December 2008 Archives

From: Anthropologie
Subject Line: Joyous wishes from Anthropologie
Date: December 23, 2008

From: lucy
Subject Line: Happy Holidays from lucy!
Date: December 22, 2008

'Tis the night before the night before Christmas and my inbox has been strangely silent. After three weeks of hurricane-force emails pelting me all day long, how refreshing it was to receive these two emails yesterday and today that simply wished me a happy holiday, no strings or free shipping attached. What class acts. Makes me want to cuddle up with some hot cocoa and dream about the new outfits I'm going to buy from Anthropologie and Lucy.

Company: Gardener's Supply Company

I don't unsubscribe to emails very often, but this website had a nice feature that I hadn't seen before; Instead of opting-out of the email, I was given the option to send my emails to a different email address. Coincidentally, this is exactly what I wanted to do. Customer saved, and it saved me an extra step!

It would be nice to see some additional options, like the ability to adjust email frequency. And I can't help but notice the dash in e-mail. But I'll still give them credit where due. :)

From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: A Horrible Tale of Holiday Ingratitude by Simon Doonan
Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008

In an inbox FULL of last-minute shipping offers, this subject line POPPED like crazy!: A Horrible Tale of Holiday Ingratitude by Simon Doonan
Ha! Check out the horrible tale here >

From: Smith-Harmon
Subject Line: Merry Email Marketing MAD LIBS from Smith-Harmon
Date: December 22, 2008

Remember how much fun MAD LIBS were as a kid? Take a trip down memory lane with Merry Email Marketing MAD LIBS from Smith-Harmon! Chad White, our research whiz, has put together some festive fill-in-the-blank fun with a special email twist. No one's really working this week anyways, right? (Just kidding, Lisa and Aaron.) But seriously, download these merry makers and share them with your coworkers for a laughternoon break. When you’re done, post your stories as a comment to this blog entry for all to see.

Download Merry Email Marketing MAD LIBS >

P.S. Here's mine!

Dear Santa, I’ve been very bossy this year. Using my silly email marketing strategies, I drove ten dollars in sales, which everyone agrees is industry-leading. In fact, during my annual performance review, my boss, who we’ve secretly nicknamed GoGo, said I'm the bestest marketer she has ever met during her five-year career. During the Valentine’s Day season, one loudly crafted email sold out the gold-plated Tickle Me Elmo that we outbid WalMart for. And during the back-to-school season, one of my emails sold a record number of horse-print jeans. Because I’ve been so nice, I hope you’ll grant this gorgeous Christmas wish and destroy Earthlink with a hail of frozen shoes.

From: Sears
Subject Line: Say Thank You to a Hero
Date: Friday, December 12, 2008

This is the first email I've received with moving video! I'm not sure how they did it, but I'm impressed. There is also a button to "hear audio" or "watch the full video" which links to the landing page. Well done! Very attention grabbing.

View the email in action here.

From: Newegg.com
Subject Line: The Newegg Holiday Sale - 'tis the season for huge savings!
Date: Monday, December 15, 2008



I LOVED Newegg's call-to-actions in this email:
Gifts They'll Like (Under $50)
Gifts They'll Love ($50-$149.99)
Gifts That'll Make You a Hero! ($150 and up).

Very cute! :)

From: Staples
Subject Line: Will Office Depot closings affect you?
Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Talk about taking advantage of the situation! Staples released this email roughly stating - Office Depot is closing a lot of stores, so you should shop with us instead. I hope they don't get bad Karma!!

From: Nike.com
Subject Line: Score the Perfect Gift Early and Get 30% Off
Date: December 11, 2008

Retailers have definitely made it easy for me to “Shop by…” anything! I can shop for her, for him, for outdoor enthusiasts, for gifts Under $25, for friends you only see twice a year, and the list goes on. And all these options have always been laid out for me in neat, tidy predictable grids.

Until now!

Nike.com’s gift guide is a roulette wheel of gifting options. And I win with every spin! It doesn’t hurt that their creative this season is nothing short of magical. Yes, they could throw a purple running jacket in their hero and I would instantly swoon, but I love that Nike.com has taken my shopping experience and turned it into a game. Maybe I’ll help Santa out and get one of my own gifts!

From: Urban Outfitters
Subject Line: You lost. Will 15% off make it better?
Date: December 11, 2008

This Urban Outfitters email made me laugh out loud. About a month ago I entered a sweepstakes of theirs, in which they invited subscribers to start a wish list to enter a drawing to win a $1000 Urban Outfitters gift card. I’d forgotten all about it until I got this email today. Bummer, no shopping spree! But the email is great. The irreverent copy works because their brand is so irreverent, and it’s smart that they encourage me to start shopping again by offering a discount as a consolation prize.

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: So, you need a gift? Look no further + Free gift wrap & free online shipping
Date: December 10, 2008

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: FINAL HOURS! FREE $100 NM GIFT CARD with online purchase + Free gift wrap & free online shipping
Date: December 9, 2008

From: NM Store
Subject Line: Take an extra 30% off at Neiman Marcus stores
Date: December 10, 2008

As a follow-up to my December 8th posting, I thought I would share the latest NM news. I received three emails from Neiman Marcus in ONE DAY. Yes, that's right. 1-2-3 in 1 day. While I understand that good things come in threes, I'm not so sure it applies here. And while I also understand that two were from Neiman Marcus proper and one was from NM Store, they all look like Neiman Marcus to me. And check out the subject line lengths! The only word that comes to mind is: Unsubscribe. Otherwise, I'm speechless.

From: Sirius
Subject Line: Talk to Us Request
Date: December 10, 2008

From: Tim Westergren at Pandora
Subject Line: Welcome to Pandora
Date: December 9, 2008

While I do love all things girlie (beauty, clothing, shoes), I think it's important to take a look at some OTHER industries, to see what they're doing with email. Recently, I ventured into the world of Sirius and Pandora, and I really like the way they communicate with their customers in their triggered emails.

The first email is one I received from Sirius. While it's far from flashy, the sentiment made me read it to the end. The back-story is that I filled out an online form asking about a song that was played on The Coffee House. Within 24 hours, I got this nice note from them telling me they were on it. They also let me know that they value my feedback and that they're dedicated to customer care. And it didn't come across as lip service. I think they actually mean it. The two suggestions I'd make as far as copy goes is to change the "from" field to Sirius Customer Care and to make some of the text clickable so I can easily get back to the site. They might want to think about adding in a logo to align it with the brand, too.

The second email is the welcome message I got from Pandora after creating an account. Again, nothing too fancy, but engaging all the same. It made me feel a part of the community, like I belong in this really cool music world where I get to create my own radio stations. (I LOVE PANDORA! Totally addicted.) I'll be interested to see what the next round of emails looks like from them. I'm hoping they do a welcome series that tells me how to amp up my Pandora experience.

From: Crate & Barrel
Subject Line: Free shipping from our kids' company!
Date: November 28, 2008

Land of Nod (the kids' company owned by Crate and Barrel) has always taken a whimsical approach to their copy, and this email is no exception. Rather than settle for the same ole promotional approach around free shipping that every other retailer uses, the clever elves at Land of Nod created a memo from Rudolph. It's definitely a fresh breath of air in a claus-trophic inbox. As a writer, the copy is my favorite, right down to the disclaimer line that says: Offer excludes furniture. Have you ever tried flying around with an armoire on your back? It's not a pretty sight. On another best practices note, they created several places to click through: the eye-catching red nav bar and two links in the body copy. Plus, the whole thing is anchored by their Shop by Personality gift guide. I just wish they'd been a bit more playful with the subject line. It would have been fun to see something like: Memo from Rudolph: Free shipping on kids' collections!

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: Free $100 NM GIFT CARD with ONLINE purchase + Free gift wrap & Free online shipping
Date: December 8, 2008

I'd been putting off my inbox cleaning for too long, so I spent some time this weekend filing over a thousand emails away into my archive library. After first sorting all my emails by the "from" field, I noticed something very interesting. Without realizing it, I've been receiving an email a day from Neiman Marcus since at least October and maybe even longer! I was shocked. At first I thought that maybe I'd missed checking a preference box or something when I signed up for emails originally, but when I tested my theory with a different email address, I was never given a frequency option. So, this leads me to believe that Neiman's default is to send an email a day to subscribers. Interesting. Then, lo and behold, when I clicked unsubscribe, I was given the option of getting a weekly email vs. a daily email. I did choose the weekly option rather than unsubscribe from all, but I have to wonder how many other people unsubscribe all together out of sheer frustration at receiving so many messages. I'd love to know if this everyday delivery strategy is working for Neiman's. I would think that the unsubscribe rate would be HUGE, but then again, I'm not exactly Neiman's target customer. Let's open up the discussion: What are your thoughts on email frequency?

From: Smith-Harmon
Subject Line: Chad White's Cyber Monday Report
Date: December 5, 2008

Online retailers put a lot of bank behind Cyber Monday this year, and the big question is: Did it pay off? That's a big ole YES from Chad White, Smith-Harmon's new Research Director. His latest FREE reportlet, Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume is packed with much more than just retail email volume and messaging stats. This 11-page gem gets into a full-on discussion of messaging trends with creative samples.

Download the free reportlet now to get the complete story on the biggest day in online shopping.

From: Smith-Harmon
Subject Line: Stop the Press!
Date: December 1, 2008

Smith-Harmon Names Retail Email Expert Chad White as Research Director
Email Marketing Agency Launches Research Library

SEATTLE, Dec. 1, 2008 — Smith-Harmon, Inc., an email marketing strategy and creative services agency, today announced the appointment of respected email industry expert Chad White as its Research Director. In this newly created role, White will produce research on retail email marketing practices, perform industry outreach and help support Smith-Harmon clients.

“I am proud and excited to announce that Chad is joining the Smith-Harmon team,” said Lisa Harmon, Principal. “We have long admired his invaluable contributions to this space, including his Retail Email Blog, his research reports on email marketing best practices and trends, his insightful Email Insider columns, and his involvement with the Email Experience Council. Chad is well-known throughout the industry for his thought-leadership. His knowledge and experience will not only add tremendous value to Smith-Harmon, but will continue to benefit all marketers through our newly launched Research Library.”

All of White’s upcoming research reports, including a recap of Cyber Monday activity later this week, will be available for download in the Research Library, along with research from other Smith-Harmon team members.

Aaron Smith, Principal, said: “We are delighted to have Chad join our team. His efforts will figure significantly in the enhancement of our research and strategic consulting service offerings. Not only is Smith-Harmon positioned to offer our clients deeper and broader support; we are also poised to better serve the entire industry by becoming a premier source of quality research.”

Prior to joining Smith-Harmon, White was the Director of Retail Insights and Editor-at-Large at the Email Experience Council (eec), the email marketing arm of the Direct Marketing Association. He headed up the eec’s research efforts, writing dozens of reports, while also working with the eec’s Member Roundtables to hone and publish their research. Before the eec, he was an editor at Dow Jones & Co. and a managing editor at Condé Nast.

From: Arden B.
Subject Line: We're Lowering Our Prices...Get the Moto Jacket for Only $59 + Get $10 Off Every $50 or $25 Off Every $100 You Spend
Date: Monday, November 17, 2008

In the midst of these tough economic times, retailers have been looking for ways to entice shoppers to buy. I expected to see offers with discounted shipping and/or deep discounts. Arden B. surprised me with this message, that they were lowering all of their prices. A few weeks ago Harry & David sent out an email announcing reduced shipping costs and I've seen certain retailers offer some fairly substantial discounts but that's about as far as I expected retailers to go. I would imagine this tactic by Arden B. has hopefully increased their sales. I can't help but wonder if they lowered all their prices in hopes that they wouldn't have to offer deeper discounts to their customers. What are your thoughts on the subject, was this a good or a bad tactic for Arden B.?