Email Marketing RulesBuy, Buy, Bye: The Perils of Overly Salesy Emails
Posted on May 11, 2015
Email marketing excels at driving sales. That’s in large part due to consumers’ overwhelmingly preference to receive deals, discounts, and other promotions via email rather than through other channels. However, there are very real dangers to being overly promotional with your email messaging mix.
In this column for Internet Retailer, I discuss what’s driving these risks up and what the consequences are. I also talk about the following soft-sell tactics and share real-world examples of each:
- Education. For many products, consumers don’t know they need it until they’re educated about the product or about the circumstances that drive its need.
- How-To. Similar to education, how-to advice is rather critical for suppliers of raw materials, like home improvement stores and art supplies stores.
- News & Information. News and other updates can keep subscribers engaged with the product category that’s key to your business.
- Social Interactions. Part of what becomes grating about promotional emails is that it’s always the brand talking at the subscriber. By leveraging social interactions, you can bring the voice of your customers into your messaging.
- Cause Marketing & Branding Building. What does your company care about besides selling things?
>> Read the entire article on InternetRetailer.com
The Last Word on April 2015
Posted on May 4, 2015
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets and examples you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
Email Marketers Are Failing to Engage New Subscribers (Direct Marketing News)
Use Email To Overcome The Customer ‘Experience Void’ (MediaPost)
On the dubious merits of email verification services (Spamhaus)
The Ultimate Guide to Preview Text Support (Litmus)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@emailskinny: .@Intuit @TurboTax playing fast & loose with CAN SPAM prohibition of misleading subject lines. #FAIL http://t.co/d4wNJmabN4
@stylecampaign: Gmail doing a number on Hillary’s welcome… pic.twitter.com/4Xxkyh9YKK
@SalesforceDeliv: Which ISPs have FBLs, postmaster pages, etc? @wise_laura covers that here: sforce.co/1cvOEhS ^Al
@wise_laura: .@hajududat @litmusapp Using any public URL shortener in an email means trusting your delivery reputation to a 3rd party you don’t control
@jvanrijn: Can’t sleep because of something that is too awesome? #Awesomnia.
Noteworthy subject lines
Vera Bradley, 4/29 — Pick a Straw, any Straw…
Blue Nile, 4/22 — Power Couple: Your Love. Our Rings.
Godiva Chocolatier, 4/22 — Redeem Your Rewards Before They Expire!
Horchow, 4/13 — Annie Selke redefines luxury & shares her faves on Pinterest
NFLshop, 4/30 — With the 32nd pick, the New England Patriots select Malcolm Brown!
NFL, 4/22 — Don’t Miss the 2015 NFL Draft. Set Reminders Now!
NFLshop, 4/22 — Patriots 2015 Schedule RELEASED + All Orders over $50 Ship Free!
Golfsmith, 4/13 — Celebrate Jordan Spieth’s Win with 15% Off!
Barneys New York, 4/29 — Mum’s the Word: Shop the Chicest Mother’s Day Gifts
Zulily, 4/22 — Give Earth a hug with Seventh Generation, Burt’s Bees Baby, Green Toys and more!
Lands’ End, 4/22 — Join us in recognizing Earth’s big day
Threadless, 4/22 — Buy a tee, we’ll plant a tree
Banana Republic, 4/13 — Hate taxes? Open this ASAP.
Overstock, 4/1 — Are You the Victim of an April Fools’ Prank?
Zulily, 4/1 — Last-minute 30-second prank inside
ModCloth, 4/1 — In the pursuit of cute, we’re changing our name to “ModSloth.”
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
#Webinar: Join Me for “Designed for Success” at CloudIQ Summit on 5/28
How Emails Are Evolving into Mailable Microsites
I’ve Joined Litmus as Research Director
How Would An Email Tax Change Email Marketing?
Build Smarter Emails with These 5 Blueprints
#Webinar: Join Me for “Designed for Success” at CloudIQ Summit on 5/28
Posted on April 30, 2015
Once your cart abandonment email program is up and running, it can be easy to ‘set it and forget it,’ letting optimization strategy fall by the wayside. But email is truly one-of-a-kind, requiring unique technical, design and maintenance considerations to keep conversion and performance high.
In our CloudIQ Summit session, “Designed for Success: Optimizing the Email Experience,” Litmus Marketing Director Justine Jordan and I will discuss…
- Best practices and principles for mobile email
- How to optimise the six stages of the inbox experience
- Tips and trends for incorporating timely, seasonal messaging in your emails
…all with an eye toward cart abandonment emails, which are among the most effective emails ecommerce brands can send.
“Designed for Success: Optimizing the Email Experience”
May 28, 2015 at 10am EST (3:00pm BST)
>> Register for this free webinar
How Emails Are Evolving into Mailable Microsites
Posted on April 29, 2015
“The emails of the future will be much more like sending subscribers a microsite than a static message,” I say at the end of my book, Email Marketing Rules. Watching videos, browsing product assortments, and even making product purchases will also be possible without leaving the inbox.
When the book was published last fall, there were some definite signs of email heading in the direction of becoming mailable microsites. But in recent months, developments have accelerated. These changes will have a serious impact on how emails are designed and how email success is measured. Let’s start by looking at the new email functionality, including…
- Product & Content Browsing
- Navigation
- Video
- Live Content
- Payments
…and then we’ll discuss the effects of these changes.
>> Read the entire post on the Convince & Convert blog
I’ve Joined Litmus as Research Director
Posted on April 27, 2015
I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined Litmus as their Research Director. I’ll be heading up new research initiatives and creating content that inspires email marketers to be more creative, empowers them to make better decisions, and helps them understand new developments in the industry.
As a part of the stellar research and education team that already includes Justine Jordan, Jason Rodriguez, Lauren Smith, and Kevin Mandeville, I’ll be…
- Performing original research about email marketing tactics and trends—including looking at mobile email trends, cart abandonment emails, and email virality in the upcoming weeks
- Speaking at The Email Design Conference (TEDC) August 26–28 in Boston and September 28–29 in London (both of which will likely sell out well ahead of time)
- Sharing the latest email marketing trends and best practices on the Litmus Blog
- Collaborating with our ESP and agency partners on new research and great content
If you’re unfamiliar with Litmus and their email creation, preview, troubleshooting, and analytics tools, I humbly suggest you check them out. We’ve got exciting things planned, so stay tuned!
How Would An Email Tax Change Email Marketing?
Posted on April 21, 2015
On April Fools’ Day, Forbes ran a story about how Congress was considering a tax on email by amending the Internet Tax Freedom Act the next time it comes up for renewal. It was a great gag, and while I think there’s zero chance of any kind of email tax coming into being, it’s interesting to think about how the email marketing industry would change if some kind of tax were levied.
- How would a tax on email be implemented?
- How would an email tax affect deliverability?
- Would spam be eraticated by a tax on email?
- How would our management of inactive subscribers be affected by an email tax?
>> Read the entire column on MediaPost.com
Build Smarter Emails with These 5 Blueprints
Posted on April 10, 2015
Transforming your emails can be a daunting task. Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start, and sometimes the gap between where you are and where you want to be just seems too large to leap.
In 5 Blueprints for Building Smarter Emails, we discuss how to make impactful, incremental improvements to several common types of emails:
- Welcome Emails
- Promotional Emails
- Event Registration Emails
- Transactional Emails
- Cart Abandonment Emails
In each case, we talk about high-return changes you can make, and illustrate how to turn these opportunities into action with an industry-specific example.
>> Download the free guide
I also spoke about this framework for incrementally improving emails at the Salesforce World Tour in Boston yesterday. Whereas the report looks at improving certain types of emails, my presentation focused on different design, personalization, and journey tactics that would be used to improve emails.
Together, the report and the presentation give you two different approaches to gradually making your emails smarter. Here’s the slide deck for that presentation:
See You at the Salesforce World Tour in Boston, Apr. 9
Posted on April 6, 2015
Tired of “one size fits all” messaging, subscribers are raising the bar on relevance. They want brands to prove they’re paying attention by delivering the right content at the right time. In short, they expect smarter emails.
The good news is that marketers have the tools they need to rise to this challenge. In my session, “Blueprints for Smarter Emails,” at the Salesforce World Tour in Boston on Apr. 9, I’ll be presenting a framework for gradually turning up the IQ of your emails in several manageable steps. We’ll look at improving:
- The Design of emails and landing pages, including defensive design and responsive design
- The Content & Context provided by emails, including seasonality and social proof
- The Personalization of email, including dynamic content and predictive intelligence
- The Journeys that are guided by your emails, including the timing, length, and content of these journeys
As we explore all the different point improvements that you can make, we’ll be looking at the latest research and inspiring real-world examples from our award-winning Email Swipe File to bring the opportunities into focus. When this session ends, you’ll have all the tools you need to create an email improvement plan for the next 6 months.
I hope to see you in Boston this Thursday.
>> Register to attend the Salesforce World Tour
April Fools’ Day Emails: Wise or Foolish?
Posted on April 2, 2015
Retailers are pros at leveraging seasonal hooks to promote products and sales. But April Fools’ Day is one of those holidays where retailers should tread carefully—or that they should just avoid altogether as most do.
Nowadays, if a retailer mentions April Fools’ Day it’s to half pun/half reassure subscribers that their email is “No Joke.” That’s because finding the right gag that does no harm and is on-brand for your company is tough.
This year, ThinkGeek showed us how to do an April Fools’ Day email right, and West Elm provided us with a cautionary tale. I spoke about this and more with Internet Retailer’s Matt Lindner.
>> Read the story on InternetRetailer.com
The Last Word on March 2015
Posted on April 1, 2015
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets, and examples you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
Why email marketing is still in style — and thriving (Venture Beat)
Symbolically Sinking – 10 Findings on Symbols in Subject Lines (Return Path)
Deliverability and engagement (Word to the Wise)
Context Changes Everything (StrongView)
Google Working on Project to Let You Receive and Pay Bills Directly Inside Gmail (Re/code)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@mparkerbyrd: Email peeps … Seen anything like this before? https://t.co/06EZceAfd4
@jeremywaite: “Content is King. Relevance is King Kong” <– Comment of the day #genius
@ddayman: More of us need these award ribbons. “I Survived Another Meeting That Should Have Been An Email” http://t.co/VsBjoj49Wm #emailhumour
@ExperianMkt: There’s no magic # for how many segments to target – but the “unmagic” # is 1. The more relevant you can get, the better! #customerlifecycle
Great additions to the Swipe File pinboards
Lego uses innovative “email carousel” to bring interactivity to email >> View the pin
BabyGap email uses easy-to-follow blue and pink color coding >> View the pin
The DNC uses a triptych of animated gifs in this mobile-friendly email >> View the pin
West Elm’s 3-email cart abandonment series uses predictive intelligence >> View the pin
Noteworthy subject lines
J.Crew, 3/23 — Thaw out your closet! You’ve got 2 days to shop 30% off warmer-weather styles.
Hayneedle, 3/9 — Serve up Easter brunch outdoors!
Babies “R” Us, 3/11 — Need Ideas For Baby’s Easter Basket? Start Here!
Sephora, 3/25 — Confused by contouring? Start here
Clinique, 3/17 — Trending: Green & gold for eyes + 2 FREE minis.
J.Crew, 3/8 — #nowtrending on Instagram & Pinterest (plus, our sale ends today)
Under Armour, 3/17 — March Is Here. Gear Up Before Tip-Off
eBags, 3/8 — Daylight isn’t your only savings this weekend…
Gap, 3/8 — what goes with daylight savings? savings.
Victoria’s Secret, 3/8 — Lose an hour. Gain a Bonus Secret Reward.
Lands’ End, 3/6 — Gabi’s top 3 trends for the beach + 20% off swim
Lands’ End, 3/13 — See what real women are saying about our swimwear
Clinique, 3/6 — Know a bride? Show her this + FREE bag & minis.
Anthropologie, 3/11 — We’re putting our LBDs on pause.
Anthropologie, 3/18 — That party? These dresses.
Threadless, 3/5 — Tinder – not the only way to score.
American Apparel, 3/5 — Meet the Women Making It Happen
babyGap, 3/5 — new new new new new new
MoMA Store, 3/21 — Kick It Up Another Notch: Meet the Amish Scooters
The Container Store, 3/5 — Why is confetti flying?
P&G everyday, 3/30 — Smell that?
Subway, 3/24 — Your inbox is full (of flavor)
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Is Email Marketing Cheap or Does It Have a High ROI?
On the Horizon: Subject Line Designers?
6 Retail Email Marketing Priorities for 2015
Email Carousels: Another Step toward Email’s Rich Content Future
Welcome! Email Marketing Rules is your guide to understanding the best practices of this complex, often misunderstood channel as you craft the best executions for your brand. Every week, we’ll explore strategies and tactics, discuss tips and inspiration, and dig into industry news and trends.
Chad S. White
Head of Research
Oracle Digital Experience Agency
Author of Email Marketing Rules and nearly 4,000 articles about digital and email marketing
