Recently in Whoops! Category

July 19, 2011 2:39 PM

LOFT Does the Right Thing

Posted by Lyla Reinero
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. :)
07172011_loft.png07192011_loft.jpg




May 4, 2011 11:28 AM

Site Upgrades & Growing Pains

Posted by Joy Daniels

Saks Fifth Avenue.JPGSent: Wed 4/06/11 2:37 PM
Subject Line: Accept our apology, SHIPPING is on us!

There has been a flurry of site enhancements in the retail space. Companies are optimizing their sites for mobile, adding video, and increasing social media sharing opportunities. Customers benefit from a better experience, and businesses see revenue return on their UI investment.

But sometimes along with upgrades, come growing pains.

Saks Fifth Avenue recently added new features to their site and evidently experienced some issues. See how they turned the situation around with the following apology email and  free shipping offer.

 

April 25, 2011 2:49 PM

Apology from Yahoo!

Posted by Joy Daniels

A mistake can lead to surprising outcomes.

I learned this when I worked at Yahoo! in global direct marketing. The price of a service was listed incorrectly an HTML acquisition email, and I owned the email program. Great.

I got approval from one of our founders to send out an apology email to the original email recipients--explaining I'd made a mistake on the price. (In the meantime, I'm envisioning 11 million people demanding the incorrect price or the press attacking our partner at the time, SBC, for the incorrect price.) Plus, great way to have a meeting with one of the founders.

The unexpected happened. The apology email wasn't a promotional email, but the apology email resulted in the same amount of orders as one of our typical acquisition emails. Why? The stats indicated the subject line was strong: Apology from Yahoo!" This makes sense; the subject line is direct and short and an apology from a major company? Intriguing. Subsequent orders? Probably a combination of the additional touch point and the novelty of an apology email (this was about 8 years ago).

Could it be that its OK to show the human side of your business?

I do know this. Because of this experience, a good blueprint for a mistake: Take responsibility. Look for solutions. Apologize. (And as quickly as possible.)

How will you communicate with customers in the event of, well, an unexpected event?

March 28, 2011 4:42 PM

A Grounded Apology

Posted by Kathryn Alva
From: Alaska Airlines
Subject Line: We're Sorry for the Disruption
Date: Monday, March 28, 2011

0311_AlaskaAir_full.jpgThis morning I opened my inbox to find an apology letter from Alaska Airlines, addressing a failure their site experienced over the weekend. The apology felt sincere and personal; beginning with the letter addressed to my name and closing with pictures and signatures from both presidents of Alaska and Horizon Air.

While I [thankfully] wasn't traveling this weekend, I can only imagine how many travelers were frustrated (or possibly stranded) after going online to look up their confirmations, print a boarding pass, or check in online - only to find that the site was down. I know I'd be in a panic! In the letter, Alaska encourages their customers to contact them if they were affected by the outage, and promises that a team in place will respond within two weeks. It doesn't say what kind of reparations will be made, but the gesture of open communication is certainly commendable. As Seattle is my home airport, I almost exclusively fly Alaska when I travel, so even though I wasn't affected, it's still nice to see that the airline recognizes the seriousness of the situation and are working toward making things right.


Let's face it: no one expects problems to happen, but the nature of an industry that relies so heavily on technology is that at some point there may be a need to make amends. You can take some of the sting away by having a plan in place ahead of time, and maybe even an apology email waiting in the wings. In situations such as this, time is of the essence - so having a failsafe switch ready to throw will help you recover with your subscribers as quickly as possible (and might also save your hide!), in the event that the unthinkable happens.

Here are some recent examples of ways other retailers have expressed apologies for technical failures:

0311_sorryBetty_full.jpg    0311_sorryNeimanMarcus_full.jpg    0311_sorryMichaelKors_full.jpg 0311_sorryKohls_full.jpg

September 20, 2010 7:37 AM

Third Time's A Charm?

Posted by Jeannine Veloce
From: Bluefly
Subject Line: Today Only! Clearance Sale - Extra 20% Off All Sale Items - Now Up to 80% Off!
Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010

While I do enjoy shopping on Bluefly.com, I received three of the same emails in a row this past Sunday. Same subject line, and same content sent 10:05AM, 10:07AM and 10:11AM Eastern time.

Now my question is this: did they send to their list multiple times, forget to remove duplicates, or just want to get their point across? :)





May 21, 2010 11:29 AM

How to Say Sorry Like You Mean It

Posted by Lyla Reinero
From: Ancestry.com
Subject Line: Thanks for your patience
Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010

From: Ancestry.com
Subject Line: A token of our appreciation
Date: Friday, May 21, 2010





Most of the time, I am Ancestry.com's biggest fan - I find it to be about 10 times more compelling than Facebook. All in all, they have one heck of a pretty slick package, ranging from their commercials (some of which are like works of art) and sponsorship of the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" to their website and email newsletters. Perhaps it is my complete addiction to Ancestry.com that caused me so much frustration this past Wednesday when the Family Tree member access portion of their site was down for nearly the entire day! Withdrawal is bitch.

I'm not overwhelmed with the apology emails that followed, as I don't think they went far enough. The first one was basically an announcement that they were back up and running and thanked me for my "patience" and being a "valued member". Hmmm. They shouldn't assume I was all that patient, and don't just thank me for being a good customer. I wonder if they received enough negative feedback from the first email to prompt them to send another apology email the following day offering a "token of appreciation". Emphasis on token. The second email was too wordy and mostly full of lip-service as it merely offered an extra day to the subscriptions of members. A small gesture (in their own words). I think that was the least they could offer, considering I couldn't access my "tree" for almost the whole day. If I were the "powers that be" at Ancestry.com, I might have offered something a little more generous, such as a free week's worth of membership or perhaps a one-time discount for any item from their on-line store (Ha! Then they could make money from their mistake!). I know that missteps will happen, but I really think that when they do, it should be used as an opportunity to make things better, and hopefully, your relationship with your client stronger.

All griping aside, I am still a complete junkie for Ancestry.com, and I'm right back to mainlining my favorite habit. :)

Thoughts, anyone?
March 19, 2010 8:55 AM

Dim Sum

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Gilt Groupe
Subject Line: Your Thompson London Order
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010 12:10 PM

From: Gilt Groupe
Subject Line: Our apologies
Date: Monday, March 15, 2010 2:08 PM

OK, so Gilt Groupe made a mistake; I didn't order the cuff links. (Sorry, Aaron!) Apology emails are good, we get it. What I'm more interested in with these messages is the treatment of the email background and preheader text. The dark grey background and even darker grey preheader type makes these more functional messages feel like the pop-up windows appearing before a dimmed background, like those one can create on web pages using jQuery. I like that these utility messages feel similar to how they might if they popped up on a website.
March 15, 2010 11:01 AM

Editors Are Our Friends

Posted by Raleigh Briggs
From: The Company Store
Subject Line: Last Day- Up to 75% Off Discontinued Colors
Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010

This Company Store email is an excellent example of how easily best practices can be undermined by a little bit of careless copy. There are a lot of good elements included here: the preheader, the nav bar, and the nice, big logo treatment are all great. However, I can't take this email seriously because it seems as though no one bothered to read it over before launching it. "You snooze, you loose?" Come on, folks. Editing saves lives! Well, maybe not. But it does save reputations.


December 11, 2009 12:35 PM

A Little Too Much Cyber Monday Success

Posted by Stefan Pollard
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.
September 9, 2009 9:00 AM

The Old Bait & Switch

Posted by Stefanie Lince
From: HomeAway
Subject Line: $50 Off Special Offer
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Deemed a vacation rental website, I have had an affinity for HomeAway's copy and inviting imagery. The subject line tells me I have a $50 offer, that's great!

I clicked through and felt tricked by the message in front of me. Assuming they have multiple subscriber lists, I should be on the renter list, not the homeowner list. I scrolled down to see what the lower messaging offered. A continued lack of relevance to me was surprising. While we always want to create subject lines that encourage subscribers to click, this shouldn't be done at the cost of transparency. I'm curious if anyone else got this email or a similar one with this approach. What was your response?

September 2, 2009 8:39 AM

Best Practices: HTML Text & Alt Tags

Posted by Amy Hamilton
From: Forever21
Subject Line: Tough Love - Shop Leather
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009

What was this email about? I'll never know. I can't stress enough how important it is to use HTML text in designs, or at the very least alt tags on images with graphical text to convey your message/s. This is vital for subscribers that have images disabled as well as when an error occurs, keeping your images from displaying properly. When all else fails, it's always good to have a link to a web/hosted version of the email. Unfortunately, even the hosted version of the email wasn't working.

April 30, 2009 7:54 AM

South Seas, More or Less

Posted by Lisa Harmon

From: South Seas Island Resort
Subject Line: Experience South Seas
Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Unfortunately, I received this email immediately after booking my South Seas travel (and simultaneously signing up for their email program) for roughly double the featured "spring rate." Ouch! Where's my "thank you"? Where's my "welcome to our email program"? As much as I love an offer, and as much as I love a resort, and as much as I am a total customer service snob, seriously, what's the likelihood that I'm going to book again in the same season? This message just made me feel silly for paying more :).

But alas, which of you will I see at the fabulous South Seas Resort for the Email Insider Summit next week!? And if you haven't yet booked your travel, perhaps you can take advantage of H2WHOA!

March 31, 2009 10:38 AM

The Toy Store Who Cried Recall

Posted by Alex Madison
From:Toys "R" Us
Subject Line: Product Recall: Infantino, Lil Chef Set
Date: Monday, March 16, 2009

Since signing up for Toys "R" Us emails a few weeks ago, I've received four different messages like this one, telling me that the store records show I've purchased something that's been recalled. Funny, because I can't remember the last time I purchased something from Toys "R" Us, and certainly none of these products. I don't really know what's going on here. On the one hand, it's great that Toys "R" Us is using email to spread the word about product recalls (and the emails look pretty good!). On the other hand, though, their records are not tidy. If they aren't sure whether or not I've purchased the product mentioned and are just playing it safe, then they should say so. I can imagine a busy parent being unable to remember whether or not they purchased the mentioned product, which could cause unnecessary concern. Getting so many recall notices is not only annoying, but it could harm the subscribers' trust in the store.


January 20, 2009 12:58 PM

Why?

Posted by Alex Madison








From: abercrombie
Subject Line: get the coolest fleece by christmas.
Date:Thursday, December 11, 2008

From: abercrombie
Subject Line: winter coats to keep you warm.
Date:Thursday, October 30, 2008

From: abercrombie
Subject Line: classic fleece to keep you warm.
Date:Thursday, October 9, 2008

From: abercrombie
Subject Line: classic fleece to keep you warm.
Date:Thursday, September 4, 2008

From: abercrombie
Subject Line: get the coolest new looks for fall.
Date:Thursday, September 18, 2008

Since I started subscribing to abercrombie kids email, I've been seeing the same girl and boy models over and over. This isn't too strange--some of my favorite brands like Free People and Anthropologie also feature familiar faces across multiple creatives. What's baffling about these abercrombie photos is that it's the same kid, wearing the same thing, in the same location--sometimes even the same photo used again and again? Why is this? Is the boy just so adorable in this flannel shirt that he generates more click-throughs than displaying a variety of clothing or range of environmental shots?

This isn't the first time we've been baffled by Abercrombie & Fitch's email creatives, as you can see in other entries. Are they going for irony? Are they being lazy? Does this approach really work? We're not sure. If anyone has any insight, please tell us...why??
December 10, 2008 4:36 PM

Third Strike, You're Out

Posted by Darrah MacLean
















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.


November 7, 2008 12:12 PM

Best Ever OOPS

Posted by Lyla Reinero
From:CUSP
Subject Line: Oops! The site is back up! Enjoy SALE + FREE ONLINE SHIPPING!
Date:Friday, November 7, 2008

I think that is probably one of the best (if not the best) apology Email I can recall seeing. When you know how much production time goes into creating an email, you almost have to wonder if they had this in reserve; like they were waiting for an accident to happen!


November 6, 2008 3:30 PM

Isn't it ironic? Or not.

Posted by Darrah MacLean
From: Abercrombie
Subject Line: winter coats to keep you warm.
Date: October 30, 2008

From: Abercrombie
Subject Line: layer-up in classic style.
Date: November 6, 2008

I'm having a little trouble figuring out Abercrombie's latest email campaign. Maybe someone can help me sort it out.

The first email shown here has the subject line: winter coats to keep you warm. But, ummm, the email features a plaid flannel shirt. I guess it would be ironic if the guy happened to be naked or something, but he's not. So it just looks odd. Although, the links do make sense: Boys Outerwear and Girls Outerwear. At first, I thought it was just a production error, like maybe the wrong file was sent or something, until I received the second email and I realized they're trying to be ironic.

The second email's subject line is layer-up in classic style., which uses a hyphen incorrectly, but that's not really the issue, so I'll move on. The hero image features a guy with no shirt on, albeit he does have a short-sleeve tee draped over his shoulder. So, what exactly is he layering here? I guess it's ironic, but does it really sell the clothes? Maybe on a huge billboard it does, but in email when the whole objective is to get people to click through, does it work? The thing that's too bad is that the link to Boys Knits goes to some cool long-sleeve knit pullovers, tshirts, etc. IMHO, it would have been good to show at least a few products to tell the story and spark someone's interest enough to click the links. The way it is now, you really have to be a die-hard Abercrombie fan to be interested enough to click through.

It's election week: Let's put it out for a vote. Check out the two emails and share your thoughts. But remember this: It's like rain on your wedding day, a free ride when you've already paid, and having 10,000 spoons when all you need is knife. That's ironic, don't you think?


September 8, 2008 11:46 AM

Anthropologie Follow-up

Posted by Sarah Milsow
This post is a follow-up to my Anthropologie Sign-Up Mix-Up post at the beginning of August. I posted that particular blog on August 8th and a little over a week later I received a package from Anthropologie in the mail. I didn't remember ordering anything offline so I was a little perplexed. I opened up the package and much to my surprise, inside there was a very nice note and a gift card apologizing for the sign-up mix-up with their email newsletter. Now that is customer service people! :)

For those that are curious, here's what I bought: Satu Eau De Parfum. Smells delicious! Thanks Allison!
August 18, 2008 1:05 PM

Sometimes Sorry Does Cut It

Posted by Darrah MacLean



From: Netflix
Subject Line: We're Sorry DVD Shipments Are Delayed
Date: August 14, 2008

From: Netflix
Subject Line: We're sorry your DVD shipment was delayed
Date: August 15, 2008

No, you're not seeing double. I received these back-to-back customer service emails from Netflix last week. Seems their shipping system was on the fritz, so they took action by stepping up to the inbox not once, but twice to simply say sorry.

At a time when prices are rising and savvy consumers are fine-tuning their buyers' intuition, it's in every retailer's and service provider's best interest to upgrade their personal, one-to-one interactions with their customers. Taking a few extra minutes and a few extra dollars to keep 'em feeling attended to is well worth the investment. IMHO.

My only copy critique is that they should have switched up the subject lines a tad more. I almost didn't open the second email because I thought it was simply a repeat. Lo and behold, it spelled out specifically what Netflix was doing to make up for the mishap; they were giving me a 15% credit on my bill! Pretty major, right? Something like "We're giving you a 15% credit for DVD delay" as the subject line would have done the trick and let me know that it was a follow-up to the first email.

One more little edit is about the casing in the subject lines; one used headline casing and the other used sentence casing. I've never seen any stats on one being better than the other, so it's more of a style consistency thing. Basically, pick a side and plant your feet.

August 8, 2008 9:17 AM

Sign-Up Mix-Up

Posted by Sarah Milsow

From: Anthropologie
Subject Line: Bask in summer's glow
Date: Friday, June 13, 2008

From: Anthropologie
Subject Line: Comings & Goings
Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008

I have recently received these two emails from Anthropologie basically telling me to sign up for their emails. The thing is, I already did! Back in August of last year! What's interesting is the one sent to me in June arrived after 4 months of no emails from them at all, very bizarre. Did something go wrong with their subscriber list? Do I have to sign up yearly? What's the deal?! If something happened to their subscriber list they should have sent out an email about it rather than these confusing emails. Does anyone have any inside info on this? I absolutely adore Anthropologies emails and definitely want to keep receiving them without having to continually sign up. Keep me on your list Anthropologie!


August 6, 2008 8:19 PM

Daily Double

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Daily Top 10
Subject Line: CNN.com Daily Top 10
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2008

From: Daily Top 10
Date: CNN.com Daily Top 10
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2008


From a creative perspective, I am a major fan of the new CNN.com Daily Top 10. It's clean, simple and clicky. Two questions:

(1) I'm curious about the choice to make the "From:" read "Daily Top 10" rather than "CNN.com." Thoughts?
(2) If this is a "Daily Top 10", shouldn't we be getting it just once a day? Both yesterday and today I received it two times, which feels like one time too many.
August 4, 2008 2:00 PM

Copy Cats

Posted by Sarah Milsow










From: Abercrombie & Fitch
Subject Line: Sexy and Casual, The Perfect Pair Of Jeans.
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2008

From: abercrombie
Subject Line: You can never have enough Hollister jeans.
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2008

From: Hollister
Subject Line: classic cool jeans in every style and wash.
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2008

All three brands are all owned by the same company but to me that isn't a good reason for using almost the same creative treatment on all three emails. It is also worth noting that I received all three emails on the same day and around the same time even. Abercrombie and Hollister might want to take into consideration that they could possibly have some subscribers that signed up for all three of their brand's emails. It is possible to have ownership of multiple brands but still put out different email creatives, the Williams-Sonoma Brands are a great example of this. Another possible solution is segmenting their email list and only sending out an email from one of those brands to their customers that subscribe to all three emails, perhaps even the brand that they shopped with most recently. That way their customers won't be overloaded with similar looking emails :)


July 30, 2008 11:51 AM

Millard and Tracy Say "Sorry"

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: With our apologies...
Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I have had some dramatically bad experiences at jcrew.com over the past month. I appreciate that they sent out an apology; I did not get one from the Gap when their site didn't work on Safari for months last year. Two recommendations for improvement:
(1) I'd love to see signatures from Millard and Tracy. It would make it feel so much more personal.
(2) I want an incentive to revisit after my difficulty. I wonder whether - once the issues are resolved - J.Crew will send a discount code to entice the disappointed to return?


January 3, 2008 3:40 PM

Oops, I did it again...

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: FreePeople.com
Subject Line: Happy Birthday from Free People!
Date: Tuesday, January 1, 2008

From: FreePeople.com
Subject Line: Oops! Our Bad!
Date: Thursday, January 3, 2008

Beware - I've seen this happen more than once! Due to a system glitch, date-sensitive messages have been known to batch send on the first day of a new year. Free People's experience here is a classic illustration of this phenomenon. They recovered as gracefully as one can from such a flub - you gotta love how "our apologies" appears to be tear-strewn - but all, do check in with your ESP now to safeguard yourself in '09, while it's still on your mind :)! The holidays have a way of making us forget ;)...
October 30, 2007 7:28 AM

Deja Vu

Posted by Lisa Harmon
Am I experiencing deja vu!? I received this email from J.Crew last year on Tuesday, September 26, again on Thursday, December 14 and then a third time this year on Saturday, October 20. I interpret it as a smart, triggered communication half-done. I love that J.Crew is messaging low inventory, but would recommend that they at least update the creative color palette seasonally to differentiate between the sends, particularly if they're deploying to the same audience.

From: jcrew@ click.jcrew.com
Subject Line: A little reminder from J.Crew
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Date: Thursday, December 14, 2006

Date: Saturday, October 20, 2007


April 4, 2007 8:32 PM

Welcome to the Gorgeous

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Apple
Subject Line: Thank you for your interest in iPhone.
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2007

I signed up to receive iPhone product updates the day the gadget was announced, but only received this Welcome message today. Of course it's beautiful, and almost because of that I have to point out that the bottom legal copy is misaligned in IE7. But who cares about PCs, right?
February 2, 2007 9:47 PM

Inside Peek

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Apple eNews
Subject Line: Our Top Picks for February and The Spring Celebrations Preview
Date: Thursday, February 1, 2007

Today I got an inside look at Apple eNews: their HTML code was delivered directly to my inbox! If any of y'all out there know what causes this error, please post your comments!
January 5, 2007 11:12 PM

HEL-LO!?

Posted by Lisa Harmon


From: Abercrombie & Fitch
Subject Line: Next Season's Styles Available Now... Abercrombie.com
Date: Thursday, January 4, 2007

Abercrombie!!! What the heck are you doing that makes it impossible to see your emails in the Yahoo! web browser on a Mac? This little snippet is all I see. This has been going on for weeks now, and despite the fact that I think your brand is a bad influence on today's youth, I appreciate your EDM production values and would actually like to see your campaigns in my inbox. So, I'm sure, would your customers. Get with it!
December 27, 2006 3:41 PM

Gorgeous Garmets

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Gorgeous Garmets for the Gloomy Months - In Stores Only
Date: Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Gorgeous garmets or not, Barney's can't spell! It happens to the best of us at one time or another, doesn't it? Thanks to eagle eye Megan Regard for catching that one!
November 16, 2006 11:32 AM

What do we think about Piperlime?

Posted by Lisa Harmon
For those of you that haven't heard the news, Gap Inc. has launched a new accessories brand: Piperlime. It is, in essence, a polished Zappo's: an online shoe shop featuring hundreds of brands other than Gap. I was initially surprised that Gap would become a middleman-merchant, but considering the fact that their own brands haven't been performing, while Zappos.com and other high-margin accessories retailers have been raking it in, I guess it makes sense. I wonder whether Piperlime has been in the works for long, or whether it was a quick, reactionary move?

So what about the Piperlime brand? Do fruit juice connections and conversational tones feel cute or stilted? Will the brand perform, or are we all already so jazzed with Zappos.com that we don't need a Zappos with lime? I'm extremely curious to see where things go with Piperlime, and would love to hear your thoughts.


From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Introducing our newest brand Piperlime and get $15 off.
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006

From: Piperlime
Subject Line: Welcome to Fresh Juice from Piperlime.
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006

From: Piperlime
Subject Line: Cute boots for kids and exciting new women's brands.
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2006


October 11, 2006 12:43 PM

Zero for Two

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Victoria's Secret
Subject Line: Choose a Free Gift with Sweater Purchase. Plus Free Shipping & Handling on U.S. ...
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Every time I receive an email from Victoria's Secret, it looks like this! I don't think I've ever received one I could view. This time, I went a step further, and clicked on the "If you are unable to see the images in this email, please click here" link. And...it didn't work! It went here. Zero for two! That's pretty bad, man.


June 12, 2006 7:22 AM

Smartest Sale

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: katespade.com
Subject Line: please visit our online sample sale - limited time only
Date: Monday, June 12, 2006

kate spade has a history of executing visually appealing sale messages - click to see examples from January and October - and this one is no exception. At this time of year, the sale offers are literally stacking up in our inboxes, so it's particularly important for both the campaign creative and subject line to pack a lot of punch in order to stand out from the crowd. Here, including the "limited time only" clause in the subject line was a smart way to inspire subcribers to open now or miss out.

kate spade was particularly crafty here in requiring folks to sign up to take advantage of this limited-time offer; providing a deep discount incentive is an excellent way to gather customer data.

Just one "whoops": the "SEND TO A FRIEND" menu item is misaligned in the Mac Safari web browser. Since this message will probably be forwarded along more than most, this is a rather unfortunate HTML flub.
May 16, 2006 6:43 AM

New and Improved? Whoops!

Posted by Lisa Harmon

From: The Land of Nod
Subject Line: Try the new and improved landofnod.com.
Date: Thursday, May 11, 2006

From: Neiman Marcus
Subject Line: MARC by Marc Jacobs: Shop fall & win a wardrobe
Date: Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Ouch! While I often see minor footer splits and menu misalignments, this week we've got some serious technical incompatibility coming from Land of Nod and Neiman Marcus.

While I applaud Neiman Marcus for attempting to push the envelope in email creative implementation, I'd advise everyone to wait on incorporating Flash into their email campaigns until email browsers can actually handle it. I'm glad Nieman included a "Have trouble viewing the email below? Click here!" link at the top of the message so I could see a hosted version of the Flash in a browser window (Everyone should be doing this regardless of whether or not you use Flash, by the way!), however, from my experience, only around 1% of folks click this link. Rather than trying to implement an email in Flash, I'd recommend doing a flat design and including a link within the creative to view an interative feature.

Land of Nod's glitch was particularly embarassing due to the context. The subject line invites us to "Try the new and improved landofnod.com.", but, because of an HTML coding error, all Mac users see is a blank white screen! Dang! Again, we are able to see the actual campaign if we click on the "View this email in a browser window." link, but for the 99% of folks who don't click that link, this is not only a lost chance to tout new features, but a particularly embarassing foobar.

Let's all make sure to test all of our email campaigns in multiple email programs, in Safari, IE, Netscape, Firefox, Camino and Opera browsers, and on Mac and PC platforms.
April 4, 2006 10:56 AM

About Face; Featuring Furniture

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Room & Board
Subject Line: Create the perfect outdoor space
Date: Tuesday, April 4, 2006

This is a clean, nice-looking email with one small problem: the HTML text at the bottom of the message isn't rendering properly, appearing as a special character mishmash. When we view the code source, we see the font face is set to "sans-serif". It's much safer to use Arial or Verdana, and I'd advise everyone to choose one of those two for consistent results.

On another topic, I've noticed a number of Outdoor Furniture EDMs over the course of the past two weeks featuring full-width hero shots like this one. (In this case, the phantom gal on the right strikes me as somewhat strange.) While I like the beauty of a large hero shot, when one sends out a message featuring something expensive like furniture, I'd recommend also showing a few other products at lower pricepoints. Despite the recent Wall Street Journal article noting that folks are feeling more comfortable purchasing expensive products online, there is still some hesitancy on the part of customers to drop hundreds of dollars on an EDM. Showing a few less expensive items gives the customer the option to pick up a "quick little something" instead, driving more revenue.
March 13, 2006 4:57 PM

A Tough Fit

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: If the pants fit, wear them.
Date: Monday, March 13, 2006

Pants are probably one of the most difficult items to purchase online, so we appreciate J.Crew's attempt to break their selection down by fit. Unfortunately, the pants depicted in the photography employed look almost identical to one another (particularly the "City" and "Favorite" fits), and J.Crew offers no advice as to which fit best flatters a particular body type. So while the intention here is good, the execution is not as strong as it could be.

Eagle Eye Note: There's an extra white pixel on the lower right-hand corner of this email, between the Original Fit image and copy. Blam!
February 20, 2006 7:38 AM

Bathing Boo Boo

Posted by Lisa Harmon


From: dELiA*s
Subject Line: Save $10! Swim Sale online only
Date: Saturday, February 18, 2006

From: gap.com
Subject Line: Find Your Perfect Swimsuit
Date: Monday, February 20, 2006

We've got yet another campaign "double" today - dELiA*s and gap.com sent out strikingly similar swimwear messages. Check out that photography! Those layouts! Kind of creepy.

The obvious opening comment is "ouch!" - gap.com's HTML broke in my email browser, thereby breaking the illusion of their overall message. This is the worst browser break I've seen in a long time. How embarassing!

If we can "see beyond the break", however, gap.com's execution is more successful because the message is deeper and more focused. It's all about the swimfinder and it's many uses; just by reading the links we start to think about finding our suit and are compelled to click through. In the case dELiA*s, even though we've got a sale and a free shipping offer, the triple-combo of sale, free ship and mix & match swimwear dilutes any one message and does not pull us into the process the same way gap.com does. Plus, after all, "buy 2, save $10!" isn't really that great of a deal.
February 17, 2006 9:35 AM

Shoe-In

Posted by Lisa Harmon


From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Our favorite espadrille has arrived
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2006

From: J.Crew
Subject Line: Editor's pick: the Fulham shoe
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2006

Both J.Crew and Banana Republic presented single-shoe-family messages yesterday, which makes for a great side-by-side comparison.

Banana Republic has been going a little overboard with multi-messages, submessages and "Free Shipping" promos lately, so it's refreshing to see them doing something simple; something closer to J.Crew's usual MO, actually. While the executions are somewhat different, these messages are comprised of remarkably similar components: a "collection" hero image, a basic romance copy block, and a direct call-to-action. So which wins my click-through? While I personally find espadrilles remarkably ugly, the Banana Republic message convinces us with smart copy that "If you only allow yourself one shoe this season, make it this espadrille," positioning it as a "must-have" rather than a nice-to-have "editor's pick" like the J.Crew Fulham shoe. So I guess we'd purchase the Fulham only if we were buying two pairs of shoes this season.

On an unrelated note: the espadrille hero image is several pixels thinner than the copy block above it and the menu bar below it, making an otherwise clean email look sloppy. Count those pixels, kids!
February 8, 2006 5:40 PM

The All-Important All-Enclosing Table

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: Burberry
Subject Line: Introducing the Burberry Spring 2006 Catalogue
Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Yikes! As you can see from my screenshot here, we've got a coding error in this EDM. The footer's been split from the main message and appears outside of the main email viewing pane. I've seen this happen with campaigns from Burberry, Saks, Land of Nod, Williams-Sonoma... the list goes on!

This error can be easily avoided by encasing ALL of your HTML body code in one big enclosing table. Additionally, stay away from the nowrap tag - it can produce a similar "splitting" effect, especially within the Hotmail email browser.
November 28, 2005 1:13 PM

The Ghost Gloves

Posted by Lisa Harmon
From: J. Crew
Subject Line: Free Shipping and Get Gifted
Date: Monday, November 28, 2005

Love this! But the red gloves are missing their shadow! Totally breaks the illusion.
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