Email Marketing RulesDecember Review & January Preview for the 2014 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar
Posted on January 8, 2015
Every month through January, we’ll be reviewing our predictions from the 2014 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar for the previous month and discussing what to expect this month in terms of holiday messaging trends.
For December, we predicted that major retailers would send their active subscribers 28 promotional emails. That prediction turned out to be just a smidge high, as our panel of more than 100 major retailers sent their subscribers 27.4 promotional emails on average last month.
In January, we’re expecting retailers to send their active subscribers around 19 promotional emails each. Holiday messaging falls off quickly in January, with a few of the common themes being holiday storage, gift card redemption, accessory buying for popular gifts, and Christmas clearance.
>> Read the entire post on the Salesforce Blog
The Last Word on December 2014
Posted on January 2, 2015
A roundup of email marketing articles, posts, tweets and examples you might have missed last month…
Must-read articles, posts & whitepapers
Study Sheds New Light On ‘Dark’ Social, Finds Consumers Underestimate Their Own Behavior 2-to-1 (MediaPost)
For Retailers, Email Marketing Helped Boost Cyber Monday (The Street)
Gmail: Larger font sizes don’t mean media query support (Campaign Monitor)
Email Fraud Protection Needs to be on the CISO’s Agenda (Return Path)
Insightful & entertaining tweets
@withoutgorms: He’s making a database,
He’s filtering twice
SELECT * FROM customers WHERE behaviour = Nice
Santa Clause is Coming to town.
@ryanpphelan: Frequency rules should actually apply in triggered (non-trans) emails based on a value score for the behavior #mpeis
@SpencerKollas: How many blog posts will we see about optimizing email for watches? @DelaQuist #mpeis
@michaeljbarber: No doubt @mparkerbyrd gets the best slide of the day award. You get preheader text, and you, and you!!! http://t.co/UjfdN1w00Y
@mparkerbyrd: You know you’re an email marketer when your phone autocorrects “exact” to “ExactTarget”
@EmailKarma: Cute #email disclamer “Someone, hopefully you, has subscribed your email address to the following newsletters”
@iamelliot: 2015 will be the year we all run up on gmail’s html rendering dept and demand satisfaction
Great additions to the Swipe File pinboards
Sony asks subscribers what they want for Black Friday >> View the pin
Uncommon Goods’ email campaign ties clickthroughs to charity >> View the pin
Sephora joins personalization to persona-based shopping >> View the pin
Home Depot email creates urgency before and after offer expires >> View the pin
Noteworthy subject lines
Threadless, 12/31 — 10 Reasons to Open this Email
Lenovo, 12/30 — Drop a few PC lbs
American Red Cross, 12/30 — Tax deadline: Tomorrow
Vera Bradley, 12/29 — New tech feeling cold? We’re on the case!
Walmart, 12/28 — Have a gift card you don’t want?
Target, 12/30 — Undeck the halls & save up to 20% on storage items.
MAC Cosmetics, 12/30 — Shop The Top Rated New Products of 2014!
Wayfair, 12/29 — Feeling frosty? Save on throws, bedding, space heaters, and more
Home Depot, 12/24 — Forget a Gift? eGift Cards Have You Covered
Urban Outfitters, 12/24 — Still need gifts? UO IS OPEN!
Nike, 12/22 — Order Today. Get It Tomorrow.
Uncommon Goods, 12/22 — See You Tomorrow
Saks Fifth Avenue, 12/22 — Christmas delivery? Order TODAY before 6pm ET
Adidas, 12/22 — Q: procrastinate? A: $10 overnight shipping
Levi’s, 12/22 — FREE. OVERNIGHT. SHIPPING. (+ 30% off extended!)
Nike, 12/20 — Our Gift to You: Free Next-Day Delivery
J.Crew, 12/22 — You need to shop ASAP. Get your gifts tomorrow with $10 overnight shipping. Plus, 30% off full-price styles & extra 40% off sale.
ThinkGeek, 12/22 — HO3… up to 30% off your cart full o’ stuff!
Target, 12/22 — Order gifts online; pick ’em up by Christmas time.
American Apparel, 12/21 — Holidays Shmolidays
FansEdge, 12/19 — The late bird gets the worm too! Up to 40% Off + FREE Shipping Over $60
Banana Republic, 12/18 — Life is short. Stop ironing.
Lululemon, 12/18 — no time like the present
Victoria’s Secret, 12/18 — $20 Reward Card with any $75 purchase in stores!
Uncommon Goods, 12/7 — 100 Great Gifts in 1 Email? Are We Crazy?
Sony, 12/11 — Check Gifts Off Your List | Under: $100 $200 $300
Baby Gap, 12/11 — $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Zappos, 12/1 — $, $$, $$$ → You decide!
TigerDirect, 12/7 — Green Monday LEAKED: Samsung 55″ | Microsoft Surface Pro 3 | See Them All
eBags, 12/7 — Green means GO ► Shop Green Monday Deals Now + Save 20% & Free Shipping over $49
Overstock.com, 12/7 — GREEN MONDAY! LAST CHANCE 12% OFF COUPON!
Babies “R” Us, 12/7 — It’s Our Green Monday Sale – Let’s Go Gifting!
FansEdge, 12/7 — Green for 24-Hours! 30% off everything or Free Shipping
Costco, 12/3 — 15 Days of Christmas Deals Start Today! Day 1: Delicious Savings on Gift Baskets!
Horchow, 12/3 — WOW! 12 Deals of Christmas + 25% off decor + 30% off rugs + FREE shipping!
AJ Madison, 12/3 — Cyber Week Last Chance!
HP, 12/3 — ✫ Cyber week – lowest price ever on these bonus offers ✫
Toys “R” Us, 12/3 — Time’s Running Out! Hurry & Shop Cyber Week Savings
TigerDirect, 12/3 — Cyber Week Components: $44 1TB HD | $24 Windows 7 Bundle | Hundreds More Cyber Week Deals
Target, 12/2 — Come play with our Cyber Week toy deals.
Sears, 12/2 — Happy Cyber Week! Extra 25% off coupon inside!
Overstock, 12/2 — CYBER WEEK STARTS NOW!
Babies “R” Us, 12/2 — Cyber Week Savings on the Hottest Brands!
Northern Tool, 12/2 — New Deals For Cyber Week + Free Gift Card!
Nikon, 12/2 — Cyber Week Continues! 10% Off Refurbished Products
Clinique, 12/2 — Starts now: Pick 5 FREE for Cyber Week.
Walmart, 12/2 — Cyber Week: More top tech. More great deals.
Lenovo, 12/2 — Cyber Monday prices all week long
Lands’ End, 12/2 — Cyber Tuesday: extra day to save 40% off + free shipping & new markdowns
Lands’ End, 12/1 — 40% off + free shipping – even your boss is shopping today
New posts on EmailMarketingRules.com
Quick Email Marketing Wins in 2015
Happy Holidays to You and Yours!
Free Shipping Day Email Marketing Insights
Green Monday Email Marketing Insights
Email Marketing in 2015: What’s In and What’s Out
Cyber Monday Email Marketing Insights
The Top 10 Pins from the Email Swipe File: 2014 Year in Review
The POGLE Media Model: Paid, Owned, Granted, Leased, and Earned
Crowd Favorites from the Swipe File: November 2014
November Review & December Preview for the 2014 Email Marketing Holiday Calendar
Black Friday Week Email Marketing Insights
Winter Edition of the Email Marketer’s Holiday Planning Checklist
Quick Email Marketing Wins in 2015
Posted on December 30, 2014
Going into the New Year, instead of focusing on the new, why not focus on the easy. Below are my picks for email marketing initiatives that are low-effort and high-return:
- Optimize your snippet text
- Implement predictive intelligence for personalized recommendations
- Add defensive design elements to your email templates
- Test special characters in your subject lines
- Expand your A/B testing beyond subject lines
- Selectively remarket to non-openers
- Add the opt-down option to your unsubscribe page or preference center
- Re-permission your chronically inactive subscribers
- Take inventory of and review your triggered emails
>> Read the entire column on MediaPost.com
Happy Holidays to You and Yours!
Posted on December 24, 2014
Whatever you celebrate, I hope your holidays are filled with family and fun. Best wishes, Chad.
Free Shipping Day Email Marketing Insights
Posted on December 23, 2014
This holiday season we’ve examined email marketing activity and trends on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday. Now it’s time to look at Free Shipping Day.
This is a shopping occasion that’s in decline. Unlike last year when email activity on Free Shipping Day exceeded Green Monday and rivaled other important shopping days, this year email activity on Dec. 18 was very average. Of the more than 100 major retailers that we track, 73% sent their subscribers at least one promotional email on Free Shipping Day. That’s down from 77% last year.
Perhaps more importantly, only 9% of the promotional emails sent by retailers on Free Shipping Day mentioned it by name, which is a sign that the “Free Shipping Day” brand is weak. And it’s easy to understand why that would be the case.
Free shipping offers are plentiful throughout the holiday season—indeed, throughout the year. So a day that trumpets a promotion that’s very common on other days is surely confusing to consumers. Some retailers had extra special shipping offers available on Free Shipping Day, such as free shipping with no minimum, but these offers haven’t been able to clarify this shopping occasion with consumers, as evidenced by declining searches for “free shipping day.”
>> Read the entire post of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud blog
Green Monday Email Marketing Insights
Posted on December 18, 2014
I’ve already shared insights from Black Friday Week and Cyber Week. Next up: Green Monday.
This newish shopping occasion is just getting going. It feels a lot like Cyber Monday did in 2006, when that was a new term that consumers were becoming familiar with. Retailers spent quite a while establishing the “Cyber Monday” brand—and clearly it was time well-spent.
Now some are trying to do the same thing with Green Monday, which is typically the second Monday in December.
This year, more than 10% of the email messages sent on Dec. 8 by the more than 100 major retailers that I track mentioned “Green Monday” by name. While we didn’t track mentions last year, anecdotally that’s a significant increase from a small base.
>> Read the entire post on the Salesforce blog
Email Marketing in 2015: What’s In and What’s Out
Posted on December 16, 2014
I recently spoke with Natasha Smith of DM News about which email marketing strategies, tactics, and tools will be more important next year and which will be less important.
WHAT’S OUT
Batch-and-blast
“One size fits all” static emails
Standard subject lines
WHAT’S IN
Predictive analytics
Responsive design
Subject lines with #hashtags
Real-time personalization
>> Read the full article on DMNews.com
Cyber Monday Email Marketing Insights
Posted on December 12, 2014
Last week we reviewed some of the noteworthy developments that came out of Black Friday Week. Now let’s look at a couple of interesting developments that occurred around Cyber Monday.
First, for the 8th straight year, Cyber Monday is the busiest email marketing day of the year. Although there have been some other busy days that follow it, it’s unlikely that any of them will come close to even matching Cyber Monday’s email activity level. Among the more than 100 major retailers that I track, 93% of them sent their active subscribers at least one promotional email on Cyber Monday.
And second, after overflowing into “Cyber Sunday” and “Cyber Tuesday” the past few years, Cyber Monday has exploded into a full-on “Cyber Week.” Roughly one in eight major retailers mentioned “Cyber Week” in their subject lines alone, and many more mentioned it in the body copy of their emails. I expect even more retailers to jump on the bandwagon next year.
>> Read the entire post on the Salesforce Marketing Cloud blog
The Top 10 Pins from the Email Swipe File: 2014 Year in Review
Posted on December 11, 2014
We pinned tons of inspiring email marketing examples to our Email Swipe File pinboard on Pinterest this year. Here are your favorites, based on repins and likes:
1. Michaels’ responsive 2-email welcome series >> View the pin
2. The Clymb’s welcome email with 1-2-3 messaging >> View the pin
3. Mini USA’s quirky re-permission email >> View the pin
4. Piperlime’s mobile-aware top 10 spring trends email >> View the pin
5. J.Crew’s cross-channel wedding email >> View the pin
6. Levi’s 1-year email signup anniversary email >> View the pin
7. Warby Parker’s content marketing email >> View the pin
8. Pizza Express’s defensively designed, personalized birthday email >> View the pin
9. Pinkberry’s mobile app reengagement email >> View the pin
10. Fab’s cat-filled mistake and apology email >> View the pin
Check out all the inspiring campaigns included in the Email Swipe File, as well as in our Social Swipe File, Mobile Swipe File, and Audience Growth Swipe File. And let us know which ones you like best by repinning and liking them.
The POGLE Media Model: Paid, Owned, Granted, Leased, and Earned
Posted on December 9, 2014
The paid-owned-earned (POE) media model did a good job of describing traditional media, but it has done a poor job of accommodating most digital channel activities, which have generally been stuffed awkwardly into the owned media bucket. To bring greater clarity to the marketing mix, we need new language and a new framework to describe marketers’ various channel activities.
There are 3 characteristics that describe the channel activities available to us today:
- Who creates the content
- Who developed the audience
- Who controls the platform
It is that third characteristic that requires most digital channels to be broken out of the owned media category and placed in two new categories: granted media and leased media.
Using those 3 characteristics, here’s a full breakdown of what this new paid-owned-granted-leased-earned (POGLE) media model looks like and which media activities fall within each category…
>> Read the entire column on the Convince & Convert blog
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
