Responsys' Vice President of Strategic Services Heather Blank will be participating in the Future of Marketing online series that asks 30 senior executives, authors, and innovators about the new story of marketing. Speakers will share their best advice on leveraging email, mobile, social, paid media, and analytics to build a brand and business. They will also discuss the most effective ways to plan and launch an integrated, multichannel marketing campaign.

The free virtual conference will be held on Thursday, July 28 at 1:00 pm ET. In addition to Responsys, you will hear from marketing experts at Hearst Television, eMarketer, American Express, Gartner, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM, American Express, Pandora, Coca-Cola, Kayak, and more.

Learn more about the event here: http://futureofmarketing.com/.

From: Old Navy
Subject Line: Spin & Save: Get Ready to Win BIG + FREE Shipping Every Day
Date: Thursday, July 14, 2011

From the adorable JCREW popsicle email to the jazzy West Elm sparkler promo, animation is emerging as a major email creative trend this summer. I love Old Navy's take on the technique because they integrate the whole concept of a spinning wheel from the subject line right through to the graphics. It's also a stellar iPhone experience--if you're a righty, the animation is perfectly nestled underneath your thumb. Kudos on a well thought out application of motion graphics.

I first opened up this Sears email due to the subject line;
Attention humans: Save up to 15% thru tomorrow. Last chance till November.  Once I opened up the campaign, I realized this was a Cyber Monday email.  Cyber Monday in July??  I LOVE it!  It is never too soon to start promoting for the upcoming holiday season (which is right around the corner.. despite the heat wave). 

I love the look and feel of this email, and the subtle 'Christmas' colors that were incorporated.  Crazy to think that Cyber Monday is only a few months away.. but it is.  We should all be thinking about this now and planning for these holiday campaigns, if we aren't executing them already (Christmas in July).

Who has seen similar campaigns promoting Cyber Monday and other holiday offers come through this early in the season?

From: lululemon athletica
Subject Line: #newness
Date: Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 9:12 AM

We all suffer from inbox overload, too many messages and too little time. Using a scanable subject line can make or break a campaign. And that's why I love this message from LuLu Lemon. With one word and a hash tag they've cut through the clutter and created compelling reason to open.

 

From: Jetsetter
Subject Line: Memorable Rooms With a View: NYC, Peru, Vail, South Africa and More
Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Jetsetter's emails always offer a great source of inspiration; sometimes it's about places I can be other than my desk, but mostly it's their smart use of photography, typography and design.

What sets Jetsetter apart from other travel emails is the proportion of space they dedicate to photography. Rather than taking a grid approach to all the getaways they're touting, they let each location have the same visual weight. I love that they are far enough apart then even when you're looking at one location, you can see the beginning of the next image, making you want to scroll and scroll and scroll.

We all can learn from the way Jetsetter treats their "link farm." They've done a fantastic job giving enough space to make clear groups of links, and used a contrast between color and size to define give importance to the title of each section.

And we can't ignore the fact that this template will work well in both mobile and desktop environments. Jetsetter understands their on-the-go audience and delivers an excellent experience whether their customers are at their desk or a "Lush Urban Escape in Brazil."

From: LOFT
Subject Line: 12 HOURS ONLY! 40% Off EVERYTHING + Free Shipping On Orders Of $75
Date: Sunday, July 17, 2011 5:17 PM PST

From: LOFT
Subject Line: 40% Off EVERYTHING Is Back: Please Accept Our Apologies
Date: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:27 AM PST

I rarely check email on Sundays, so I missed the first send of LOFT's 40% Off Flash Sale... it's probably just as well, since I definitely would have been frustrated had I loaded up my shopping cart, only to be stymied by technical issues! With that said, I thoroughly commend the LOFT for their response to the mistake. Within less than 48 hours they sent a genuine sounding apology email, extending the original offer which includes a longer window of shopping opportunity (original send: 12 hours vs. re-send: 14.5 hours). Thank you LOFT. Apology accepted. :)

Remodelista, as the tagline states, is a Sourcebook for the Considered Home. Luckily, they did not call their newsletter Remodelista, Email for the Considered Inbox. While their bread and butter is selling a curated shopping experiences to a busy, design conscious crowd, they have not taken that philosophy to the email experience. An over-templatized approach with a hyperlinked table of contents and repetitive sponsor ad makes it difficult to tell one send from the next. Goes to prove when it comes to the preview pane, some email best practices never go out of style.

For tips on clever ways to avoid that preview pane paralysis see Amy Hamilton's post Designing for the Preview Pane.

From:The Container Store
Subject Line:Star Spangled Storage | Made in the USA
Date:Monday, July 4, 2011

This email from The Container Store stood out in last weekend's sea of July 4th messaging. Leveraging everything from a clever subject line to splashes of red, white and blue in the product grid, The Container Store manages to make plastic hangers and food storage look downright patriotic. They also go beyond color and create a more authentically down-home patriotic theme by featuring only items  "Made in the U.S.A." This email does a lot to create a memorable, positive brand impression around products that could easily seem mundane, likely pushing up interest levels and click-throughs and building anticipation for future campaigns. 

From: ModCloth.com
Subject Line: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Date: Thursday, July 7, 2011

While some of us are still nursing our 4th of July sparkler burns, ModCloth is gearing up for the big holiday season with a sneak peek at their winter styles. What makes the timing of this message not totally insane is that most beloved items do sell out fast. No doubt, frequent shoppers are hitting the in-stock alert feature early and often. But I do have to ask myself: if they start holiday promotions this soon, how will they avoid burning out interest?

From: iTunes
Subject Line: New on iTunes
Date: 07 / July

 / 2011

The latest iTunes email came as a surprise to me because I was a little bit disappointed when I saw it. I had to remind myself these are the people behind iPods, iPhones and iPads. Apple's branding online and off is something companies recognise as being ahead of the curve. 

However, my opinion completely changed when I viewed the same email on my iPhone. The email was strikingly more impactful. It's crazy how much of a difference it makes to the observer.

Obviously, these emails were made to be ideal for smartphones because they hold much better on smartphones. In theory the only thing that has changed is the composition and size. But optically, the calls-to-action stick out more, the email navigates better (especially with a side rail on the right-hand side), and it's much more rigid--even the compact word count suggests this message is for a smartphone device.

I have been a Zappos.com email subscriber for years now, but it wasn't until I read 'Delivering Happiness' by Tony Hsieh that I started to pay more attention to their email campaigns.

I made my first purchase on Zappos.com about a month ago, and I just received a 'Write a Review' campaign and I love it!  It is all about HELPING OTHERS, and the email conveys that throughout.

What I LOVE about this email:

• The subject line - Help Others! Write A Zappos.com Review!
• The tone of the email - It is very warm and inviting. It gives you a sense of wanting to be a part of the Zappos community, by having people read and appreciate your review.
• The CTA! - Instead of your standard 'Write a Review', you receive a better CTA of; 'YES, I WANT TO HELP!'

So naturally after receiving this email, I submitted a review. The email I received back was great! It stated the following:

Here's the deal:

1. It may take up to 5 business days for a new review to show up.

2. You should have your own blog. You have important things to say.

3. Thanks again for writing a review! Seriously, it's worth repeating.

4. Thanks for writing a review!

5. You rock!

No Zappos... you rock! :)

From: Free People
Subject Line: Rock ★
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Fireworks, stars, and stripes - oh my! It must be 4^th of July in my inbox. Though, despite all the patriotic sales and celebrations, only one star stood out to me - and it stood out because it wasn't actually in an email...



The subject line for this Free People email was "Rock Star," with the word actually coded in html to appear as a star character (for those of you wondering, the code for a star is &-#9733). In gmail I use the star system to mark emails that I might want to go back to someday, so as I skimmed the subject lines in my inbox, this pre-starred email caught my eye. And when something grabs my precious and short attention, I'm much more likely to investigate by opening the email. Which I did.

The actual email had nothing to do with the 4^th of July, it's announcing their new July catalog, which seems to be themed around Stevie Nicks-ish 70s rock star style. I might not have opened the email if it had simply said "Check out the new July catalog" (or something to that nature), so I guess you could say they got me with the star treatment.

From: CVS/pharmacy ExtraCare

Subject Line: Stop MoneyTrashing!
Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Props go out to CVS for sending an email that converted me from a crumple-and-runner to an avid store receipt saver. With an irresistible subject line, scan-friendly copy and a bold call-to-action, I was destined for the click-through right out of the gate. The witty video on the customized landing page led me to Facebook. And from there it was all over. People providing feedback, sharing experiences, giving advice. I was involved, I was reading and I was caring. Without that initial email nudge I know I never would have explored the world of the ExtraBucks® Rewards program, and without the thoughtful cross-channel support I never would have learned how to stop my MoneyTrashing ways.

UPDATE - We have learned that the Hotmail change was not a planned change, but something they are working to fix.  The communicated plan was that image maps would be working again in the next few days.  This is a good opportunity to look at this practice and begin thinking about the future.

For those of you out there still using image maps in your email creative, there has been a fairly significant change that you should be aware of.  Hotmail has disabled the ability to click links embedded within an image map.  It is still possible to right-click on the image and open the link in a new browser window, but the chances of a recipient doing that are fairly slim. 

What does this mean to you as a sender?  Depending on the domain distribution of your customer list, Hotmail most likely makes us at least 10-20% of your total recipients.  Losing out on the link within an image map (which tend to dominate the email) can lead to lower engagement, lower click-through and have a serious impact on your bottom line.

There are alternatives to image maps such as sliced images.  You also shouldn't forget when designing creatives that a significant portion of your audience will see your messages with images turned off by default.

From: bumbleandbumble.com
Subject Line: Obsessed? We are...
Date: Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I'm a fan of animated gifs in emails--if done right. You don't want an animation to distract from a message, but you DO want it to grab your attention "just so." This bumbleandbumble.com email has the right amount of attention-grabbing movement for me. Each time one of the images squiggles, my eye moves to read the quote. I love the illustrations, especially the one in the middle - I mean, who doesn't want hair like that?!

I also love the simple layout of the products at the bottom so that I know what the bottle looks like (beyond the illustration), the cost, and and the ability to "shop" all in one nice little area.

I'm also a big viewer of emails on my iPhone, and I love that this one makes my device dance.