From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Barneys Loves - Goyard
Date: Monday, May 1, 2006

From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Barneys Loves - Frederic Malle
Date: Friday, May 5, 2006

This week, Barneys kicked off what appears to be a suite of email campaigns that are basically screenshots of their website category pages. (You can see the Goyard landing page here, and the Frederic Malle page here.) I'm sure Barneys is excited about their recently re-launched website, but EDMs should draw traffic to category page designs, not regurgitate them verbatim.

Word of advice: if you don't have a relevant message to deliver, and/or you don't have the time to execute a proper email design to convey that message, just be silent. While they may drive some traffic in the short term, a series of weak campaigns will result in bored subscribers, and thereby decreased open rates in the long run. If you want customers to open your email campaigns, click through, then invest a few thousand dollars in a handbag, invest in your customers by crafting elegant, efficient EDMs.