From: Lord_&_Taylor@LordAndTaylor.com
Subject Line: It's Time To Get Dad A Great Gift
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2006

I am all for the strategic use of submessagery, but I have my doubts about the efficacy of an email campaign made up entirely of submessages. Here, it looks like Lord & Taylor just took a bunch of banner ads and stacked them on top of each other. Without a clear main message, customers don't know where to focus, and as a result they don't focus anywhere. The lack of a clear call-to-action - there are no underlines, carrots, or any other indications of clickability - only adds to the confusion.

Finally, I highly recommend including a prominent logo and a consistent set of navigation items at the top of every email campaign. The logo identifies the brand, while the navigation items (such as "shop", "gifts" and "sale") offer customers several constant clear points of entry to the website.