Download the “Viral & Community Links in Email” from Responsys’ Downloads page for free.

Other reports available from Responsys:
Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
Email Design Look Book 2011
Email Design & Coding Recommendations
Retail Email Year-End Trends for 2010
Black Friday & Cyber Monday 2010
…and you can find even more reports on Responsys’s Downloads page.
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AM Inbox: Brookstone redesign + Irene 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:

Brookstone, 8/27 — FREE Shipping—missing them already?
After relaunching their website late last month (see Aug. 1 AM Inbox), Brookstone has redesigned their email template, introducing the new design on Friday and making further tweaks on Saturday. The new design abandons the reverse type for the logo, a move that a few retailers have made in recent months. They also ditch the reverse type for the recovery module at the bottom of their emails. Unfortunately, without any kind of box to hold these links, they look unanchored and floating around. A light grey gradient like the one in the primary content block would help make the recovery module more distinct. The other two significant changes were moving their social media links from the bottom to the top of their emails, and moving their navigation bar under their logo rather than next to it. Here’s the new design (left) and previous design from an Aug. 19 email:



J&R, 8/27 — TECH EXPO 2011. . . 2 Days Left for the Best Deals Of Summer - Plus Free Shipping!
Through Sunday, I only received two retail emails that referred to Hurricane Irene, this one from J&R and the one from SmartBargains.com below. Noticeably missing in action were the home improvement chains Home Depot and Lowe’s. J&R used this email to notify customers that they might not be open and also to promote some hurricane-readiness products, the latter of which seemed a bit late.



SmartBargains.com, 8/28 — It's Storming, We're Shopping. Sunday Night Clearance Starts NOW.
SmartBargains’ messaging is similar to what is used during snowstorms. While hurricanes do keep consumers indoors, hurricanes are much more likely to cause power outages and damage homes, which makes me wonder if subscribers are receptive to this approach.

In this Saturday’s Week-End Trends, I speculated that retailers were shifting email from Saturday and Sunday to the end of the work week—so they would avoid these kinds of messaging issues altogether by not sending over the weekend. That turned out not to be the case; volume over the weekend was at normal levels. So retailers pretty much ignored the storm in both content and cadence.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Office Depot, 8/26 — Perfect Timing: Fri. & Sat. Deals Are Here - Take A Look
JC Whitney, 8/26 — Free Shipping on Labor Day Travel items! 'til Sunday only!
Crutchfield, 8/28 — Labor Day savings start today
REI, 8/26 — REI Labor Day Sale and Clearance on Now
Cooking.com, 8/26 — Grill All Year Long - Top-Rated Smokeless Indoor Grill
HP, 8/28 — Procrastinate No More! Get It Faster with Free 2-Day Shipping
PC Connection, 8/26 — Save Now on Back to School Essentials!
Oriental Trading, 8/26 — Score free shipping for your team party
JC Whitney, 8/26 — Attention Sports Fans: Free Shipping on your order!
Lane Bryant, 8/26 — $100 Off Your $200 Order – Think How Good You’ll Look
J. Jill, 8/26 — The laundry can wait. Take an additional 30% off Sale & Outlet.
AbeBooks, 8/26 — Cats and Bats: The Eerie Glory of Edward Gorey
Dell, 8/27 — Introducing our thinnest monitors ever
Musician’s Friend, 8/26 — In The House: Eddie Van Halen On September Catalog!
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Week-End Trends: Email volume spikes ahead of Hurricane Irene

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.2 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 26, 2011. That’s up 6% week-over-week, up 5% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 21% year-over-year.



The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week. It’s possible that some retailers mailed on Friday instead of on Saturday or Sunday because of Hurricane Irene.



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Back-to-school messaging has begun to decline. Labor Day messaging will spike this week. Halloween messaging will continue to slowly build. And holiday season messaging should start to trickle in again after the August lull.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to School (June-Sept.): 2010 Season Finale
Labor Day (Sept. 5): 2010 Season Finale
Halloween (Oct. 31): 2010 Season Finale
Christmas (Dec. 25): 2010 Season Finale and Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2011
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Ping Time: Personalized animated gif, opt-in subject line, etc.

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

>>Kevin Joseph Smith of Digital Evolution Group shares a Helzberg Diamonds email that contains a personalized animated gif that helped the email generate twice their average click rate. >>Follow the ping

>>Bvckup changed the subject line of their opt-in confirmation request emails and saw the number of completed subscriptions increase to 82% from 51%. >>Follow the ping

>>Loren McDonald of Silverpop reflects on the interplay between email and social after attending the Social Media Insider Summit. >>Follow the ping

>>Retail Gazette reports that UK retail New Look boosted their email performance by 300% by sending mobile-optimized emails to their segment of mobile shoppers. >>Follow the ping

>>Responsys released the 2011 Big Australian Report, which includes benchmarks, insights and analysis of more than 1 billion emails, mobile and social messages from the Australian market. >>Follow the ping down under

>>EMarketer reports that ecommerce spending is strong and on track to make online retailers very happy this holiday season. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: "That trains people to distrust your future subject lines"

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

Lowe’s, 8/25 — Take Your Grilling Expertise on the Road
Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports has been thinking about subject lines and so have I recently. Mark says, “You don’t want subject lines that lift interest and expectations, only to shatter them with the actual content. That trains people to distrust your future subject lines.” I wholeheartedly agree. Last Friday Chadwicks’ use of “Oops!” in the subject line of a non-apology email had me concerned about expectation setting (see Aug. 22 AM Inbox) and this email from Lowe’s had me similarly concerned.

“Take Your Grilling Expertise on the Road” sets the expectation that the email is about grilling and…maybe something about traveling. But when you open the email, the primary message is about discounts on major appliances and none of the above-the-fold submessages are about grilling either. The larger below-the-fold message blocks also aren’t about grilling. After my initial scan of this email I was on my way to logging this email into my next Oopsy Hall of Fame, but then I gave it a closer look and finally saw the message block about portable grills. It’s one of the smallest message blocks in the email, which begs the question: Why is the subject line about grills? Or perhaps: Why isn’t the primary message block about grilling? Or: Why isn’t the grilling message block positioned as a strong secondary message?

Perhaps the misdirection on the subject line caused folks like me to give the whole email a closer look, leading to more engagement with the email. But tricks like this disrespect subscribers’ time and perform at the expense of trust. There’s a ton of noise in subscribers’ inboxes and you should always strive to be the signal that they are on the lookout for.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Old Navy, 8/25 — Superfan Nation Team Gear + Save 30% Only In Stores
Linens ’n Things, 8/25 — Back to School Savings over 40%
Barnes & Noble, 8/25 — Everyone's a Winner -- You Could Save Up to 50% Off One Item!
Ann Taylor, 8/25 — Just In: More New Fall Styles + Shop Our Lookbook!
Montgomery Ward, 8/25 — Sweet Dreams...deluxe bedding for your retreat
Cooking.com, 8/25 — Pre-Order Paula's New Signed Cookbook Today!
Coldwater Creek, 8/25 — The Perfect Cover
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AM Inbox: Leveraging logo power

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

Staples, 8/24 — The best cleaning and breakroom brands and more!
Brands spend tons of money making their logos instantly recognizable. That’s why it’s recommended that you place your own logo in the top left-hand corner of your emails where it will be easily seen. It’s also why you should look for opportunities to leverage the logos of the brands you sell, as well as the logos of social networks where you have a presence. In this email, Staples is promoting some of their top cleaning and breakroom brands and uses the logos of those brands as the calls-to-action. It’s simple and powerful. I love that the logos are large and in color. I often see logos—particularly those for Facebook and Twitter—that are in black and white, which really dilutes the recognition level.



Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/24 — Get free shipping when you include an item from the Elements of Ivy collection!
I thought I’d seen every type of condition for triggering a free shipping offer, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one where you got free shipping if your order included one or more items from a particular collection. That’s a cool way to get your customers to branch out and try a new line or new product category.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
HP, 8/24 — HP's Campus Pre-reqs On Sale Now
Norm Thompson, 8/24 — "Makes me feel like a million bucks." SAVE on this dress today!
Newegg, 8/24 — It's Tablet Time! See our Top 10 Tablets + get a Newegg gift card with purchase
Cooking.com, 8/24 — Introducing Guy Fieri BBQ Tools + Top Grilling Recipes
Fingerhut, 8/24 — Fingerhut: SAVE 15% on NFL Products - Get Your Team Gear Today!
Coach, 8/24 — Coach News: new fall arrivals, lots of luxe.
J. Jill, 8/24 — How do you hue? Plus, $20 off denim, free shipping & 30% off sale & outlet.
Neiman Marcus, 8/24 — Our Top 10 Boots
Sears, 8/24 — Practice your moves at Sears + win a trip to U.S. Space Camp
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AM Inbox: "Wake-up slap" tactics

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, 8/23 — Deal of the Week: While Supplies Last!
In my latest Email Insider column, I talk about how animated gifs and other design elements can provide a “wake-up slap” to subscribers, who can be lulled by seeing the same template over and over. Text-only emails and HTML-lite emails, like this 1-800-Flowers.com email, can function the same way. This email is a big deviation from their usual design, so subscribers are more likely to pay attention. The brief, text-heavy arrangement also screams urgency, which is exactly what you want with a deal email like this.



J&R, 8/23 — MusicFest & TechExpo 2011. . . 3 Days of Free Music, Plus Huge Savings on Music, Movies & More!
I’m confused by the “Earth Shaking Deals…” reference in this J&R email that appears to make light of the earthquake that hit the East Coast yesterday. I received this email after 6pm yesterday so they were surely aware of the quake, but perhaps it didn’t dawn on them to change the copy or perhaps there was some technical limitation. It feels like the innocent and unfortunate wording that befell Backcountry a few months ago when there was a lot of tornado activity (see Apr. 29 AM Inbox).



eBags, 8/23 — 20% Off plus Free Shipping on all Bags by eBags
S-curves aid scanning by making content blocks more distinct from each other. In this eBags email, I like how they use the placement of the ribbon of color swatches to create this effect.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sports Authority, 8/23 — Start the Year with Mizuno – Free Shipping on Backpacks!
Barnes & Noble, 8/23 — See What's New on NOOK Color -- Plus Back-to-School Savings
1-800-Flowers.com, 8/23 — Save 15% Sitewide! Our Back To School sale is now in session!
Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/23 — Get ready for football season in the hottest new Hoodies at 40% off!
Williams-Sonoma, 8/23 — Smart Storage Ideas For A Tidy Kitchen + over 100 New Homekeeping Items
Bed Bath & Beyond, 8/23 — The best 30 minutes of your day. PLUS Don't forget your $15 off $75 or more online coupon! [regarding breakfast products]
JC Whitney, 8/23 — Looking for the perfect tire?‏
Neiman Marcus, 8/23 — Diane von Furstenberg Fall Runway
Nordstrom, 8/23 — Minimalize Me: Fall Style Comes Clean
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AM Inbox: Gilt announces opening of Facebook Store

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

Gilt Groupe, 8/22 — Oliver Peoples, Mosley Tribe & Paul Smith Sunglasses, Di Bianco, Original Penguin, Overhead Lighting, Summer Blow Out: Up to 70% Off Tees, Tanks and Shirts and more Starts Today at Noon ET
Gilt Groupe is the second retailer to tell subscribers that they have a Facebook Store. GameStop was the first, mentioning it eight months ago (see Dec. 13, 2010 AM Inbox). While GameStop included just a small mention of their Facebook Store, Gilt includes a banner to announce the Gilt Facebook Store and uses a “Facebook Store” ribbon over several content block images to indicate that clicking though takes subscribers to Facebook.



Coldwater Creek, 8/22 — Wear Now. Love forever.‏
Coldwater Creek gives us the latest animated gif that helps subscribers assemble outfits. Recently, J. Jill points out the pieces that an outfit is composed of (see Aug. 15 AM Inbox) and earlier this year Urban Outfitters rotated though different combos of tops and bottoms (see Apr. 21 AM Inbox). In Coldwater Creek’s email, the animation shows how layering can take an outfit from summer into fall.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Kohl’s, 8/22 — Don't be Late for Class: Best Fall Trends are Here!
Staples, 8/22 — Up to 60% savings — from backpacks to everything that goes in them!
Norm Thompson, 8/22 — 15% Off Everything! Easy Outfits 101.
Home Depot, 8/22 — Labor Day Savings: Up To 60% OFF Overstock Items
Ralph Lauren, 8/22 — Official 2011 US Open Apparel Has Arrived
Williams-Sonoma, 8/22 — Enjoy A Perfect Espresso - Visit Your Local Store Today
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AM Inbox: Three-pronged call-to-action blitz

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, 8/19 — PACE: Protecting Athletes Through Concussion Education
While the email within an email format is very odd and squanders the benefits of the skinnier design that makes up the majority of the email, this Dick’s email is quite engaging. It leads with an educational call-to-action that’s followed by a several philanthropic calls-to-actions that reward subscribers for spreading the word about this effort, including a rare check-in call-to-action. It then concludes with a community call-to-action that appeals to student athletes and their parents to get their school testing software. Those three different content modules appeal to different kinds of people, increasing the chance that subscribers will click through.



Chadwicks, 8/19 — Oops! We've added MORE dresses from 7.99
While not at the same level as falsely using a “RE:” or FW:” in a subject line, using “Oops!” in a subject line for an email that’s not apologizing feels deceptive, a bit like a cheap trick.



J. Jill, 8/21 — Special MORE Magazine offer for J.Jill customers!‏
This is a nice example of a list rental or partner email. It was sent by J. Jill, has J. Jill’s branding, and J. Jill’s opt-out link. That said, the copy from MORE assumes that every J. Jill subscriber is a woman. I can’t imagine that there isn’t at least a small percentage of husbands on the list that regularly buy clothing for their wives. I probably wouldn’t change the copy for that small percentage, but it did create some humorous copy: “CHAD – You’re a MORE® woman.”



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Disney Store, 8/19 — Halloween Shop is Now Open with Free Shipping
Linens ’n Things, 8/21 — Up to 50% Off + Free Shipping Pre-Labor Day Sale
Kmart, 8/19 — Back to School and Back to Campus Sale + save on bikes
Coach, 8/19 — Go back to school with Coach.
Dell, 8/20 — Back to school savings up to 57% off select items
HP, 8/21 — Deal Alert: Back to School HP Laptops & More - 3 Days Only
J. Crew, 8/20 — new arrivals for back-to-school (plus, free shipping)
Target, 8/21 — Get decked out with Price Cuts on patio.
Crate & Barrel, 8/21 — For the home bartender: what you need to stock the bar.
J&R, 8/19 — Free Shipping Weekend Sale -- Use Promo Code: TECHEXPO11 at check out!‏
Coldwater Creek, 8/19 — Easy ways to express yourself
Office Depot, 8/19 — Shop These Doorbusters, Today & Tomorrow ONLY
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Week-End Trends: Back-to-school season extended over economic uncertainty

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.1 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 19, 2011. That’s up 4% week-over-week, down 2% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 5% year-over-year.



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: It appears that the uncertainty caused by the barely averted debt default and the subsequent credit downgrade of the U.S. government has stretched out the back-to-school season a little. Messaging remained strong last week instead of beginning to decline as it typically does at this point. Labor Day and Halloween messaging will remain very low this week and we may see another retailer or two mention the holiday season.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to School (June-Sept.): 2010 Season Finale
Labor Day (Sept. 5): 2010 Season Finale
Halloween (Oct. 31): 2010 Season Finale
Christmas (Dec. 25): 2010 Season Finale and Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2011
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Ping Time: Placeholder text, inactives, AOL inboxes, etc.

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

>>Tweet of the Week: @evansmom: #Emailmarketing alert! Beware placeholder text (see header in image). http://t.co/dj51fZt

>>Mark Brownlow of Email Marketing Reports shares some out-of-the-box tactics for waking up inactive subscribers. >>Follow the ping

>>Melinda Plemel of Return Path provides a field guide to AOL inboxes. >>You've got ping

>>Liz Lynch of e-Dialog shares several examples of geo-segmented emails about the sales tax-holiday in Massachusetts last weekend. >>Follow the ping

>>Ken Magill of the Magill Report writes about how Responsys is the first large, enterprise-focused email service provider to formally adopt the standardized definitions of email metrics created by the Email Experience Council’s SAME Project. >>Follow the ping

>>Josh Levine of Alexander Interactive reviews some of the basics of email design. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I discuss how usage of animated gifs in retail emails has leveled off and become less of a seasonal design tactic. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Melding video and ecommerce

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

Ralph Lauren, 8/18 — The Adventure Continues With A New RL Gang Story
Ralph Lauren, which has melded video content and ecommerce in innovative ways in the past, has created a back-to-school story where at any point you can mouse over one of the kids in the video and learn more about their outfit. Here’s the email…



…and here’s a screenshot of the video where I’ve moused over one of the children. As you can see along the bottom, there’s a full cast of characters, all of whom have a wardrobe change a little into the video. Explore the video for yourself.



Walgreen, 8/18 — Get Ready for Back-to-School: Transfer Prescriptions, Maintain Immunization Records + More.
Similar to how Williams-Sonoma stood out with a completely out-of-the-box back-to-school message (see Aug 16 AM Inbox), Walgreen stands out with this email about tending to prescription and other medical needs going into the school year.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
SmartBargains, 8/17 — Extreme Couponing- Done Our Way. 50% More Off Fashion
Coldwater Creek, 8/17 — Ready your closets - New Markdowns in Outlet!
Foot Locker, 8/18 — Our Kind of Math - Save 20% Online on All Your Back-to-School Needs!
Disney Family, 8/18 — Back-to-School Crafts: Personalize a lunch box and back pack!
Sam’s Club, 8/18 — Energizer Helps Your Student Stock Up for College at Sam's Club®
TigerDirect, 8/17 — Summer Cell Phone Sale: $0 DROIDS, Samsung and More...Just In Time for Back to School
PC Connection, 8/17 — Our Biggest Back to School Sale! Save Up to 40%!
Newegg, 8/18 — Back-to-School Builds & Upgrades! $39.99 G.SKILL 8GB RAM, $44.99 Seagate 1TB HDD...
Home Depot, 8/18 — Don't Miss Labor Day Savings, Plus Even More Email Exclusives
Lowe’s, 8/18 — Let Us Do the Heavy Lifting -- FREE Delivery on Select Sheds
Coach, 8/17 — Pick your bag's size, shape and color.
1-800-Flowers.com, 8/18 — "Like" us, Love 15% Sitewide Savings‏
Williams-Sonoma, 8/18 — Give Your Table A Fresh New Look For Fall
Ann Taylor, 8/18 — Our New Fall Collection Has Arrived...
Saks Fifth Avenue, 8/18 — Versace fall collection for him is here now
Neiman Marcus, 8/18 — Men's Fall Launch: Trends, runway shows & more
J. Crew, 8/18 — New fall must-haves & flat-rate shipping
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Season Finale: Graduation 2011

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

Start to finish: The first reference to graduation season was on Feb. 10. The final reference was on July 27.

The biggest day for graduation emails was Monday, May 23—which was the peak of the college graduation season—followed by Monday, June 6—which was the peak of the high school graduation season. Retailers sent the majority of their graduation-themed emails after May 25.



Most interesting emails: I continue to really enjoy Ann Taylor’s graduation messaging. In this May 13 email, not only is there a large discount available to customers with a student ID, but there’s a strong call-to-action to forward this email to a student in the cases where the email reached a non-student (which should be case the vast majority of the time). This is an extension of messaging earlier in the year (see Feb. 11 AM Inbox).



There is tons of “dads and grads” messaging in June, but most of it just promotes an across-the-board discount or offer. This June 16 Kmart email stands out in that it promotes TVs for both dads and grads but recognizes that you’d likely get your dad a much bigger TV than you would for your grad. That two-tiered messaging makes a lot of sense.



Standout subject lines:
Dell, 5/23 — Students – get an Xbox when you buy your Dell!
Buy.com, 5/20 — Say Congrats to your Grad w/ something they'll actually use. Graduation Day deals you don't want to miss!‏
Ann Taylor, 5/13 — STYLE FOR STUDENTS: Enjoy 30% Off Any Full Price Purchase In-Store (This Weekend Only)!
HP, 5/12 — The Essential Student Pack from HP - a Perfect Graduation Gift
HP, 5/9 — Meet the Class of Now - Plus Exclusive Student Packs

Read previous graduation Season Finales: 2010, 2009, 2008

Explore Graduation tag.
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AM Inbox: Click! Click!...Who’s there?

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, 8/16 — Fingerhut: Knock, Knock… We’ve Got Some Funny Jokes for YOU!
I’m a fan of leveraging minor holidays (see Standing Out Among All the National Pecan Pie Day Messaging), but this Fingerhut email that hooks on National Joke Day falls a little flat. While the idea of creating engagement and generating clicks by placing the punch line on the landing page is solid, the jokes are old and there’s no carry though, such as a call-to-action to share the jokes.



This Fingerhut email reminds me of this Uncommon Goods email from last October. It has a similar set up except that there are six jokes, with each one requiring you to click through to see the punch line.



Besides potentially generating six times as many clicks, the Uncommon Goods emails relate the punch line of the jokes to their products. For instance, below is the landing page for the Jack-o-Lantern joke.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Musician’s Friend, 8/16 — It's Here: Back to School Sale! Save 89% in Band & Orchestra
Barnes & Noble, 8/16 — Textbook Savings Up to 90% -- Plus Save on New Releases and More
Sports Authority, 8/16 — We've Got Your Back (Pack) - Get a $15 Cash Card!
Macy’s, 8/16 — Smart back-to-school styles + Free Shipping!
Montgomery Ward, 8/16 — Have you heard? We're on Facebook
Nordstrom, 8/16 — Crave Quilting? Carry It Off in Style
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AM Inbox: Come for the $1 million diamond, stay for the stuff you can actually afford

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

Costco, 8/15 — Don't Miss Seeing The $1M Diamond Ring From Costco!
Every time I see an email promoting an odd or super expensive product, like this email from Costco, I think of Amy Hamilton’s ridiculous products get clicks theory. It’s just like the fantasy gifts in Neiman Marcus’s Christmas Book: They are the attraction, but not the destination. You don’t want to deviate from your brand too much, but highlighting the unusual product from time to time can keep things interesting.



Williams-Sonoma, 8/15 — Exclusive Tools For Great Family Snacks
While the vast majority of back-to-school emails are promoting electronics, clothes, backpacks, and school supplies, Williams-Sonoma goes out of the box with this email promoting kitchen tools to make after-school snacks. When everyone’s zigging right, you can really standing out by zagging left.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 8/15 — Savings on Back to College electronics and more
Backcountry, 8/15 — Gearvana – Up To 50% Off
Staples, 8/15 — The best thing about back to school? These amazing deals!
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Bird Watching: What is a "third-party opt-in list"?

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

@RetailEmailBlog: What does it mean when someone has a "third-party opt-in list"? Is that an artful way of saying they bought a list?

@MiaPapanicolaou: @RetailEmailBlog Your translation is perfect. Can you remember ever giving a 3rd party consent to receive emails from any company?

@danbarker: @RetailEmailBlog depends on context. could also mean they're selling the list :)

@remybergsma: @retailemailblog yes, or maybe (at best) co-registration list. Not a good thing, mostly.

@EmailKarma: @retailemailblog means different things to different people... some 3rd party lists = bought/sold, others 3rd party = others content

@RetailEmailBlog: @MiaPapanicolaou @remybergsma @danbarker @EmailKarma Thanks for clarifying definition of "3rd party opt-in list."

@EmailKarma: @retailemailblog Clear as mud right ;)

@joesoop: @RetailEmailBlog LOL. U never know. Typically it means that the contacts have opted in to receive information from a 3rd party. #zoominfo

@adamcooke12: @RetailEmailBlog funny, I have actually heard someone use that term before. They had a "borrowed" list. :(

@AaronTweeton: @RetailEmailBlog Maybe "fourth-party opt-in list" means they just grabbed your email address from the internets somewhere?

@RetailEmailBlog: @adamcooke12 Well, that begs the question: What is a "borrowed" list? Long-term rental? ;)

@n8breezy: @RetailEmailBlog you shoulda come to the 4th party! :-P

Want to join the conversation? Just reply to @RetailEmailBlog to chime in.
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AM Inbox: Tax-free holidays = geo-segmentation

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

Crate & Barrel, 8/12 — Get tax-free shopping this weekend only at Crate and Barrel.
When we talk about segmentation creating relevancy, it’s emails like this one from Crate & Barrel that we have in mind. This past weekend, Massachusetts had a sales tax holiday. Crate & Barrel used geographic segmentation to send their subscribers in Massachusetts this email, which used the tax-free holiday as the primary incentive. If you have zip codes for your subscribers, doing some geo-segmentation like this can allow you to respond to tax-free holidays, snowstorms (see Jan. 13 AM Inbox), and other regional or state events.



J. Jill, 8/14 — Curtain call: 15% off Wearever ENDS TODAY!
Last month J. Jill used animation to highlight products that were part of a sale (see
(see July 26 AM Inbox). In this email, they use a similar style to highlight products that make up the outfit of the featured models. It’s a very compelling example of how to mix and match pieces to make an outfit.



CB2, 8/13 — CB2 news volume 2: the fall edition.
I’m not sure which email was “volume 1” of this new newsletter, but some of the elements of this email are really compelling. There’s some decorating education, some product features, some media clips (endorsements from style authorities), and some social media clips (endorsements from customers). It’s easy to scan, visually interesting, and had me scrolling to the very bottom.



Costco, 8/12 — Relax in Style - Lane Andre Leather Reclining Chair and Ottoman $449.99!
As someone who lived in New York during 9/11 and commuted through Ground Zero for years, I find it difficult not to interpret this product copy as Costco trying to profit from the attack. I’m sure they didn’t mean for it to come across that way, but I would have felt much better—positive even—if they were donating a percentage of the profits to a 9/11-related charity or the VA hospital system.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
American Eagle Outfitters, 8/12 — Like Us On Facebook & Get 20% Off In Stores & AE.com
NFLshop, 8/12 — Back To Football Sweeps: Sign Up For Mobile Alerts & Enter To Win A $50 Gift Card
GameStop, 8/12 — Forget Back to School. Get Back to Gaming!
Victoria’s Secret, 8/11 — It's Here! The New Exclusive PINK COLLEGIATE COLLECTION.
Coldwater Creek, 8/13 — Got questions? Our fashionistas have answers.
Drs. Foster & Smith, 8/11 — Save Your Pet's Life with a Nametag
Lands’ End, 8/11 — The Starfish Pant is back, and she brought friends
Neiman Marcus, 8/12 — The Art of Fashion featuring Drew Barrymore for Fall
Home Depot, 8/13 — Home Depot Exclusive: Buy Paint Online AND Have it Delivered
Williams-Sonoma, 8/13 — Family Fun With Marvel™ Comics – Decorate For A Good Cause
REI, 8/12 — REI News: How to Use Trekking Poles, Find a Trail Near You, Backpacks at REI-OUTLET.com
Ralph Lauren, 8/12 — Introducing Denim & Supply: A New Concept By Ralph Lauren
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/12 — Free shipping & free panty on $50. Shop fall's hot dresses, beauty & costumes.
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Week-End Trends: Back-to-school season peaks

Email activity and seasonal trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 3.0 promotional emails on average during the week ending Aug. 12, 2011. That’s down 2% week-over-week, down 2% from where it was four weeks ago, and up 11% year-over-year.



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



The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Last week we had our first reference to Labor Day as well as our first reference to Halloween. Last week back-to-school references continued to lag last year’s trajectory and should now start to decline.



Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Back to School (June-Sept.): 2010 Season Finale
Labor Day (Sept. 5): 2010 Season Finale
Halloween (10/31): 2010 Season Finale
Christmas (Dec. 25): 2010 Season Finale and Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season 2011
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Ping Time: <$petname$>, segmenting by source, typography, etc.

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

>>Tweets of the Week: @meladorri: Didn't realize my name was John or that I owned a 1987 Cadillac w/ 294,000 miles... #appendfail http://twitpic.com/63wvwi

@alexcwilliams: Using my Dog's name in this email is fantastic personalization http://trndl.in/nFkT4E (too bad she ate my hat today, no new collar for her)

>>Chris Donald of Inbox Group explains why you should track subscribers by acquisition source. >>Follow the ping

>>DR4WARD shares an infographic that explains the tone that various typographies convey. >>Follow the ping

>>Steve Henderson of Communicator Corp. shares the results of a study that looked at how subject line word counts affected open rates. >>Follow the ping about subject lines

>>Laura Atkins of Word to the Wise explains how the different kinds of spam traps work. >>Follow the ping

>>Linda Bustos of GetElastic is shocked at how many retailers bury the email sign-ups on their websites, often in favor of less important social media links. >>Follow the ping

>>WhichTestWon asks us which Philips Norelco email creative got 79.4% more ‘Buy Now’ clicks in an A/B test of image creative and button design? >>Follow the ping

>>Garin Toren of Striata argues that email on smartphones will kill commercial SMS. >>Follow the ping

>>Bronto Software shares a Gander Mountain case study that shows that welcome emails can generate outsized revenue. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Taking care of customers post-purchase

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

Crate & Barrel — Crate and Barrel: Care Instructions #305691378
In the past I’ve talked about the customer service value of an email. For instance, pre-purchase, email can help subscribers understand their product options and find the one that’s best for them. Post-purchase, email can make sure subscribers are aware of accessories, how to install or use the product or—as we see in this post-purchase Crate & Barrel email—how to take care of the product. I personally have a whole drawer full of user manuals and care instructions, and when the occasion arises that I need to find one of them I have to go digging through the drawer, which takes a while. It would be way easier to track them down if I could simply search my inbox for the brand name and then find an email like this one with the necessary details or a link to more information. On that note, having the product name in the subject line would be nice and make searching for it a little easier. But while this email is designed to be saved, Crate & Barrel doesn’t waste the touch. They include a couple of promotional messaging blocks at the bottom of the email along with a recovery module full of product category links.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Ann Taylor, 8/10 — NEW CAREER CHIC: Give Your Wardrobe A Promotion This Season...
Sears, 8/10 — Catch Sears Back to School Fashion Show + 15% off fashion coupon
HP, 8/10 — Email Exclusive Coupon - In time for Back to School
Backcountry.com, 8/10 — New Footwear & Daypacks | Back to School Essentials
Overstock.com, 8/10 — FALL KICKOFF SALE
Macy’s, 8/10 — Fall's must-have shoes + Free Shipping!
Bluefly, 8/10 — Get Ready For Fall: NEW Coats & Jackets by Tahari, Michael Michael Kors, Soia & Kyo...
J. Jill, 8/10 — All the style that's fit to print + save up to 65%!
Eddie Bauer, 8/10 — Free Shipping + New Heavenly Henleys to Layer.‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/10 — Have you seen what's new in the Soft & Pretty Collection?
Sephora, 8/10 — We dare you...
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AM Inbox: First reference to Halloween

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, 8/9 — Enjoy our favorite finds for you (free shipping too!)
Oriental Trading gives us our first reference to Halloween, which comes just one day later than last year. For insights and inspiration for your campaigns, check out the Halloween 2010 Season Finale.



Orvis, 8/9 — Great summer deals on cool, comfortable summer styles
It appears that Orvis is now experiencing the same difficulties getting past Hotmail’s SmartScreen filters that Northern Tool has been suffering from for nearly two months now (see June 21 AM Inbox). Hopefully Orvis is tracking the rendering of their emails across email clients and therefore be aware of the problem and will be able to make the changes necessary to resolve the issue.



Coldwater Creek, 8/9 — Revealed! Style Squad's Fall Crushes
It is becoming almost commonplace for retailers—especially fashion retailers—to periodically present picks from a guru staffer or group of staffers. Off the top of my head, here are some of the retailers that employ this editorial tactic: Ann Taylor, Crutchfield, eBags, J. Crew, J. Jill, Lane Bryant, Neiman Marcus, TigerDirect and Urban Outfitters. And Coldwater Creek now joins this group.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sony, 8/9 — Save Up To $650 on VAIO PCs + MORE Incredible Offers For Home and School
Saks Fifth Avenue, 8/9 — His perfect pair of jeans has arrived
Crate & Barrel, 8/9 — The fall collection is here. Shop over 1500 new items.
Victoria’s Secret, 8/9 — Introducing THE SHOWSTOPPER BY VICTORIA'S SECRET.
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AM Inbox: 2 sidescrollers + 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:

1-800-Flowers.com, 8/8 — Summer Rose & Lilies + Free Vase: $29.99 for a Limited Time Only!
A couple of weeks ago I tweeted that I had only seen two horizontal-scrolling emails from retailers all year, and followed up by saying that it was a bad sign because I like to see marketers experimenting. Well, yesterday I received not one, but two sidescrollers.

This one from 1-800-Flowers.com I believe is their first use of this format and and it’s a solid execution. While the greeting and first paragraph under the blackboard seem unnecessary, the arrangement with the table—including the closeness of the product images and the positioning of the administrative text under the table—sends a strong message to scroll to the side, which is vital because otherwise the subscriber misses much of the message.

Also, this email is the first to reference to Labor Day. For insights and inspiration to help you plan your campaigns, check out the Labor Day 2010 Season Finale.



Abercrombie & Fitch, 8/8 — Get in with 50% off all jeans for a limited time!
The second horizontal-scrolling email is this one from A&F. The signal to sidescroll is a more subtle in this email, especially if your viewing pane cuts between two of the models, which have a lot of space between them. A&F have been using sidescrollers for years (see Oct. 6, 2010 AM Inbox, July 23, 2009 AM Inbox, and July 20, 2009 AM Inbox).



Brookstone, 8/8 — Last Chance to SAVE 20%! Bigger, Better, Stronger…‏
This Brookstone email is the second email they’ve sent apologizing for their new site experiencing hiccups during its launch. The first email was sent on Aug. 4. That makes this the first apology email series that I’ve ever seen.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
TigerDirect, 8/8 — 2011 Back to School Checklist: $99 Tablet...19" LCD $69...$5 Bluetooth...4GB PC $299...plus Vote the Most Wanted Tech Gear
Sam’s Club, 8/8 — Shop Back to College Instant Savings while they last
Dell, 8/8 — Saving with Dell is as easy as A, B, C
Target, 8/8 — Class is back. Savings + shipping offers on clothes for school.
Eddie Bauer, 8/8 — The Denim Guide. Plus Buy One, Get One 50% Off.
Backcountry.com, 8/8 — The New iPad App
Barnes & Noble, 8/8 — Our Booksellers' Guide to Good Reading
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 8/8 — Introducing Booty Parlor! Plus, $10 off $50, a free panty & free shipping.
Lands’ End, 8/8 — "Comfortable." "Love." And more praise of our new chinos
Ralph Lauren, 8/8 — First Look At Essential Fall Footwear
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