May 2007 Archives

I hear it from email marketing managers all the time: email marketing delivers an amazing ROI, but their organizations don't put enough attention or resources into maximizing it. Loren McDonald reflects on this and more in his iMedia Connection article - "Find Your Email Mojo in 5 Steps". Check it out.

"Natural" is clearly the buzzword in home furnishings this spring. Who does it best? And do you think that by mailing a few days earlier, CB brands detracted from PB sales? Do we need to reconsider our messages in the context of our competitors'?


From: CB2
Subject Line: cool earthy things
Date: Monday, February 26, 2006

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Spring Collection Preview
Date: Tuesday, February 27, 2006

From: Pottery Barn
Subject Line: Introducing the Natural Home
Date: Thursday, March 1, 2006

From: Built by Wendy
Subject Line: Anchor Print
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2007

From: kate spade
Subject Line: classic elegance - shop new sunglass arrivals
Date: Tuesday, April 17, 2007

These images look like they could have been on the same roll of film. I love the colors and the environment in both. In fact, the designs are similar in many respects as well. Both feature a single hero image, a logo with no menu navigation, and a few words of text on a white background.

Wendy could learn three things from Kate:
1) Kate includes a category-specific call-to-action: "shop sunglasses", as opposed to a single product name: "Anchor Print". Wendy need only add the word "shop" or a carrot to increase clickthrough.
2) Kate's design is more visually sophisticated. A few subtle touches - the headline-over-hero overlay, the college-ruled paper graphic and the typewriter font - make for a tighter and more engaging campaign.
3) Everybody loves a story. Rolling kate spade sunglasses into a Newport story put them into context - a lifestyle, a world. The anecdote gives them an air of mystery and exclusivity. It's a fantasy we can imagine and, once properly sunglass-ed, inhabit.

From: anthropologie.com
Subject Line: Come what May...
Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Anthropologie does consistently good work with their Subject Lines. While they're not necessarily direct, heavy-sell click-through quicksand, they are whimsical - which is very on-brand for Anthropologie - and relevant. "Come what May..." on May 1st is really cute.