Recently in Preheader Category

Google Labs announced their new preview pane functionality on Thursday. You can read their release (and instructions) here.

Now that Outlook, Yahoo! and Gmail all offer preview pane functionality, this will increase the number of email recipients choosing to sort through their inbox this way.

Large portions of Business to Consumer emails are sent to email addresses at Yahoo! and Gmail. General email best practices account for preview pane pain, so this serves as a great reminder to be reviewing your emails in actual inboxes before you send them to your subscribers.

This example from REI illustrates the importance of messaging hierarchy. Subscribers are viewing our emails in 350-400 pixels at a time. They should get a general sense of what your email is about in that area and an idea that there's more below.

Here are some email best practices reminders:

• Use a combination of HTML and graphical imagery and text
• Make good use of the top 350-400 pixels by including information in your preheader and top promo area
• Choose navigation items that will increase traffic to your site, keep the items to between 3 and 5.
• Use imagery and design to give the subscriber visual cues to keep scrolling

Personally, I'm excited to have preview pane functionality in Gmail. Their layout mirrors my work email and tablet user interface. It makes it really easy to flip through a couple messages at a time. I have to think this will also get me to actually view and download the messages I just "mark as read," so let's see what this does for open rates on messages sent to Gmail.

Thanks gmail!

From: Bloomingdale's
Subject Line: Buy More, SAVE More In Women's, Men's & Kids!
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2011

I really like Bloomie's design in this email where they have used diagonal lines to break up the 3 different offers. It is a great way to bring the eye is to follow through to all 3 deals and give them all equal importance. There are a things I would recommend to do differently:
1) The Preheader and the Subject Line are identical. (This is not always the case with Bloomingdale's Email however... about 1/2 the time their Preheader and the Subject Lines are more complimentary.) Since so many view their email in-boxes on smart phones nowadays, it makes sense to ideally have the Preheader be related and almost a continuation of the Subject Line. (More to blog for another day!)
2) The Women's deals are for 15% & 25% off while the Men's and Kids' deals are for 20% & 30% off. What gives? Don't they know who their real target audience is?! ;) 

Sender: chasing fireflies
Subject Line: See what's cooking in our Toy Shop!
Date: Thursday, December 02, 2010

With so many people viewing email on mobile devices, the importance of a great preheader has become increasingly more relevant. In this email from chasing fireflies, the clever use of adding my name dynamically to the preheader made it stand out from the pack during my daily rapid scroll through the inbox, plus the copy had a cute and familiar feeling to it - like it could have been from a buddy... to quote Dale Carneghie from How to Win Friends and Influence People: "Remember that a man's name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language".

Unfortunately, the nit-picking email marketer in me can't help but notice that the rest of the email's execution leaves room for improvement. The entire hero/body of the email is one image slice, that when clicked, leads to the toys landing page of their site and features a foosball table, not the incredibly cute kitchen from the email. The poor coordination between the email and landing page create further frustration as the main and secondary products are not labeled in the email, so it is another challenge to try to find them once you are on the site. Additionally, I believe that if one wants to be a player in the Email Marketing world, it's best to leave off the little logo for your email marketing platform (no offense meant to Vertical Response).


It is a seriously cute little kitchen though... Santa might have to be alerted! ;)

		From: Apple Subject Line: Fitness made fun with iPod and iPod gear. Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 From: Apple Subject Line: Sounds like love. Give iPod this Valentine's Day. Date: Sunday, January 31, 2010
There's no doubt that Apple has AWESOME design sense. Every email I get from them is breathtaking: They use vibrant, crisp and creative imagery Their newsletters have a great sense of flow and balance They're often using new creative treatments like having their images break out of the grid They include interactive/eye-catching treatments like ratings and videos They're not always about the "Hard Sell" -- Apple "Adds Value," as we would say at Smith-Harmon, by providing informative content with "Did you Know" sections They optimize for viewing without images by using HTML text in the majority of their emails But have you noticed that they're missing a few key best practices? Such as: A preheader A View this Email with Images link Social/Sharing Options I think a few of those small tweaks could show even more activity for them. But awesome job Apple, you are an inspiration!

From: Lenovo
Subject Line: Oops - the Lenovo.com site is back up. We've extended Employee Pricing.
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Sometimes, too much of a good thing can be a problem. You craft the perfect campaign, consumers are eager to find deals and shop, and your website gets overloaded. Then, all the hard work you put into your campaign comes to a screeching halt, and you have to try and figure out how to recover lost sales. Sadly, several retailers experienced "Cyber Monday Meltdown", but how you respond to it can make all the difference.

I'm typically not a fan of the "oopsie" email and I regularly advise against sending apology emails, unless you are going to extend some benefit to the impacted customers and give them a reason to try again. That's why I love this example from Lenovo.

Notice how the subject line and pre-header work in tandem to acknowledge the problem, state it was solved, and promote the extension of the sale. It even clearly lists the date of the extension and reinforces the consumer's benefit. They shortened the email to more of a postcard format, with a very simple call to action. While I can't share numbers, I can tell you the apology email was almost as successful in total sales as the original launch.

When life gives you lemons, make some lemonade.

From: Bliss
Subject Line: a gift from the 'youth' fairy
Date: September 30

In recent months, I hadn't been in love with Bliss marketing stuff like I used to be. Until, I got this email. My love affair is rekindled. Eternally on-brand with their messaging and imagery, the subject line pulled me in and the creative delivered. It's a little too cutesy for some people, but I do love the copy: Feeling cynical? Check out the clinicals! Including customer survey results when they're as impressive as these numbers are is a smart way to backup your story. The secondary messages also fit nicely into the overall design package, making this email one of my top five faves for the month of September. Now, if they would only tap into their preheader potential.

From: Shutterfly
Subject Line: Get bright ideas for the holidays and more
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009

I have to say I love this newsletter from Shutterly.

Visually:
It has a light & airy feel (which can be difficult with the amount of information packed into this email) with a punch of well-chosen colors. The imagery is well placed to draw the eye across and down the page. The content is engaging with a variety of topics from video and iphone apps to holiday reminders and coupons.

Best Standards:
It also hits the mark for email best standards with...
-- A full preheader of standard options
   (See Chad White's reportlet on popular preheader elements)
-- HTML body text
-- Alt tags on graphic headlines & images
--Standard newsletter "In this Issue" (table of contents) located above-the-fold
--Website navigation in the header
--Legal footer & opt out information

My Suggestions:
--Try the navigation in HTML text
--Use a standard button treatment throughout
--Try using the space at the bottom (where the header is repeated)
   as a recovery module with additional link options.

I give this email 5 hearts!

From: Smith-Harmon
Subject Line: New Reportlet - Many Retailers Not Optimizing Preheader Text
Date: September 21, 2009

While 97% of top online retailers are using preheader text, a lot of brands still aren't optimizing this key piece of real estate. With more and more subscribers blocking images or viewing their email from image-unfriendly devices, packing a punch into the preheader is now more important than ever. Whether using for promotional purposes, functional purposes or both, it's vital that you learn how to make the most of it.

Check out the latest free reportlet from research director Chad White, now available in the Smith-Harmon research library. You'll get 10 pages of examples and tips to help you push your preheader text to its full potential.

From: Latimes.com
Subject Line: The new Latimes.com

With a little help, I finally got my hands on the L.A. Times website redesign email mentioned in a comment about my August 24th post about Hollister. I have to say... I love the originality of this email. It feels totally out of the boxy grid, which is fantastic. It's brilliantly simple and provocative. Since they don't TELL you how it's different with a bunch of copy, they create a bit of mystery. They want to SHOW you the difference.

Some cool stuff to mention:

1. I love the headline and the "Scroll Right". Giving direction is key.
   
2. I also love the big ink spot. It's got this free-form, Jackson Pollack feeling to it. Dig it.
3. The "Take Our Tour" call to action totally delivers on the "Scroll Right"

On the downside, I think it's a big bummer that they're not doing anything more with this template. While on the hunt for this particular email, I signed up for every email subscription I could on the L.A. Times site. After sorting through the 15 or so emails each day for a week, I gave up. They were all the typical vertical email format you see with other news organizations. Wish they'd done a multi-email campaign about the redesign, highlighting a different part of the site with each email.

As for a best practices miss, they didn't use a preheader. Plus, they don't give me a link to update my preferences or my account, which I think they should. As much as I love the focused message of the email and the lack of clutter, I do think they could layer in a few understated links to drive people to do stuff on the site, without taking away from the sleek creative. Anyone else have thoughts about this one?  

From: Krispy Kreme
Subject Line: Raising Funds with Krispy Kreme!
Date: September 1, 2009

Having grown up in Michigan, I'm a die-hard Dunkin' Donuts fan, but a former coworker of mine LOVED Krispy Kreme, which is how I started subscribing to their emails. I dig the huge image. I can just taste that sugar glaze, can't you? But, the letter format just isn't working for me here. There's too much copy, there's no clear call to action, there's no top nav, and there's no preheader. I'd think that the fan base for Krispy Kreme has to be huge, so the fact that they don't have a SWYN element is also a big miss. On a really basic level, there isn't even a store locator to help me get my Krispy Kreme fix stat. Add in the fact that they don't even link directly to the fundraising landing page that's live on the site, and the misses just keep stacking up.

It's also interesting because their website maximizes content buckets, but their emails don't. IMHO, they need a complete email overhaul that brings their retro-feeling brand to life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a donut sitting next to me that needs some attention. Don't tell Dunkin'. 

From: Tobi
Subject Line: 20% Off, Happy Friday!
Date: Friday, August 28, 2009

Just when you thought you were out of clever ideas for how to spin a sale...check out Tobi. They're TGIF approach is refreshingly simple and cleverly executed, not to mention that it's 20% off regular-priced merchandise...not sale and clearance! While most retailers are waiting to use the Labor Day handle for their big fall savings push, Tobi's smart approach makes sure all their loyal fans spend their hard-earned cash on their site first. Nice thinking. Still wishing they had a preheader and FTAF in their emails, but they do have the SWYN icons at the bottom, so that's a step in the right direction. And let's not overlook the straightforward subject line that tells the entire story in only four words and still has personality. Well done.