Recently in Frequency Category

From: Banana Republic
Subject Line: Happy Birthday to us! Celebrate with up to 30% off + free shipping!


Banana Republic has sent me an email everyday this week telling me it is their birthday. I received an email on September 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th (let's see if it continues through the weekend). While I do like the animation of the blooming flower, each email is very similar. The only noted changes were the color of the flower and sometimes the offer (20% off, 30% off, $20 off pants etc).

The piece of the email that stood out to me the most in these campaigns is the subject line. Every day the subject line began with; Happy Birthday to Us!
I get it - it's your birthday!

I open my emails every morning as I am commuting to work on my blackberry - and the first words I see are 'Happy Birthday'. I only opened up their email this morning for the sake of seeing if it was still the same, and it was.

I am curious to know their open and click through metrics on these campaigns - as well as the number of opt outs and spam hits.

Anyone else notice this ongoing stream of emails?

From: PETCO
Subject Line: PETCO | Summer Scavenger Hunt!
Win Prizes + FREE Shipping on $25
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010

PETCO sent an email introducing a multi-day Scavenger Hunt. The hunt leads you through their facebook, twitter and blog pages, getting subscribers to follow them and familiarizing them with the content found on those pages. The hunt is loaded with incentives for the subscriber - play and you could win gift cards! How creative and fun!

My only gripes:

1) Timing
The email was sent on a Sunday and the first step of the scavenger hunt was for Sunday only. For those who didn't check their email that day, they lost out on the first opportunity to play.
A) One solution would be to send out an introductory email with an overview of how the Scavenger Hunt will work and when it will begin.
B) Another idea would be to make each step of the scavenger hunt span a week (rather than one-per-day). This would spread out the email reminders and would give the subscribers additional time to play on their schedule.

2) Segmented Email Series
So far I've only received one email - I'm anxious to see if I'll get more. If made into a series, I suggest announcing last week's winner in each email to entice subscribers to be the next big winner. I also caution against sending too many emails to subscribers that aren't interested. I would only continue to send the series to those who click on any of the first 3 emails.

3) Best Practices: HTML copy
HTML text would have been great on the hunt portion of the email. Nice job using it at the top though!

Overall, I love this concept - what a fun way to get your fan-base accustomed to using your social networks and grow your social subscriber base!

From: Harry & David
Subject Lines:
1.) FREE as FREE Can Be: Christmas Delivery for ALL Gifts + Bonus Offer Inside!
2.) JOHANNA, We'll give you FREE Christmas Delivery + 20% OFF Fruit-of-the-Month Club gifts!
Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009



The urgency of 'hurry' is cluttering up my inbox these days. Everyone is fighting for my attention, even emails from my own mother are getting lost in the shuffle. Some retailers are getting a little aggressive in the inbox and I'm not sure if I'm a fan or not...but I'm more likely to look at the messages they are sending me. In the case of Harry & David, I'm actually purchasing thanks to the repetitive messaging. Harry & David always has beautiful emails, simply based on photography of fruits and chocolates. My mouth might be watering just a little thinking 'bout their pears. Recently though, Harry & David's urgency -- HURRY, FREE, JOHANNA! -- is overwhelming my inbox more than most other retailers. In one given day I received four different emails from Harry & David with all messages in caps.

At first the urgency is slightly annoying, but then the shopper in me takes over and I can't miss out on this big savings taking place TODAY ONLY! Also, they have "Blitzen Deals" that last 24 hours on specific products. I flipped through the messages, visited the website, and even purchased a few items for friends as holiday gifts. So, even though I'm annoyed, you win Harry & David. You're like a nagging friend reminding me to do something good for others. THANKS! 


From: Brookstone
Subject Lines:
1) FREE Sitewide shipping with $95 minimum purchase
2) Hurry, only 4 hours left for FREE Sitewide Shipping at $90!
3) Deal of the Day: $20 OFF our Men's Fleece Heated Vest plus Sitewide FREE SHIPPING!
4) Discover this year's hottest holiday gifts plus FREE Sitewide Shipping!
Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009



Brookstone has stepped into one of the most common holiday traps: over-sending.

I have received up to four emails in one day from Brookstone, and an average of more than one email per day overall. While a small handful of people may enjoy getting blasted by that many emails, I think you're more likely to lose subscribers by over-sending.

Make sure if you're sending more than one email a day that the messages differ enough to make it worthwhile. On 12/15 I received two postcard-style emails, a deal of the day AND a general product collage email. The two postcard emails were essentially the same: Free Shipping on orders over $95, and the other, Free Shipping on orders over $90 - baffling. The other two emails mentioned the free shipping offer again in a top banner. Were four emails really needed for the free shipping promo? I doubt it.

If you're not sure how many emails to send, I would suggest creating a "my account" option where the subscriber can login and choose the amount (and type) of emails they would like to receive. If you already have an option like this on your website, make sure to include a link in each email to "change my email preferences." If that's too much work (on you or your subscribers), place a survey at the bottom of each email with a simple one-click answer.
EXAMPLE: How many emails would you like to receive from us?
[ ] More than two per week  [ ] Two per week  [ ] One per week
[ ] Bi-weekly  [ ] One per month

If you give the customer a chance to control how many emails they receive, you'll be more likely to retain your subscribers by giving them a program that fits their personal needs.

From: Epson
Subject Line: Epson Daily Deal: 50% off Specialty Paper Today Only
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009


First off, let me say hello" to everyone. I am a long-time reader, and now a first-time blogger. The Responsys Strategic Services team has joined forces with the Smith-Harmon folks and will begin contributing to this blog on a regular basis. Okay, now on to the good stuff!

I know it's the holidays and you want to drive as much revenue as possible. Lots of marketers wrestle with the temptation of Deal-of-the-Day campaigns (think of the potential revenue opportunity if you mailed promotions to EVERYONE on your list EVERY DAY). I am here to say, proceed with caution!

I was reminded of this temptation when I noticed that a certain unnamed company - who suppressed me for inactivity back in July - was now emailing me daily with promotions! Deal-of-the-Day emails are great and they work well during the holiday season, but my advice is to set up a specific opt-in box for these campaigns and limit your distribution to subscribers who are interested in this content. Mailing to everyone might seem like a good strategy, but overall, it causes big list attrition. Some subscribers will convert, but most will be annoyed, and ultimately you will drive higher unsubscribe and complaint rates.

Epson recently kicked off their Daily Coolville Deals campaigns. They clearly ask for opt-in on all related pages, and they even have a specific unsubscribe opt-out for those folks who don't want to hang in for the whole 24 days. Mailing every day can be successful, but use it in moderation and be sure you send it only to those who are interested.

From: Abercrombie & Fitch
Subject Line: Young and Sexy, Vintage Hoodies
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2009

From: Abercrombie & Fitch
Subject Line: Young and Sexy, Vintage Hoodies
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009

From: Abercrombie & Fitch
Subject Line: Young and Sexy, Vintage Hoodies
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009

What? Just in case I missed it the first and second times?

I know A&F's Emails seem to be the favorite "whipping boy" of the Smith-Harmon bloggers, and I'm loathe to just jump on the pile, but c'mon already!! I guess Abercrombie's marketing style is to beat you over the head with it... For this "Vintage Hoody", I've received 3 emails (so far... who knows? Maybe I'll get more!). For their "Destroyed Jeans" 5, and "Preppy Plaid Shirts" 9(!?!). And, furthermore... they were too lazy to even mix it up a little with the Subject Line!

Just so I say one nice thing though, as previously commented by fellow Smith-Harmon blogger, Alex Madison, I do like that they being creative and doing the horizontal format.