< March 2006
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From: Pottery Barn
Subject Line: Fresh Basics for the Summer Bed
Date: Friday, April 28, 2006
This is a well-merchandized, well-laid out campaign. The number and quality of products shown appeal to a broad audience looking to stock up on basic bedding. Rather than clarifying this message, however, the copy confuses it. What is a "SUMMER BED"? And while the allusion to a "balanced breakfast" is cute, do we really "start every day" with bedding, or do we actually "end every day" with it?
Unless you've got a creative hook that makes really sense and adds to the overall message, it's best to stick with straightforward copy: a clear, direct message and call-to-action. In this case, I believe a general "stock up on our favorite basics, plus add personalization" direction would be more relevant, and would engage more shoppers.
From: katespade.com
Subject Line: new items on sale: 30-50% off
Date: Thursday, January 5, 2006
From: Apple
Subject Line: Great gift ideas to surprise your valentine.
Date: Friday, January 27, 2006
From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Introduce a new bold pop of color
Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2006
From: Janie and Jack
Subject Line: Our New Collections Capture an Adventurous Spirit
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Above, please find the nominees for the Best EDM of Q1 2006 Award Title! This is the first in a series of ongoing quarterly reviews meant to acknowledge and reward excellence in Email Marketing Creative Strategy, Design and Implementation.
Vote now through May 5, 2006. The Best EDM of Q1 2006 Award Winner will be announced on edm.smith-harmon.com, as well as via email, on May 8, 2006.
Cast your vote now >
Would you like to participate in the Q2 2006 Nomination Process? Please forward oustanding nominations to edm@smith-harmon.com. Please make sure to include the campaign From, Subject Line and Date fields, as well as the entire campaign creative. Preferred creative formats include a link to a hosted HTML file or a .jpg or .png screenshot attachment. Please list the reasons you consider the campaign worthy of consideration. Also, please indicate whether you would like your name posted online with your nomination.
From: Williams-Sonoma
Subject Line: Just for Mom: Williams-Sonoma’s Personalized Apron
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Here, Williams-Sonoma does a great job of engaging the customer in personalizing a unique gift "just for mom". While many online retailers tout personalization, Williams-Sonoma really enrolls us as active participants in the personalization process. By featuring personalization process screenshots, they inspire us to envision "Mom's Name" spelled out on the bright apron color of our choosing, mentally guiding us halfway through product purchase before we even click through the EDM. Brilliant.
On a general note, the colors in this design are lovely.
From: UrbanOutfitters.com
Subject Line: What's the shape of things?
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
From: FreePeople.com
Subject Line: Piece Together Your Look with Knit Dresses
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Here, sister brands Urban Outfitters and Free People follow the same DIY Paradigm. Capitalizing on the "I want to build my own individual style" sentiment so prevalent these days (We're all so individual in our individuality, aren't we?), these campaigns feature entire outfits and their separate components, inspiring shoppers to "build their own" unique ensembles. This is a convenient paradigm for both parties: shoppers curate their closets from a selection of mix and match styles; retailers rake it in on the many products necessary to achieve these "unique" layered looks.
Which execution is more successful? While the Free People line drawings might be artistically rewarding, I'd bet the more robust product selection shown in the Urban Outfitters message is more financially rewarding.
From: Old Navy
Subject Line: Summer in the City - Dresses for Baby Start at $16.50
Date: Monday, April 24, 2006
It's one thing to watch Sex and the City with your baby, but it's quite another to start modeling your infant on Carrie and Charlotte. What's next, baby stilettos? An apple martini in the bottle?
From: Burberry
Subject Line: Gifts for Her and complimentary shipping from Burberry.com
Date: Friday, April 21, 2006
Wow, she sure doesn't seem too pscyhed about her gift, does she? Maybe she's upset about receiving a wintercoat in the spring. Burberry has been using this model for almost every EDM I've received this season. Maybe she's getting tired.
From: Janie and Jack
Subject Line: Garden Fresh Layette Collections and Spring Sale
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2006
From:Anthropologie.com
Subject Line: white: relaxed, fresh, chic
Date: Wednesday, April 19, 2006
In these two campaigns, texture aesthetically pleases and augments product value.
Following their previous spring EDMs, Janie and Jack use a layering of graphical elements, echoing the texture and color of the featured product. Here, they add an additional element - a close-up product photograph - to further emphasize quality and craftmanship.
Anthropologie also employs the same type of graphical treatments they've used all spring, however, this is one of the few times it's effective. While previously the color blocks might have looked "cool," they were basically meaningless. Here, the washes of color and texture mirror product shape and fabric, adding to the "fresh, relaxed" message.
From: PUMA
Subject Line: Grow into something new
Date: Tuesday, April 18, 2006
On the web, the focus on design often eclipses the importance of copy. Here, we see what happens when copy is not treated with the respect it deserves. The subject line, subhead and call-to-action - all of it - sounds "off", doesn't it? Like it was written by someone with a limited understanding of the English language? "Click here to discover what is budding." Heh.
Because we need to be concise with our online copy, the few words that we do present become all the more critical. I highly recommend the book "Net Words: Creating High-Impact Online Copy" by Nick Usborne for online copywriters, creative directors and ecommerce managers - anyone directly or indirectly involved with internet copy. The book not only provides useful suggestions for writing effective copy for the web, but also shows us why copy for web is important so that we don't shortchange this critical piece of the whole.
From: Pottery Barn
Subject Line: The newest additions to our Chesapeake Collection are here.
Date: Monday, April 17, 2006
Here, Pottery Barn does a really nice job of addressing and engaging a specific audience: active shoppers. Building upon the introductory Outdoor Furniture message they sent on April 3, they speak directly to customers who already own a piece, offering new styles and colors. Showing the cushion swatches is particularly effective: it engages the customer in a design consideration, taking them one step closer to product purchase.
From: Janie and Jack
Subject Line: Fresh Casual Collections Deliver
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006
From: babygap.com
Subject Line: New Outfits for Sunny Days
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006
From: Gymboree
Subject Line: New Island Styles and Don't Forget Rise & Shine!
Date: Thursday, April 13, 2006
In contrast to the campaigns I discussed on April 11, all three of these messages include fun, subtle graphical treatments that don't obscure the product offerings.
Comparatively speaking, I love the refinement and simplicity of the Janie and Jack message. Gap and Gymboree offer up a few more options with three submessages each. Which is more effective: Gap's new vertical or Gymboree's more traditional horizontal submessage placement? I like the immediacy of seeing Gap's submessages directly to the right of the main message, no scrolling required, but do they add too much visual clutter, and do they almost feel like Google sidebar ads? Is this the start of an industry-wide no-scrolling-required submessage placement trend?
From: The Land of Nod
Subject Line: Save up to 80% in our Spring Cleaning Sale
Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2006
This campaign doesn't do anything "new" per se, but it's a great execution of your classic graphical text SALE message. And with 80% off, which I believe is the highest percent off I've ever seen in a sale EDM, you can bet the open and click-through rates will rock.
I'm fascinated by the use of the word "in" rather than "at" in the Subject Line, as in "Save up to 80% in our Spring Cleaning Sale." We would typically use "at" here, however since this is an online sale in a virtual location rather than a retail store sale at a physical location, it makes sense. Moving forward, I suppose we should expect to see more changes in prepositions and other parts of speech in order to better describe the burgeoning virtual world.
From: Gymboree
Subject Line: Special Offers for Spring, Starting at $9.50
Date: Thursday, April 6, 2006
From: Old Navy
Subject Line: New Naturals-Get the Season's Must-Have Hues for Baby
Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2006
These Old Navy and Gymboree designs are remarkably similar, and they share the same fault: the graphical treatments overwhelm the featured product. I know how much we all love adding special touches to our designs, and we're currently seeing a trend that allows for more of that, but we shouldn't let these special touches obscure the items we're promoting. In both of these campaigns, I believe the customer and the business would have been better served by toning down the graphics and increasing the real estate allocated to the product imagery.
From: Nike Women
Subject Line: Make a Splash with the Nike Swim Collection
Date: Monday, April 10, 2006
Who is this email addressing? It comes from "Nike Women", but the racy Sports Illustrated closeups were clearly photographed for men. And what is this email selling? I don't see any swimwear. I only see Maria Sharapova, who happens to be a tennis player, not a swimmer. The "playful polka dots" and "quick-drying fabric" referred to in the body copy aren't even visible in the blacked-out imagery.
This email is addressing no one about nothing. So much for women's athletics. Thanks Nike!
From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: New casual pants have arrived + spring sale continues...
Date: Tuesday, March 28 2006
This is the second time in a single month we've had to scold BananaRepublic.com for their production values. This time, the violation is not only sloppy, it's weird. Check floating out the Banana Twins on the right. Double your pants, double your fun.
On a separate note, all Gap Brands websites were down again this weekend. Saturday was one of the first times I'd attempted to visit BananaRepublic.com since experiencing the aggravation of it's initial noncompliance with Safari web browser. On Saturday the site was not working at all, and on Sunday, while the homepage and category pages seemed to work, the product pages themselves were not functioning properly. I guess this is just another issue factoring into Gap's disappointing sales results. And yes, now you know I spent the whole weekend in front of the computer. Oy.
From: Modernseed
Subject Line: Capture Your Mini!
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2006
Modernseed is the self-proclaimed "starting point in a lifestyle rich in design knowledge and well-conceived, functional products." While Modernseed does offer a wide selection of smart, stylish product, their "fresh scoop!" newsletter offers too much: too many words and too many images. While the messages (Product Test Contest, Gitta Bags, Doodles Coloring Book and Gift Registry) may be compelling, they get lost in tiny type and thumbnail imagery. This type of format might work for a print newsletter, but for an EDM, which needs to capture a busy customer's attention in 8 seconds or less, we have to feature one or two messages very clearly using large images, a few well-chosen words, and a strong call-to-action: "Click here to shop now!" While at first a simpler presentation may seem inferior or watered-down, we have to create messages appropriate to the medium, and in the rapid-fire email environment, a brief, clear campaign better serves both the customer and the merchant.
Now for the technical piece. This EDM is implemented as a single, flat graphic. Links are constructed using image maps. In the complex world of Email Browser Compatability, this is a no-no for two reasons:
1) Image maps are stripped by several email programs, meaning that here, since they were constructed using image maps, the blue text that looks like links will not be clickable for some users. In order for links to work properly in every email program, it is necessary to cut up a message into separate graphics and tag each linkable piece with it's own "href" (or, obviously, and in this case more appropriately, to use HTML text.)
2) More and more email browsers are hiding graphics by default. A customer has to click a "show images" option on a campaign-by-campaign basis in order to view a message with graphics. This includes Microsoft Outlook. One way we can entice customers to elect to "show images" is to use as many interesting "alt" tags as possible. "Alt" tag text appears in place of graphics when they are stripped. We can attach a different "alt" tag to every graphic within a single message. The more separate graphic pieces we have, the more "alt" tag text we can show in a customer's browser window, and the more chances we have to interest them enough to opt to "show images."
In short, I'm a Modernseed fan, and they would gain more fans (and more dollars) via Email Direct Marketing using simpler creative and more sophisticated technical executions.
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: Thursday only: 20% off sale
Date: Thursday, March 30, 2006
From: Ann Taylor
Subject Line: Up to 50% Off, plus Special Online Offer
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2006
What's the difference between creative influence and downright plagiarism? Do you think Ann Taylor's sale message relies too heavily on the treatments used by J.Crew all season? Or is this just a strange coincidence?
While we may think of EDMs as drops-in-the pan, barely noticed and quickly forgotten, I'll have you know, EDM designers, that someone is watching you...
From: holdeverything
Subject Line: everything's on sale: up to 50% off
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2006
I designed this EDM, and therefore may be somewhat biased in my opinion, however, I believe this is an unusually well turned-out sale message. So often the meeting place of big red words and mismatched product photography, the image-based sale EDM can be (and usually is) a real "garage sale" disaster. In this case, the use of balanced imagery, consistent color, and subtle pattern bring a level of refinement to an oft-crass genre. A question: to the customer, does a crass red message mean greater savings, and therefore increased sales?
From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Think Modern New Pinks
Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2006
From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: A New Wave of Watercolors
Date: Tuesday, April 4, 2006
From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Greens that Wow
Date: Monday, April 10, 2006
Following up on my March 21st entry, I absolutely adore this series of designs. And it looks like, as per my recommendation, Crate and Barrel has added a call-to-action! Now we have beauty and practicality. Hooray for aesthetic advancement in Email Direct Marketing!
From: Athleta.com
Subject Line: Surf's Up and so is Athleta's New Summer Lineup
Date: Tuesday, April 4, 2006
While I find Athleta's consistent use of full-width outdoor photography appropriate to their product, the images are consistently undersaturated and dull, begging for whiter whites and brighter colors. Notice how the surf in this shot is a dull grey? It's depressing. Now imagine it a crystal blue. This is a happier picture: infinitely more effective. It's all about the PhotoShop Hue/Saturation, baby.
Additionally, I'm curious about the use of capitalization in the main body text. We should be grammatically incorrect only when it benefits the overall aesthetic or meaning of the message. I don't think miscapitalization improves this campaign in any way.
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.
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