< October 2006
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From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Gourmet chocolates ready to give
Date: Thursday, November 30, 2006
This is what I'd call a good old, honest, hard-working EDM. There are no crazy hooks, no flashing animations and no groundbreaking, medium-altering innovations. However, what this email does illustrate are several very basic, measured best practices, which, in combination, will match the performance of any gimmick. Crate & Barrel promotes conversion by:
1) Featuring relevant, giftable product.
2) Including "FREE SHIPPING" in red in the top nav.
3) Adding a link to their Holiday Delivery Schedule.
4) Submessaging a Gift Guide, Gift Cards and Free Shipping: three very trusty catch-alls for follks who aren't as interested in fondue.
5) Keeping the overal design clean, simple and digestable.
It's not rocket science, folks: it's good customer service. Make shopping easier for your subscribers by giving them real reasons to click through.
From: The Land of Nod
Subject Line: Free shipping on orders over $150!
Date: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
This is cute! I didn't know Rudolph could type. Maybe I could get my cats to write my emails, and just Cc: me.
Rudolph was sneaky, though: The Land of Nod is a home furnishings business promoting free shipping on everything but home furnishings. (See the asterisked disclaimer.) It's "just not right" to give us global free shipping and then take it away, even when it's couched in cute language. Bad Land of Nod!
I like both of these graphical designs from Banana Republic. Obviously, "Drop Your Pants" (on a Friday, no less) is an attention-getting graphic and subject line. (I assume the open-rate was their highest ever.) The post-Thanksgiving design is great just because of the unusual color combination: totally mashed potatoes and gravy. The cute little gravy boat icon is, well, "just gravy."
From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Drop Your Pants for charity, get 15% off...
Date: Friday, July 21, 2006
From: BananaRepublic.com
Subject Line: Starting tomorrow, get a $25 Shop Card online & in-store...
Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
From: CHEFS
Subject Line: New V-Pro Mandoline Speeds Holiday Cooking
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Here, CHEFS does a great job illustrating the many uses of the V-Pro Mandoline. The slice, dice and cut thumbnail shots provide nine great reasons to spend $169.99 on what would otherwise be (to me, anyway) a nondescript metal kitchen thing.
From: fredflare.com
Subject Line: fredflare.com's BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!!!!
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006
I have no idea what's going on here, but it's hillarious and awesome!
From: Ann Taylor
Subject Line: Style for Every Event, and a Special Online Offer
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2006
I like the use of the calendar element here. Ann's customer is an organized woman, and visually correlating event dates with outfits gets her into planning (and purchasing) mode for sure.
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
Racoon on a leash!? Lions and bunnies!? "Shut up and Shop!"? A colleague recently sent me a screenshot of the last page you see after making a barneys.com purchase. It read as follows: " Thank you for your order. You will receive an email confirmation shortly. Now go back to work!" And check out the Back Cover of their "Saga of Sylvia" catalog.
I applaud Barney's for their generous use of humor. The silly imagery, Hollywood commentary, and "casually elegant" handwritten font, which evokes a clever little dashed-off note, project an alluring "we've got it all/the devil may care!" attitude.
From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: What is a Man? Find out at Barneys.com
Date: Friday, September 22, 2006
From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Wedges, Platforms + Boots - Barneys New York
Date: Wednesday, October 18, 2006
From: Barneys New York
Subject Line: Let Your Accessories Speak for You - Barneys New York
Date: Thursday, November 9, 2006
Maybe it's just because they've got me personally figured out, but I find J.Crew's EDM copy absolutely convincing. Their sale messaging always conveys a sense of urgency, and even their September 26th Fall Collection message - which reminds customers to shop now before full-priced items sell out - drove me to click-through and purchase. Either they've got a great copywriting strategy, or I'm justa sucka. Maybe it's a bit of both. Whatever the case, this type of copy-reliant message has obviously been successful for them: they keep doing it, and I keep clicking...
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: New items added to our Final Sale
Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2006
From: jcrew@ click.jcrew.com
Subject Line: A little reminder from J.Crew
Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2006
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: An exclusive invite to a special sale
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2006
From: J.Crew
Subject Line: Run, don't walk...it's our fall sale
Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2006
From: katespade.com
Subject Line: kate's favorites: november
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2006
As most EDMs expand in width and height, Barney's New York and, more recently, kate spade, are producing smaller campaigns. While the larger messages may provide more opportunity for promotion, these smaller messages are generally more targeted, and feel positively cute and quaint!
I understand kate spade is currently on the auction block; Nieman Marcus is potentially selling the brand to Liz Claiborne. According to the Wall Street Journal, insiders are comparing kate spade's relatively modest growth with another "affordable luxury" accessories brand: Coach. What we also need to consider is that while Coach has expanded, they've also logo-overdosed, and lost their appeal with many previous customers, me included. It will be interesting to see what would happen to quaint little kate with Liz in charge...
From: American Apparel
Subject Line: American Apparel: Go Vote. Get 15% Off.
Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2006
American Apparel knows: kids shop, they don't vote. While I generally frown upon their Korine-ish kiddie porn aesthetic, I applaud American Apparel for leveraging kids' desire for a deal to promote the youth vote. Yay Democrats, by the way ;).
From: babygap.com
Subject Line: Exclusive Offer: Free Shipping Throughout The Holidays
Date: Tuesday, November 7, 2006
A bold offer and a nice design, I'd say. I'll be interested to see whether Gap uses this "tag" graphical treatment to indicate Free Shipping throughout the season. If so, then this message is also a nice introduction to a visual cue that will drive sales all season long.
From: Tretorn
Subject Line: Make a Splash with Tretorn Boots
Date: Wednesday, November 1, 2006
I honestly don't know how I got on Tretorn's list - I haven't seen a pair Tretorns since like the eighth grade! - but, being such an avid email and catalog subscriber, I get sold down the river constantly. Apart from that, I was happy to receive this EDM. Being a Swede myself, I do adore the clean, spare design. I also applaud their excellent English; often, foreign-based retailers' campaigns sound very "ESL".
Tretorn's got some pretty cute rubber boot styles this season, BTW.
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