August`s Mid-Month Email Menagerie

Transcription

Mid-Month Email Menagerie
August 2012
Prepared by:
Jim Davidson
Manager of Marketing Research
@JimSaidIt
Bronto Software
324 Blackwell Street
Suite 410
Durham, NC 27701
Contents
What is the Mid-Month Email Menagerie? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Behold the Fold .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Promotions, Processes and Peeves ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Composition Exhibition ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Animation Station .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21
What is the Mid-Month Email Menagerie?
I open over 4,000 emails each month. I also click in each one of them. Open…Scan…Click…Repeat…
This carpal-tunnel inducing activity results in the data I use for various reports including my monthly Email Marketing Trend reports. While I can never get enough data, I realized I
view and interact with a lot of friggin’ emails every month, so perhaps I should write something about them. In the slurry of “Free Shipping,” “20% Off,” “Last Day,” and “Hours Left!!!”
it takes a lot to earn my double-take and get labeled for this report.
The purpose of this menagerie, a collection of clever, curious or catastrophic emails from the past 30 days, is to serve as a reference of the best emails in the industry and those that
could be improved. Read about new tactics that you should test in your own programs and others that you should avoid.
Behold the Fold: Eye-catching use of the above the fold area of an email
Promotions, Processes, and Peeves: Interesting promotions, various subscriber experiences, and personal annoyances
Composition Exhibition: Designs that standout not always for the right reasons
Animation Station: Various uses of animated gifs in emails
Compliments and critiques represent my opinion only.
Mid-Month Menageries Archives:
July 2012
Confidential. Do not distribute.
Page 3 of 27
Behold the Fold
Feet seem to love the fold. While not as in your face as the ShopNBC email from last month, there were a couple emails that kicked through the fold.
I have to say that the inverted human does catch my attention as I’m going through the daily soup of my inbox. Lord&Taylor’s
yoga pose for Under Armour definitely earned my scroll.
Athleta one-upped Lord&Taylor’s yoga skills for their SemiAnnual sale. The image is completely confusing without
scrolling and investigating further. Funny enough, they are
promoting their “Second Glance Tank” in the shot. Is that pose
really humanly possible?!?
Page 4 of 27
Featuring an attention grabbing image above the fold can definitely make the opener want to explore more of the email. The fold in this Sharper Image hid the actual product but did
reveal a face down model. Did she pass out? Face-plant into the sand? The image is confusing without scrolling to see that she is relaxing in the apparently comfortable Beach
Ergo Lounger.
Each month there seems to be someone falling off a rock to get me to scroll. This month, Sierra Trading Post got openers to hang on a bit longer by featuring a dangling rock
climber and not revealing the details of the offer until the opener scrolls. Hopefully there’s a Sharper Image Beach Ergo Lounger waiting for this climber if he ever makes it down to
shore.
Page 5 of 27
The fold can be scandalous too and the past month is no exception. Victoria’s Secret used the old “is she or
isn’t she” partially covered model trick by only revealing part of the model above the fold. Oh those lingerie
companies seem to love playing with the fold.
MAC Cosmetics featured a super close-up photo to promote their Creme Sheen Pearl lipstick. The unusual
zoom is not only a great way to show the results of the product but also capture a subscriber’s attention. It
does appear though that the lips just might be stuck together. Either way, the disorientation of the zoom
made me take pause to figure out what was being promoted.
Page 6 of 27
A message from the Executive Chairman of Bare Escentuals teased “The F-Word” above the fold area to lead
the opener into a message about the benefits of “f”oundation. Playing off of swear words can provide a break
from your standard messaging but proceed with caution. Some subscriber may be offended and unsubscribe. In
this email the copy is part of an image. Having these words repeated as text could lead to filtering or blocking by
Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Page 7 of 27
Closing out this month’s “Behold the Fold” are examples of being very direct with your subscribers and missing the mark.
The vest that TravelSmith is promoting lives completely below the fold. So, what can you do when your content just doesn’t
work above the fold? Tell the subscriber to scroll rather than assume they will do so on their own! TravelSmith takes that
direct approach by telling the opener to “scroll down to read one customer’s review of this ‘Super Vest.””
The above the fold area of this JCPenney email was nearly empty. 3 product category links were viewable but everything
else about the promotion required the opener to scroll with no real reason to do so. While you don’t need to include every
detail above the fold, make sure you have enough to engage your customer and make them want to click or scroll to explore
your email.
Page 8 of 27
Promotions, Processes and Peeves
Marketers seem to start promoting the holidays earlier each year. While “Christmas in July” promotions are common, they aren’t actually holiday themed… and to be honest, most
of the emails are kinda boring.
th
th
GradinRoad started promoting Halloween in this July 7 email though the first promotional mention of Halloween was this June 25 Disney email. Yup, Halloween products are
being promoted in June. I wonder if we will have a Memorial Day / Halloween crossover sale next year?!?
Page 9 of 27
Some brands are starting to warm up to the actual holidays… not the “Christmas in July” snoozefest. While it may be a bit early to go after the early bird shoppers, this is a great
time to engage subscribers and acquire new ones.
Michaels promoted their holiday planning app and “Ultimate Joy Package” giveaway. Building your mobile subscriber lists now will provide additional messaging opportunities
(outside of email) during the holiday season.
Gymboree’s “Design-a-Bag” contest let subscriber vote on the bags that will be used during the holidays. Creating this personal connection with the brand can drive engagement
and help keep your brand top-of-mind during the holidays.
(Click to view animation.)
Page 10 of 27
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Ross Simons promoted their holiday ornaments in this August 7 email. These non-gifting holidaythemed promotions can be a great way to start your holiday messaging early without relying on the
standard holiday gifting promotions or free shipping offers.
Page 11 of 27
Look at the promotion codes featured in these three emails. They pretty much look the same, right? There is, however, one major difference that can enhance user experience for
subscribers.
Banana Republic and Macy’s both featured promotion codes that were text. The subscriber could copy the code within the email and paste it during checkout. There seemed to be
more brands taking this approach in the past month. This can be especially effective if your promotional codes are long or difficult to remember.
If you want to try text promotional codes in your emails, remove links from the immediately surrounding area. This will prevent subscribers from being taken out of the email by
another link when they are simply trying to grab the promotional code.
This Cabela’s email used a promotional code that was embedded within an image requiring subscribers to remember the code and manually type it in during checkout.
Page 12 of 27
I’ve read a lot about the ever-changing strategies that jcpenney has launched. (I do like the new
logo.) I’m not sure how many consumers are really aware of the changes but perhaps they have
resulted in a confusing shopping experience.
This email from jcpenney’s CEO addresses those changes and asks customers for feedback. The
copy could have been more succinct in my opinion with a clearer call-to-action but it is unusual to
see a brand of this size appeal to customers on the individual level.
The email clicked through to a simple feedback form. I’m curious to see how they may feature
these customer comments in the future.
(Note: borders were added to distinguish the email content.)
Page 13 of 27
A few random, cutesy holidays pop up each month. Tying a promotion to a fun, minor holiday could resonate with your customers. Looking at this list of September holidays, it’s
easy to imagine several promotions like a mystery discount on Fortune Cookie Day or a business clothing sale on Business Women’s Day.
This month, philosophy and The Limited keyed in on Friendship Day promotions.
philosophy offered additional products that could be shared with friends while The
Limited tied their promotion with a Facebook call to action.
Page 14 of 27
Traditional cataloggers are always searching for methods of tying print to online channels. This Frontgate
email offers $25 to subscribers for being the “Art Director for a Day” and helping to choose the cover of
their upcoming catalog. This kind of strategy will drive email engagement and also build anticipation for
the printed piece. (I voted for the purple background.)
Page 15 of 27
Composition Exhibition
This Bedford Fair email cracks me up! It is the largest, most direct “Click Here,” errrrrr, “CLICK HERE” call
to action I have ever seen. This direct approach could work, but does the email really provide enough
information to increase subscriber curiosity and result in a click? The subject line did tout Free Shipping but
the incentive is not echoed in the body of the email. Also, those brown specks in the letters kind of make
the email appear muddy. Still, way to go Bedford Fair. I like this one!
Club Monaco gave subscribers their “August To-Dos” in this email. Perhaps I’m just in a “get organized” phase,
but I thought the paper background and checked off tasks was a fun approach to featuring their fall line. This is
also a nice balance of speaking to the current season and promoting the new season’s collection.
Page 16 of 27
Misleading subscribers or including calls to action that may be confusing frustrate me. This
alabris email includes what appears to be an advanced search form above the fold. In reality, the
entire search box is an image that takes the subscriber out of their inbox and onto alabris’ site. A
subscriber expects to enter text or select a product category to search and that’s not what
happens. This approach could lead subscribers to not trust links within an email or believe the
email is spam or a phishing attempt.
Page 17 of 27
Structuring content in numbered lists or using simple equations like 2+2=4 can help subscribers easily digest a lot of
information. They can also confuse the heck out of an opener. Here are two examples that could confuse or overwhelm
subscribers.
This Coldwater Creek email 7 featuring fall must-haves has a fine composition overall. It is odd that the above the fold
area reads 2, 1 from left to right. The other numbers don’t follow any logical order. 7 is the next number shown with 3
and 4 living in the bottom right corner. Typically there is some flowing path for the eye to follow, but this email is dizzying.
I wasn’t sure where to begin or move to next.
Gymboree’s back to school email highlights the wide range of products that are on sale for young students. The “add up
the savings” theme becomes overwhelming when the this+that=number of outfits is overlaid with price points. Using
equations like this typically illustrate how simple the savings are. This email misses that mark. Some items have price
points, others don’t. A pair of shoes merges each of the sets that are being added muddying the visual break between the
products.
Page 18 of 27
Warning: Deep Statement Ahead… This email is pretty. I really like it. Instead of showing a diverse and colorful product line, Pottery
Barn includes a ton of colorful swatches and lets the subscriber take control of the design process. This is an excellent way to highlight
all of your product options while not overwhelming the subscriber.
“Click Here” calls to action and enlarged price points are so standard they
can easily be ignored. (Unless you take the Bedford Fair approach seen a
few pages back.) Urban Outfitters ditched both and let their products do
the talking. Word clouds gave products a personality and the range of
products displayed could help drive clicks for a wide range of shoppers.
Don’t you want to buy the curtain that “will hang with you?”
Page 19 of 27
Closing out this month’s Composition Exhibition are two head scratchers. Neiman Marcus sends a lot of email. The “midday dash” promotions are frequently used. By now, I’ve
grown to expect the creative that is used to promote the flash sale, but this email was a bit of an oopsie! Double headers and footers were included as well as what looks like a
reporting summary. Folks, as a reminder, always test! No apology email or correction was received.
ShopNBC gets two head scratches for this email. “The world’s most wanted tablet” looks more like a black and white e-reader rather than the dynamic, Angry Birds capable retina
display iPad. A closer look reveals that the book being displayed is “Alice in Wonderland” and every reference of the word “Alice” is highlighted. Hmmmm…
Page 20 of 27
Animation Station
Animating an entire email is becoming more common. There are only 256 colors that can be used in animated gifs so it’s extremely important to realize that a broad range of
contrasting colors and products will look rough. Limiting images to a smaller range of colors or using a monochromatic palette will help improve the quality of images like this
example from American Apparel.
(Click to view animation: 1 2)
American Apparel used animation to demonstrate their Thermochromotic Tanks. (I still think of
them as Hypercolor shirts.) Using animation to demonstrate how a product is used can help to drive
engagement and conversions especially if the product is something unusual like these colorchanging shirts.
Page 21 of 27
I encourage everyone to try animation in emails. MAC really went for it this past month with these animated emails showing three products each. The problem is that the animation
is way too fast for the opener to read. The overall composition of the email is fine and the intention of shifting between the product and the call to action can be an effective use of
animation but make sure your subscribers are able to understand what is going on and able to read all of the copy.
(Click to view animation: 1 2 3)
Page 22 of 27
Animation is frequently used to show scrolling screens on mobile devices. Animation can really show the benefits of downloading an app or visiting a mobile site. This Boden email,
however, falls prey to the limited color palette available to animated gifs. The iPad animation (shown full size on right) is extremely pixelated and doesn’t truly represent the user
experience on the iPad. Also, one of the frames was for a £1000 giveaway. Fewer frames or frames with more overlapping color palettes would have resulted in a higher quality
image.
Page 23 of 27
Last month, we saw the boy band One Direction sliced and animated. Slicing animated sections of
an email can help decrease file size and balance that limited color palette. Keep in mind that even a
slight variation in the timing of frames can result in the animation going out of synch. Even if
transition times are identical, the image rotation begins as soon as the image is downloaded. This
means file size would need to be identical as well. This Rockport email contains two animated
images that should loop in synch but eventually fall out of pattern.
(Click to view animation: Left Right)
Subtle animation can also be effective. This Stein Mart email contains a small animated image of a page turning catalog. If you are
interested in using animation, don’t feel that you must do something groundbreaking or over the top. A simple animation can make an
email more dynamic without making the subscriber dizzy like UncommonGoods email that we saw last month.
Page 24 of 27
(Click to view animation: 1 2 3 4 5)
On the other hand, subtle animations can occupy the entire email and still not overwhelm the opener. Every section of this
UncommonGoods email is animated though the result is almost whimsical rather than obnoxious. The sweater waves, the wine glasses
turn, and Texas and California get their groove on. Excellent execution of a lot of animation without inducing a migraine.
Page 25 of 27
These two examples aren’t overly compelling but they are fun and that is one element that animation brings to email creative. The magic wand in the OshKosh example taps the
main content area resulting in the copy changing to “Hurry before it disappears.” Animation can be used to tell a story and this cue card shift is a great way to remind shoppers that
the offer is only available for a limited time.
FredFlare’s ballerina clock is whacky. The ballerina’s legs are quickly spinning around as soon as the email is opened. While this fits with their brand, be careful about going over
the top with your animations.
Page 26 of 27
This month we saw animation tell a story, demonstrate product usage, and add whimsical charm to email designs. The final email
takes an entirely different approach… 3D! I’ve seen these shifting animated gifs on a few blogs but this not much in emails. Bronto
client NastyGal includes three of these demontion bending shots in this email. A few simple frames add depth to the image and
bring the user into the shot. While the promotional messaging is taking more of a back seat, these animations are truly stunning.
(Click to view animation: 1 2 3)
Page 27 of 27

August`s Mid-Month Email Menagerie

Transcription

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