Whose Mom Is Coolest?

From: Urban Outfitters
Subject Line: Was your mom a style icon?
Date: Monday, April 5, 2010

Urban Outfitters consistently finds awesome ways to include customer-generated content in their emails and to invite subscriber engagement. They highlight bloggers, present certain customers as trendsetters, and run original contests, like this call for photos of their subscribers' stylish moms. The email doesn't include any calls to shop (other than the standard navigation bar), and even the submessage just takes the main story further, inviting subscribers to learn about the UO bloggers' moms. Campaigns like this are more than just fun. They build customer loyalty by fostering a sense of community with their email subscribers that goes beyond the big sale messages...and still leads to big sales.