The Retail Email Blog

Week-End Trends: Retail Email Index again indicates deliverability problems

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:10:00 +0000

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The average weekly promotional email volume sent by top online retailers rose 1% to 2.8 during the week ending Nov. 20, 2009. It’s up 9% from where it was four weeks ago and it’s up 7% year-over-year (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).

Just like it did a couple of weeks ago (see Nov. 7 Week-End Trends), the Retail Email Index is indicating significant deliverability problems among retailers. I’ve heard anecdotal evidence that some marketers are struggling with ISPs’ shift to using engagement metrics and domain-based reputation in their filtering algorithms.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Tuesday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week. This week, Monday and Friday are likely to be the biggest volume days.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Thanksgiving and Black Friday will be referenced a lot this week, but Cyber Monday won’t get messaged much until the following week.

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Thanksgiving (11/26): Thanksgiving 2008 Season Finale
Cyber Monday (11/30): Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
Christmas (12/25): Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, Christmas 2008 Season Finale
New Year’s (1/1): New Year’s 2009 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Preheaders, opt-out pages, frequency transparency, etc.

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:22:00 +0000

Our latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>Stefan Pollard of Responsys offers some great and very current advice on how to optimize your preheader text. >>Follow the ping

>>Bryan Quilty of Email Marketing Voodoo discusses Shop It To Me’s opt-out page, which gives subscribers lots of options besides actually unsubscribing. >>Follow the ping

>>Jordan Jane at Email Responsibly discusses an interesting Zappos email that sets frequency expectations for the weeks ahead. >>Follow the ping

>>Dela Quist of Alchemy Worx encourages marketers to use a little search engine optimization to make their emails easy to find via inbox search functionality. >>Follow the search-optimized ping

>>In Smith-Harmon’s latest Email Insider column, Darrah MacLean, inspired by a run in with an electronic paper towel dispenser, talks about calls-to-action. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Shipping deadlines approaching

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:49:00 +0000

>>Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement: Download this free 28-page report.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Nike Store, 11/19 — Act Fast: Order Customized Gifts in Time for Holiday Delivery‏
While the end of guaranteed Christmas delivery with standard shipping is a little less than a month away for most retailers, there are a number of early shipping deadlines approaching. For instance, customized and monogrammed products often have earlier deadlines, as Nike promotes in this email. Oversized and heavy items also usually have earlier deadlines. Plus, this year Hanukkah started at sundown on Dec. 11 this year, so we’ll see some early deadlines for that too, as we’ve already seen from OfficeMax.

Costco, 11/19 — Create Your Ultimate Game Room and Preview Our Black Friday Offers!
Looking to build some buzz around their Black Friday deals, Costco promotes a preview of their offers in a preview pane banner. Overstock has included a similar banner in their emails recently.

HSN, 11/19 — Your Featured Products of the Week‏
Multichannel bars like the one in this HSN email are becoming increasingly common. Sometimes they’re combined with SWYN elements, as REI and others do. For more on multichannel tactics and strategies, check out the Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Harry & David, 11/19 — LAST DAY for FREE Standard Delivery* for Thanksgiving‏
1-800-Flowers.com, 11/19 — Save up to $10 on Thanksgiving Centerpieces‏
SmartBargains, 11/19 — EXTENDED 24 HOURS Better Thank Black Friday SALE
Eddie Bauer, 11/19 — Give the Gifts the Pros Use Free Shipping‏
Target, 11/19 — Ho ho home: Free shipping when you spend $50 on select holiday home updates.
Newegg, 11/19 — Home for the Holidays? $129.99 Sceptre 19" HDTV, $359.99 Panasonic 32" HDTV...
Ralph Lauren, 11/19 — Introducing The Ralph Lauren Custom Shop‏
Sam’s Club, 11/19 — Save this Season on Holiday Electronics at Sam's Club.
Macy’s, 11/19 — FREE SHIPPING + GREAT SAVINGS on festive looks for the whole family!
Northern Tool, 11/19 — Hundreds Of Gift Ideas On Sale + Free Gift Card‏
Hanna Andersson, 11/19 — Up To 40% Savings - The More The Merrier Sale!
Lillian Vernon, 11/19 — Exclusive Email Deal - 15% Off All Christmas Decor‏
Fingerhut, 11/19 — Fingerhut: Give High Quality Gifts this Holiday Season!‏
Ann Taylor, 11/19 — Shop Perfect Presents + 30% Off Your Entire Purchase‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/19 — Now in stores for Christmas 2009‏
Neiman Marcus, 11/19 — FREE ONLINE GIFT WRAP through this weekend + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
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Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement: Executive Summary

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:58:00 +0000

Multichannel marketing is becoming an imperative as the number of channels has grown. And rather than weakening email marketing, the proliferation of channels has made the channel even more dynamic and powerful. At the same time, as the number of channels available to marketers has grown, a multichannel approach to marketing has become a more urgent best practice if a campaign is to have significant reach and impact.

“Cross-channel coordination with your email program is critical,” says Heather Blank, director of strategic services at Responsys. “Consumers are changing and so are their expectations. They expect highly relevant, coordinated information across all channels.”

The good news is that nearly 80% of marketers say they are executing them to some degree, according to MarketingSherpa—and all indications suggest that more marketers are adopting a multichannel approach and that their level of integration is deepening.

With the growing emphasis on multichannel marketing, email has emerged as a favorite channel. In addition to being the undisputed preferred channel for deals and promotions, it excels at raising awareness of and driving traffic to other channels, in part because it occupies a critical “gateway” position between traditional media like television and direct marketing and new media like social networks and online video. As an established, ubiquitous, and inexpensive channel, email is the ideal partner for most other channel initiatives.

In addition to making the case for using email as part of a strong multichannel marketing approach, this guide examines the ways that email marketing has been used to support other channels by the top online retailers. It highlights tactics and standout examples of retailers using email to promote social media, mobile, stores, direct mail, online, and TV and online video.

Other findings revealed in the guide include:

● Email has become a strong component of retailers’ efforts to grow their followings on Facebook and Twitter. As of July, more than 30% of major online retailers were running “join our community” efforts in their email campaigns.

● Mobile plays a small role in email marketing messaging currently, with less than 10% of retailers promoting SMS subscriptions, iPhone apps and mobile sites this calendar year.

● More than 15% of retailers link to their blog at least occasionally from their emails, using them as the landing page for articles and contests. However, most of those references are small and buried deep in retailers’ emails.

● In recent months a handful of retailers have woven together a number of channels as part of a single promotion. These are a model for the more tightly integrated campaigns that we’ll see used more often going forward.

Get the Full Report
>>Download the 28-page “Retail Email Guide to Multichannel Engagement” from Smith-Harmon's Research Library for free.

Other reports available from Smith-Harmon:
Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
Many Retailers Not Optimizing Preheader Text
Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season
FTAF vs. SWYN
Executive Series on Email Marketing: Installments 1-5
Email Design Look Book 2009
Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation
Soon Even More Emails Won't Be Optimized for Width
Retail Welcome Email Benchmark Study
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AM Inbox: Isolated microsite or subscriber profile builder?

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:41:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Neiman Marcus, 11/18 — STYLE RADAR tracks fashion as it happens‏
In this email, Neiman Marcus promotes their new Style Radar, which presents products that fit into various style categories. It’s hard not to see echoes of Spiegel’s style segmentation efforts (see Mar. 17, 2008 AM Inbox) in this, but I think Neiman Marcus has given it a fresh enough twist to make it their own, with their style and city categories. The big question now is whether these styles will stay isolated on the microsite or whether they’ll be integrated in subscribers’ profiles and used for segmentation and serving up dynamic content.

Bluefly, 11/18 — Haute for the Holidays...Glam NEW Looks Starting at 30% Off‏
This is my favorite holiday header so far. Normally, the animation has the fly doing a simple little loop over to the forward-to-a-friend link. Throwing in the little aerial snowflake is simple, eye-catching, seasonal, and secular. Delightful!

And here’s the animated portion of the header:

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
SmartBargains, 11/18 — An EXTRA 25% off EVERYTHING It's Better Than Black Friday!
Sears, 11/18 — May your Holidays be bright with these energy-efficient LED Christmas lights, now 33% off‏
Bed Bath & Beyond, 11/18 — Holiday Tips from Real Simple!
Finish Line, 11/18 — The Holiday's Hottest Shoe!---Get Free Shipping!
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 11/18 — Get glam holiday gifts, with a free gift for you.
Nordstrom, 11/18 — Holiday Dazzle: Find Your Perfect Look for Every Occasion‏
Orvis, 11/18 — FREE shipping - Find the perfect accessory for every man on your list.
Lillian Vernon, 11/18 — A Gift to Fit Anyone on Your List‏
Brookstone, 11/18 — FREE SHIPPING ON $90 Purchases--Shop Hot, New Gifts‏
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Season Finale: Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2009

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:20:00 +0000

A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:

Start to finish: The first reference to Breast Cancer Awareness Month was on Sept. 8. The final reference was on Nov. 12.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for Breast Cancer Awareness Month emails was Monday, Oct. 5, followed by Thursday, Oct. 8. Retailers sent the majority of their Breast Cancer Awareness Month-themed emails after Oct. 11.

Year-over-year comparison: After Breast Cancer Awareness Month references fell 26% last year compared to 2007, this year references rebounded, increasing 60% over last year. This year, references exceeded 2007 levels by 18%, showing a renewed enthusiasm for marketing connected to this cause.

Noteworthy trend: Just as retailers have experimented with black background for Black Friday, they tried pink backgrounds to support their Breast Cancer Awareness Month messaging. For example, Dick’s Sporting Goods used this tactic in an Oct. 8 email with the subject line “Shop Our Pink Ribbon Collection, In-Store and Online‏.”

And Diamond.com used it in an Oct. 5 email with the subject line “Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Smile for a Cure and Save 20%.”

Standout subject lines:
Ralph Lauren, 10/1 — Show Your Support In Style: Our Latest Fashions From Pink Pony‏
Sports Authority, 10/4 — Make A Statement & Support Breast Cancer Awareness‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 10/7 — Get our Pink Ribbon Bra & Support Breast Cancer Awareness.

Read previous Breast Cancer Awareness Month Season Finales: 2008, 2007, 2006

Explore Breast Cancer Awareness Month tag.
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AM Inbox: The tradeoff between rendering and relevance

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:24:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Disney Store, 11/17 — Celebrate and Save Up to 40% on Holiday Decor + Deal of the Day‏
Staying relevant is extra critical during the holiday season. Every message and submessage matters. In this email, Disney includes a preview pane banner that promotes their Deal of the Day. The deal itself is rendered in HTML text so it shows up when images are blocked; plus it’s highlighted in the preheader text. However, subscribers who opened this email today rather than yesterday—and most probably did—saw an expired deal. While this might engender more urgency to open the next email so as not to miss the deal of the day, another tactic would be to use a single image for the preview pane banner, to use the same image source file for it in every email, and then update that image file every night with the current deal of the day. That way, regardless of when a subscriber opens the email, they’re seeing the current deal. That image could link to a designated landing page for all the deals of the day or to a URL that redirects folks to the right page. You trade off some rendering by using this tactic, but you’re increasing the relevance of the deals for roughly half your subscribers in most cases. It’s worth testing for sure.

Sephora, 11/17 — Gift Tip: Separate these sets into multiple gifts‏
This is some of the smartest messaging I’ve seen so far this holiday season. At a time when many consumers are still trying to stretch their dollars, this is sure to resonate.

Gap, 11/17 — Limited Time Only. 25% Off All Styles. Exclusively Online.‏
In addition to debuting their holiday header—adding some festive plaid to their logo—Gap also promotes their seasonal microsite, CheerFactory.com, which allows you to send holiday cheer in cheer form.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
J&R, 11/17 — Housewares in Time for Thanksgiving!
1-800-Flowers.com, 11/17 — Save 20% on Thanksgiving gifts from Martha Stewart, starting at $39.95‏
Saks Fifth Avenue, 11/17 — Monogramming makes every gift better‏
Neiman Marcus, 11/17 — 90 of our TOP GIFTS for '09 + Free online shipping at ANY PRICE‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/17 — We're Giving You a Free Gift this Shopping Season‏
Harry & David, 11/17 — Holiday Gifts from $19.95, many with FREE Standard Delivery!
Victoria’s Secret, 11/17 — Have a Lacie Little Christmas + Get a Free Panty Cupcake! Details Inside.
L.L. Bean, 11/17 — FREE $10 Gift Card + The Gift with a Personal Touch‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/17 — Give an A&F gift, Christmas 2009‏
ShopNBC, 11/17 — Today only If it's on-air, it's on sale‏
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AM Inbox: Reinforcing a social appeal

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:31:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Toys “R” Us, 11/16 — Only 10 Days Left to Shop Our BIG BOOK plus Become Our Fan on Facebook!
In yesterday’s AM Inbox, I talked about tactics used by Dick’s Sporting Goods and eBags to attract more Twitter followers and how one encouraged a much deeper connection than the other. This Toys “R” Us email gives us another example of using email to recruit social fans. What’s really interesting is that it builds on a previous appeal that they made in a Nov. 4 email (see Nov. 5 AM Inbox) that was very similar to the approach used by Dick’s Sporting Goods. But what they did this time was layer on more reasons to become a Facebook fan. While they still include a cause marketing angle, they’ve now added the ability to get information and to participate in the community by voting for deals and other items. This new appeal hits a lot more buttons than the previous one and is much more likely to attract engaged followers.

Lands’ End, 11/16 — Ends today: save 25% + Free Shipping for Friends & Family‏
This Lands’ End is a more sharable version of a previous friends and family promotion (see Sept. 28 AM Inbox ). While this email retains the multichannel fulfillment options of the previous version, it now includes a repeated message to share this deal with others and presents three options for sharing at the end of the primary message. When you have email content that you believe is highly shareworthy, bring your “share with your network” (SWYN) and “forward to a friend” functionality up into the body of the message. Don’t rely solely on SYWN and FTAF links that are at the bottom of the email.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Harry & David, 11/16 — Gobble. Gobble. Repeat.‏
J. Jill, 11/16 — To: You. From: Us. New markdowns & an extra 20% off select shoes!
Sam’s Club, 11/16 — You're Invited! Holiday Taste of Sam's Club. Sample before you serve.
Ralph Lauren, 11/16 — Perfect Holiday Sweaters, Coats And Accessories‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 11/16 — Be a holiday bombshell + a free gift.
Blue Nile, 11/16 — 10% Savings on Holiday Jewelry Gifts Ends Tuesday‏
JCPenney, 11/16 — Free Shipping During Our Holiday Home Sale!
HP, 11/16 — HP's Holiday Gift Guide is here!‏
Crate & Barrel, 11/16 — Santa's helpers are here with Free Shipping. See details...
Hanna Andersson, 11/16 — New Savings Up To 40% - Just In Time For Thanksgiving!‏
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AM Inbox: Social sign-up incentives - Lessons from email

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:14:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Dick’s Sporting Goods, 11/13 — Free Shipping on Purchases $49 or More - Limited Time Offer!‏
It’s interesting to see how retailers are applying incentives used routinely in email to grow their social efforts. For instance, sweepstakes are well known for being a poor source of quality email list growth because it attracts folks that would love a shot at winning something but have little interest in your emails. Similarly, Dick’s uses an incentive to grow their Twitter followers that has nothing to do with the content of their tweets and does nothing to encourage interaction. With the popularity of apps like TweetDeck and the advent of Twitter Lists, it’s easier than ever for people to follow brands and not actually see their tweets with any regularity. Dick’s may also find that many people unfollow them after their Nov. 30 deadline for their charity drive.

eBags, 11/13 — For Insiders Only: Double Deal‏
On the other hand, eBags’ Twitter growth tactic encourages conversation by giving folks a chance every week to win a bag by tweeting why they need one. Whether people follow eBags or not, when they tweet their reason for needing a bag to eBags, they’re exposing their followers to eBags and their weekly giveaway, which may in turn cause them to try to win a free bag. This is a great way to start a conversation that’s very germane to their brand.

Urban Outfitters, 11/13 — It's Finally Here...
A few retailers like Walgreens and Harry & David include information about your closest or preferred store in each of their emails. In this Urban Outfitters email announcing the availability of their holiday catalog, they include the location of the nearest three stores, giving the subscribers more than one option, recognizing that folks may favor one shopping strip, mall or area over another.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Macy’s, 11/15 — Rwanda baskets: Free Shipping, extra savings + a brand new site!
Crate & Barrel, 11/13 — Before you order the turkey...order the pan. Free Shipping...see details.
Kmart, 11/13 — Better than Black Friday Sale - Friday and Saturday‏
J&R, 11/13 — BLACK FRIDAY DEALS -- Every Weekend in November!
RitzCamera, 11/13 — Pre-Black Friday Savings plus Clearance Sale‏
The Company Store, 11/15 — Winter Sale + Holidays Are Near & The Guests Are Here!
Blair, 11/13 — It's the gift they'll use - and it comes with 2 bonuses!
Orvis, 11/13 — Give a cozy, relaxing gift. Orvis slippers - a holiday tradition.
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/13 — Check out our rugged outerwear for Christmas 2009‏
Walgreens, 11/13 — Put Beauty Under the Tree + Free Shipping at $25‏
Petco, 11/15 — PETCO Up To 40% Off Holiday Travel Essentials + FREE Shipping!
Sports Authority, 11/13 — Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List & 2 More Days to Save $25 Off $100!
Diamond.com, 11/13 — Christmas Special Sale - Save up to 76% Plus Free Shipping‏
Avon, 11/13 — Holiday Hits + FREE Eye Cream & FREE Shipping‏
Oriental Trading, 11/13 — Wrap up holiday fun for less. Get FREE Shipping‏
Coldwater Creek, 11/14 — Gift list? Take $30 off + Free Shipping (save Santa a trip!)‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/15 — Shop the Gift Giving Guide & Get Free Shipping‏
Neiman Marcus, 11/13 — A night you won't soon forget‏
Alibris, 11/13 — NOTE TO SELF: Use my $10 coupon before it expires‏
Furniture.com, 11/15 — Online only Veterans Day Event ends tomorrow!
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Week-End Trends: Retail email volume rises 11% as holiday messaging dominates

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:37:00 +0000

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The average weekly promotional email volume sent by top online retailers rose 11% to 2.8 during the week ending Nov. 13, 2009. It’s up 7% from where it was four weeks ago and it’s up 8% year-over-year (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).

It appears that most of the deliverability issues suffered by retailers last week have been resolved. But with email volumes just now starting their massive holiday ramp-up, it seems likely that retailers have not experienced the last of their deliverability issues this holiday season.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Monday and Friday were the most popular days to send retail emails last week.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: If there was any doubt that the holiday email season was in full swing, at least half of all retail emails every day since last Sunday has referenced the holidays or Christmas.

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Thanksgiving (11/26): Thanksgiving 2008 Season Finale
Cyber Monday (11/30): Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
Christmas (12/25): Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, Christmas 2008 Season Finale
New Year’s (1/1): New Year’s 2009 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Individualized send times, Email Engagement Index, etc.

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Our latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>MarketingSherpa shares a case study involving Mint.com increasing opens and clicks by personalizing send times based on when individual subscribers tended to open their emails. >>Follow the ping

>>Pivotal Veracity releases their “Email Engagement Index Q1 - Q3 2009 - Vertical Market Benchmarks & Trends” report, which has great stats including how long on average it takes subscribers to open emails. >>Follow the ping

>>Melinda Plemel of Return Path runs down the highlights of Cox’s new postmaster page. >>Follow the ping

>>Anna Yeaman of Style Campaign tracked down the folks behind the innovative LocalsKnow.ca email campaign that had subscribers scrolling left, right, up and down to the ultimate call-to-action. >>Follow the ping all over Canada

>>Julie Waite of Bronto Software provides an excellent overview of the synergies between email and product reviews. >>Follow the ping

>>In my latest Email Insider column, I talk about how to avoid “back alley syndrome,” where you abandon subscribers on dead-end landing pages. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Every snowflake is unique

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:34:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Northern Tool, 11/12 — Free Gift Card + Over 2,300 Products On Sale‏
Last December, fellow Smith-Harmonites Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison wrote a fun blog post about all the different renderings of snowflakes in email creatives. One of my favorites last year was from Sony, which created snowflakes from electronics devices like cameras and candy like candy canes. So far this year, the tool-flakes in this Northern Tool email are at the top of my list of favorites. Plus, the bow made from the tie-down is genius. Delight lives in small details like these.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Walgreens, 11/12 — Give Thanks with 75 Prints for $9.99 + 20% OFF Photo Gifts‏
Ralph Lauren, 11/12 — The Perfect Gift: New Styles From The Create Your Own Collection‏
Sony, 11/12 — Give great gifts Popular Picks + FREE SHIPPING‏
Barnes & Noble, 11/12 — Save up to 45% in our Holiday Gift Guide‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/12 — Give Your Kids the Perfect Toy this Christmas!
Norm Thompson, 11/12 — Announcing our Holiday Sweepstakes!‏
Diamond.com, 11/12 — Save 20% on our White Diamond Christmas Collection Plus Free Shipping‏
Home Depot, 11/12 — Free Shipping for the Holidays!
Toys “R” Us, 11/12 — Get a Wii for Only $99.99 – 3 Days Only!
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Season Finale: Halloween 2009

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:17:00 +0000

A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:

Start to finish: The first reference to Halloween was on Aug. 9—although there were some references that I consider outliers in July, June and April. The final reference was on Nov. 1.

The distribution curve: The biggest day for Halloween emails was Halloween itself, Oct. 31, followed by Sunday, Oct. 11. Retailers sent the majority of their Halloween-themed emails after Oct. 9.

Most interesting emails: In this Aug. 20 email with the subject line, “Halloween Hannas That Help Kids In Need!” Hanna Andersson uses cause marketing to promote their Halloween products. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a retailer pairing Halloween with a charity effort. Hanna Andersson also uses some clever wordsmithing to promote their “eek-o-friendly” Halloween sleepwear.

The animated gif used by Harry & David in this Oct. 23 email is my favorite of the Halloween season. It’s eye-catching, fun, on-brand and supports the message of the email.

After explaining the origin of Christmas in July this summer (see July 27 AM Inbox), Overstock explains the origin of the Jack O’Lantern in this Oct. 23 email. Everyone loves fun facts like this. Overstock’s “At Home with the ‘O’” is a great, fun segment that definitely makes me scroll down into the email to read it.

In this Sept. 29 email, Drs. Foster & Smith partner a pet costume promotion with some helpful information about getting animals used to costumes and about keeping pets safely away from visiting trick-or-treaters. For shoppers concerned that their pets may not like wearing a costume, the article and video content may put them at ease enough to make a purchase.

Noteworthy trend: Several retailers added a “Halloween” link to their navigation bar, including Drs. Foster & Smith, Kohl’s and Oriental Trading. While many retailers add special links to their nav bars during the holidays, they haven’t traditionally done that for other holidays.

Multichannel tactics: Sephora tries to lure subscribers into their stores with free Halloween makeup lessons in this Oct. 17 email.

Email 2.0 angle: In this Oct. 8 email, Sam’s Club promotes their Pumpkin Patch, which posts the pictures of the best pumpkin carvings submitted by customers.

Standout subject lines:
Bluefly, 10/31 — O-M-Ghoul! EXTRA 25% OFF All Sale Items – Today Only!
Lillian Vernon, 9/9 — Exclusive Costume Ideas for Boils and Ghouls‏
Lillian Vernon, 8/28 — Costumes are Flying Off the Shelves - Get Yours & 15% Off!‏
Oriental Trading, 9/11 — Monster-sized savings: 20% off ANY order‏
Lillian Vernon, 9/23 — Scared You Won't Find a Great Costume? Find Yours & More, Plus 15% Off‏
Williams-Sonoma, 10/14 — Under $20: No-Bake Halloween Haunted House Kit‏

Read previous Halloween Season Finales: 2008, 2007, 2006

Explore Halloween tag.
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AM Inbox: HP changes their email template again

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:56:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

HPshopping, 11/11 — Email Exclusive: Two Great Deals for the Holidays‏
HP has changed their email template again—or perhaps I’m just seeing a few different test versions. The latest version pulls the logo back out of the body of the email and into its traditional position in the upper left-hand corner. HP shortens up their navigation bar and runs it to the right of the logo along with their preheader text, which was already right-justified in their previous design. The new nav bar is also black, versus the old gray, and it drops the carets that preceded the text in the nav buttons. The same stylistic changes were made to the administrative bar at the bottom of the email. You can see the past two designs in the Oct. 22 AM Inbox. Here’s the latest design:

Sports Authority, 11/11 — 1 Day Sale: 15% Off Your Order - Online or In Store!
I was never very impressed by Sports Authority’s email redesign back in April (see Apr. 27 AM Inbox ), but the template seems to be getting worse. The banner featuring departments toward the bottom of the email has always had background images that make the links difficult to read, but now the links are creeping up into the subheads. It’s really sloppy design and surely doesn’t make a great brand impression.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sephora, 11/11 — New: Gifts that ship free‏
Eddie Bauer, 11/11 — Free Shipping for the Holidays‏
Fingerhut, 11/11 — Fingerhut: FREE Holiday Gift with $50 Product Order!
Diamond.com, 11/11 — Sneak Peek - Christmas Gift Guide - Save 20% Plus Free Shipping‏
Disney Store, 11/11 — A Special Holiday Gift for Disney Friends and Family!
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/11 — Now in stores for Christmas 2009‏
J. Crew, 11/11 — Introducing our holiday sale + FREE SHIPPING‏
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Alert: Three-fourths of major retailers have started their holiday campaigns

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:56:00 +0000

If you haven’t started your holiday email campaign and aren’t planning on doing so very soon, feel free to panic, because you’re way behind the curve already. As of yesterday, 76% of major online retailers had already mentioned the holidays or Christmas in at least one email. And the majority of retailers had begun their holiday campaigns before the calendar had even flipped to November.

The pace of holiday campaign starts is a little slower than last year. In 2008, three-quarters of retailers had already started their holiday campaigns by Nov. 6 and half of retailers had started their by Oct. 24. This may be a sign that retailers are a little less worried about holiday sales this year, or that they feel that didn’t get enough traction with their early holiday email messaging last year.

I still hear some marketers cite Black Friday as the start of the holiday season and it just makes me cringe. In the world of email marketing that’s just not the case—not even close. In fact, the majority of retail emails yesterday referenced the holidays, so we're already into the core of the holiday email season.
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AM Inbox: More gift services footers to be introduced

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:02:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

OfficeMax, 11/10 — Case Paper Deal + Save up to 50% during the Furniture Event‏
OfficeMax has introduced their gift services footer, which includes links to ElfYourself.com ; gifts under $50, $100 and $150; and a free shipping offer. Fewer than 10% of major online retailers have debuted a gift services footer so far, but I expect that number of rise significantly over the course of the next four weeks.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Ross-Simons, 11/10 — Save $5000! 3 Carat Diamond Ring- 48 Hours Only!
J. Crew, 11/10 — Love J.Crew? We love you too. [promoting their Facebook page]
Victoria’s Secret, 11/10 — We Want YOU to Choose Our Next Runway Angel! Round 1 Voting Ends TONIGHT!
Fingerhut, 11/10 — Fingerhut's NEW Customer Connection - Videos, Chat & More!
Macy’s, 11/10 — Ends Wednesday! Free Shipping + 2-day specials at the Veterans Day Sale.
Musician’s Friend, 11/10 — Musician’s Friend: Celebrate America's Heroes With This One-Day Only Deal‏
Backcountry.com, 11/10 — Holiday Gift Guide‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/10 — 15% Off the Perfect Gift for Everyone on Your List‏
Montgomery Ward, 11/10 — Kids’ Gifts for Every Age & Every Budget‏
Oriental Trading, 11/10 — Save 25% on select ornaments + get free shipping‏
GameStop, 11/10 — Save on a new Nintendo Wii and other holiday favorites!
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AM Inbox: Not everyone checks their email every day

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:27:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Newegg, 11/9 — Special Edition: Shell Shocker Deal All-Week Sneak Peek!
With the limited availability, deals of the day can create a strong sense of urgency and really energize shoppers. However, not everyone checks their inbox multiple times a day—or even every day. In fact, the average elapsed time between when messages are first sent to when they are first seen was 25.9 hours in August, according to Pivotal Veracity’s Email Engagement Index, Q1-Q3 2009. Newegg reaches out to these subscribers by providing a preview of the limit-time deals available on each day of the week. This allows subscribers to plan ahead to take advantage of deals. It also provides more relevancy for those subscribers who check their email less frequently, as there’s nothing more irrelevant—and potentially frustrating—than a deal that’s expired.

Lands’ End, 11/9 — 2 days only: 25% off coats, jackets, parkas + Free Shipping‏
I really like that Lands’ End has been updating the half-banner promoting their BigWarmUp.com campaign with the most recent count of the number of coats collected. People want to contribute to efforts that are actually doing something tangible and updating the count demonstrates the progress that the effort is making. A static banner would have hidden the progress being made.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Apple, 11/9 — Shop smarter this holiday at the Apple Store.
Staples, 11/9 — Kick off the holiday season with Staples
Saks Fifth Avenue, 11/9 — Insider Gift Ideas‏
Sam’s Club, 11/9 — Deck the Halls with Holiday Decor from Sam's Club‏
Kmart, 11/9 — Hundreds Of Gift Sets Online For Every Occasion‏
Fingerhut, 11/9 — Fingerhut: Use the Gift Finder for ALL of Your Holiday Shopping‏
Orvis, 11/9 — 600+ NEW gift ideas - something for everyone on your list.
Blue Nile, 11/9 — Best-Selling Holiday Gifts + 10% Off & Free FedEx Shipping‏
Art.com, 11/9 — 22% off Site Wide + Holiday Gift Guide Sneak Peek - 48 Hours Only!
J. Crew, 11/9 — The wait is over. Our very best gift guide is here + FREE SHIPPING.
Wal-Mart, 11/9 — Introducing Walmart's Value of the Day: Daily Chances to Save Big!
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 11/9 — Silver belles are ringing in the holidays + free shipping.‏
Home Depot, 11/9 — Holiday Decor + Free Shipping on Most Orders $49 or More!
Ross-Simons, 11/9 — EXTRA 20% Off Clearance - Christmas Starts Now!
Lane Bryant, 11/9 — Last Chance: 30% Off All Outerwear And Boots + Flurries Of Gift Ideas‏
Eddie Bauer, 11/9 — Ends Soon! Up to 60% Off - Veterans Day Sale‏
Ann Taylor, 11/9 — Heidi Klum gets wrapped up in our luxury cashmere‏
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AM Inbox: Missing the promotional opportunity in polls

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:30:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Petco, 11/8 — Tell Us What You Think + FREE Shipping!
Polls can be a great way to engage subscribers without the expectation of them spending money, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t leverage them to boost conversions. For example, in this Petco email, they include a poll and even call it out in the subject line.

However, when you click through and cast your vote, the landing page consists of only this “thank you” message:

There was no navigation bar and no product promotions. Hopefully they’ll at least leverage individual subscribers’ answers to target them with either a triggered email or dynamic content in a future promotional email.

J&R, 11/6 — BLACK FRIDAY DEALS -- Every Weekend in November!
J&R is celebrating Black Friday all month long, highlighting deals each weekend. The creative makes it clear that there will be four emails in the series and uses reverse type as a play on Black Friday. The white text on black background really stands out. Unfortunately, when they coded the email they had the white text start at the beginning of the preheader—which rendered all the text in the preheader white except the hyperlinked “Click Here.” The full preheader said:

Having trouble viewing? Click Here!
To ensure receipt, add "promos@email.jr.com" to your address book.

Costco, 11/7 — Family fun this holiday season! Arcade Hoops $50 OFF!‏
Until this email, it had been more than six months since I’d seen a major online retail use a video gif. Honestly, I’ve been pretty surprised by the low usage. In this email, Costco gets the video gif into the preview pane to try to boost engagement with the video. However, they make the mistake of using a fade-in, which means that anyone viewing the email in Outlook 2007 (which blocks animated gifs) will only see a black box.

You can see the video gif in action here.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Toys “R” Us, 11/6 — We've Got Zhu Zhu Pets, the Hottest Toy of the Year!‏
Neiman Marcus, 11/6 — Warning: CASHMERE may cause sensory overload‏
Crate & Barrel, 11/6 — Best Buys for the Thanksgiving buffet. Free Shipping...see details.‏
Williams-Sonoma, 11/6 — Personalize the Thanksgiving Table: Exclusive Glass Hurricane and More‏
RitzCamera, 11/6 — Pre-Black Friday Special Offers‏
TigerDirect, 11/6 — Early Black Friday Deals: New 32" HDTV $339...3G Wireless Netbook $289...52-pack CDR $5.99...22" LCD $139...‏
Sears, 11/7 — Black Friday Now! 15% Off All Appliances‏
eBags, 11/7 — Holiday Gift Guide + FREE SHIPPING‏
REI, 11/6 — Introducing REI's 2009 Holiday Gift Shop + Mega Deals at REI-OUTLET‏
Lane Bryant, 11/6 — Find Great Ideas In Our Gift Guide + 30% Off Outerwear And Boots‏
HPshopping, 11/8 — Top Tech Picks for the Holidays‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/8 — Coming soon for Christmas 2009‏
Fingerhut, 11/6 — Fingerhut: Donate to Toys for Tots this Holiday - Find Out How!
Musician’s Friend, 11/6 — Musician's Friend: Pre-Holiday Warehouse Sale Final Days + Heavy Gear Ships Free‏
Office Depot, 11/6 — Amazing Holiday Deals + $10 Coupon.
Avon, 11/6 — NEW for the Holidays - ONLY $.99 & Up + FREE Shipping‏
Coldwater Creek, 11/7 — $30 off + New Holiday Values...Making wishes come true!
Blair, 11/7 — Get your home holiday decor with 99¢ per item shipping.‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/8 — Free Shipping in the New Christmas Catalog‏
Alloy, 11/6 — 4 Days Left: 15% Off + New Holiday Arrivals‏
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Week-End Trends: Deliverability problems already hampering holiday campaigns

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:12:00 +0000

UPDATED: 11/21

Email activity and promotional trends during the past week:

The Retail Email Index: The average weekly promotional email volume sent by top online retailers was flat at 2.5 during the week ending Nov. 7, 2009. It’s up 3% from where it was four weeks ago and it’s up 12% year-over-year (moving 4-week average versus comparable 4-week moving average last year).

A handful of the retailers that I track didn’t send any emails last week, leading me to believe that they’re suffering deliverability problems. We saw several major retailers experience difficulties getting their emails delivered last year during the first week in December, so it looks like marketers are encountering problems even earlier this year. That doesn’t bode well…

UPDATE: My observations are supported by deliverability tracking done by Pivitol Veracity, which also saw a pronounced dip in deliverability during the first part of November.

The Retail Email Participation Rate: Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week.

The Retail Email Seasonality Meter: Holiday references doubled last week as retailers closed the door on Halloween and Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Selling Seasons on the Horizon:
Thanksgiving (11/26): Thanksgiving 2008 Season Finale
Cyber Monday (11/30): Cyber Monday Sees Record Retail Email Volume
Christmas (12/25): Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season, Christmas 2008 Season Finale
New Year’s (1/1): New Year’s 2009 Season Finale
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Ping Time: Value of unopened emails, maze email, etc.

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:58:00 +0000

Our latest spin around the mediasphere turned up the following nuggets:

>>Dela Quist of Alchemy Worx talks about how unopened emails can still drive sales. >>Follow the ping

>>Anna Yeaman of StyleCampaign shares an email from the Canadian Tourism Commission that’s a sidescroller and vertical-scroller…and sidescroller and vertical-scroller… This is one of the most interesting emails I’ve seen all year. >>Follow the directions

>>MarketingSherpa has a cost-reward chart for various email activities. >>Follow the ping

>>Al Iverson of ExactTarget responds to new data showing that consumers don’t like email append. >>Follow the ping

>>Justin Premick, posting on the Email Zoo, writes about his experience signing up for Lord & Taylor emails in a store and then receiving the welcome email. >>Follow the ping

>>In Smith-Harmon’s latest Email Insider column, Darrah MacLean talks about the power of subject lines and preheaders working together in mobile environments. >>Follow the ping
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AM Inbox: Frederick's of Hollywood's email redesign

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:50:00 +0000

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Frederick’s of Hollywood, 11/5 — Make your nights hotter + $15 off your order.
Back on Oct. 30, Frederick’s of Hollywood tweaked their email template, increasing the width of their emails to 650 pixels from 610, and adding “Gifts” and “Plus” links to their navigation bar while dropping two other nav links. Because they don’t have a traditional header and they keep their nav bar and preheader height to a minimum, quite a lot of their primary message shows up in preview panes. For instance, here’s the first 300 pixels of this email:

Lands’ End, 11/5 — Free Shipping + up to 30% off all Fleece‏
In Lands’ End coat collection charity drive, BigWarmUp, they are using dynamic video content to insert names into videos. On the landing page for the call-to-action in this email, you can insert your own name into the video. But at the end of the video, you’re given the opportunity to send an email to friends that have their names dynamically added to the video as well. It definitely makes for a more personal appeal.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Macy’s, 11/5 — The Yankees win it all! Celebrate with a Waterford Crystal baseball!‏
Dick’s Sporting Goods, 11/5 — Congratulations New York - World Champs!‏
Sports Authority, 11/5 — New York Yankees are 2009 World Champions - Get Your Gear at Sports Authority‏
Eddie Bauer, 11/5 — Up to 60% Off - Veterans Day Sale - Starts Today!‏
Costco, 11/5 — Bright Red Bow. Shiny New TV. $50 OFF!
NikeStore, 11/5 — Introducing the Nike Gift Center: Something For Every Athlete on Your List‏
Victoria’s Secret, 11/5 — New! Secret Garden Holiday Collection. Sexy Scents To Tuck In Her Stocking.
Gap, 11/5 — Get 15% Off Adult Styles When You Shop for the Kids‏
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AM Inbox: Towering holiday layer cakes

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:19:00 +0000

>>Smith-Harmon has joined forces with Responsys! Learn about our expanded capabilities.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Lane Bryant, 11/4 — Email Exclusive: 30% Off Outerwear And Boots + $4.99 Shipping‏
During the holiday season there’s extra pressure to stuff your emails with lots of stacks of submessages. At Smith-Harmon we call this the layer-cake effect. Looking just at the body of this email, there’s a preview pane banner, the primary message and then five submessage banners—for a total of seven messages. While I love how scannable Lane Bryant’s submessage banners are, that’s a lot of messages. One way to combat the layer-cake effect is to use a gift services footer, which combines several messages into a single banner. For instance, their gift card, holiday shop and sweepstakes messages could have all be rolled into a single banner. For more on gift services footers, check out the Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season.

Toys “R” Us, 11/4 — A Holiday Message from Shaquille O'Neal!
Holiday time is also charity time, with many retailers aligning themselves with good causes. In this email, Toys “R” Us promotes Toys For Tots and Shaq’s involvement with it. The copy’s fairly long, but the other interesting thing in this email is that Toys “R” Us apparently places the value of a new Facebook fan at $1, which is how much they’ll donate in toys to Toys For Tots for each new Facebook fan.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Ralph Lauren, 11/4 — Proud Outfitter Of The 2010 U.S. Olympic Team‏
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/4 — Christmas 2009‏
Eddie Bauer, 11/4 — Last Day Free Shipping + Over 300 Gifts Online‏
Sephora, 11/4 — New products, great gifts‏
SmartBargains, 11/4 — Black Friday Bargain Countdown 12 Hrs Only
Williams-Sonoma, 11/4 — Save $110 on All-Clad Roasting Pan - A Thanksgiving Essential‏
Cooking.com, 11/4 — Turkey Recipes: Roasted, Deep-Fried and Grilled‏
Fingerhut, 11/4 — Fingerhut: 3 Ways to SAVE - Pick Your Favorite!
Neiman Marcus, 11/4 — Heavenly & EXCLUSIVE gowns you'll only find here‏
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AM Inbox: Dell redesigns email template, adding nav bar

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:46:00 +0000

>>Smith-Harmon has joined forces with Responsys! Learn about our expanded capabilities.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Dell, 11/3 — Check out the New Inspiron Mini Designs!
Dell has redesigned their email template, making a number of big changes. First, Dell adds a navigation bar with six links, which is about what we recommend (see Email Navigation Differs Radically from Website Navigation). Second, they’ve added more to their preheader—to the point that’s pretty cluttered. Third, just like Nike did in their new design (see Nov. 2 AM Inbox), Dell uses gradations of grey to better delineate and separate their secondary messages so they don’t all blur together. And fourth, it looks like Dell is finally dropping their “Hey, Get It Here” call-to-action, which they starting using way back in June of 2007. Definitely time to move on. One thing Dell didn’t change was the width of their emails, which they held at 700 pixels, which is 50 pixels wider than what we recommend to our clients (see Soon Even More Emails Won’t Be Optimized for Width). Here’s the new design (left) and the old design from an Oct. 26 email:

Office Depot, 11/3 — Give your business an edge‏
Just like last year, it looks like retailers will be applying the “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” label to every Friday and Monday in November and December.

Victoria’s Secret, 11/3 — New! Miraculous Push-Up adds 2 cup sizes...hello, bombshell!
With the Email Insider column of fellow Smith-Harmonite Darrah MacLean fresh in my mind, the subject line-preheader message combo caught my eye. The preheader message said, “There's never been a boost to your cleavage (and ego) like this.” It’s a great compliment to and continuation of the functional-emotional appeal made by the subject line.

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Abercrombie & Fitch, 11/3 — Have an A&F Christmas‏
MLB, 11/3 — Get started early! Shop our Gift Finder.
Saks Fifth Avenue, 11/3 — Holiday Gifts for Everyone‏
Oriental Trading, 11/3 — Save on simple holiday crafts + get free shipping‏
Ross-Simons, 11/3 — Enter Now! Ross-Simons 12 Days of Wonderful Sweepstakes‏
Costco, 11/3 — The Holidays Are Coming. Don't Miss a Single Picture-Perfect Moment!
Musician’s Friend, 11/3 — Musician's Friend: Holiday Savings Start Now With Our Pre-Holiday Warehouse Sale‏
Montgomery Ward, 11/3 — Get New Outdoor Holiday Décor with Wards Credit‏
Hallmark, 11/3 — Save $10 on the holiday gift everyone's talking about
Kohl’s, 11/3 — 50% Off SALE + Extra 15% Off Holiday Decor‏
Lillian Vernon, 11/3 — 10% Off Holiday Decor That'll Make Your Spirits Soar‏
TigerDirect, 11/3 — Top 25 Gifts Under $100, $75, $50, & $25: Blu-ray Player, Cell Phones, Digital Cameras, GPS, PC Parts & More‏‏
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AM Inbox: Christmas countdowns

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:41:00 +0000

>>Smith-Harmon has joined forces with Responsys! Learn about our expanded capabilities.

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

TigerDirect, 11/2 — Hurry: $429 HDMI 4gb Laptop...32" HDTV $329...$99 Garmin GPS...$179 PC...HP Touchsmart $769...20" LCD $99‏
TigerDirect has started counting down the weeks until Christmas, joining ShopNBC, which has been counting down from 100 days out (see Oct. 16 AM Inbox). I expect to see many more Christmas countdowns in the weeks ahead, although I think that countdowns until the end of guaranteed Christmas delivery with standard shipping are more effective in most cases. Countdowns are great because they add urgency to your message. Given the still-tough economic times, I also expect to see more recessionary messaging tactics used, such as promoting refurbished products, layaway, payment plans, etc.

(As an aside, what’s up with the three-antlered Rudolph in this creative?)

Kmart, 11/2 — Sweaters From $14. Pay The Easy Way - Kmart Layaway‏
In addition to layaway, Kmart is going after cash-strapped customers with an Smart Assist Savings Program that gives unemployed shoppers an extra 20% Kmart’s private label products.

Fingerhut, 11/2 — Fingerhut: Introducing Video + NEW Expert Channel‏
Fingerhut announces the launch of Expert Channel, which is a collection of videos. In the creative, they use an animated gif to help promote the video content. This launch follows the introduction of their new Ask & Answer feature (see Oct. 30 AM Inbox). It’s definitely a good idea to get new features like these launched well ahead of the holidays.

Here’s the animated portion of this email:

SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 11/2 — Make Thanksgiving easy. Cookware, recipes, tips and more.
Ralph Lauren, 11/2 — First Look At Holiday Gifts‏
Nordstrom, 11/2 — Holiday Free Shipping (Details Inside)
Coldwater Creek, 11/2 — Here comes SAVINGS! $30 OFF + New Holiday Arrivals‏
Frederick’s of Hollywood, 11/2 — Gifts for jingle belles and bombshells + $15 off your order.‏
Blue Nile, 11/2 — Shop Early and Save 10% on Holiday Gifts + Free FedEx Shipping‏
Fingerhut, 11/2 — It's Gift Giving Time! Buy Now And Save Up To $20!
Lane Bryant, 11/2 — Visit Our Gift Guide + Save On Shipping‏
Hanna Andersson, 11/2 — Save 20% On ALL Hannas, Including Holiday Long Johns For Families!
Eddie Bauer, 11/2 — Free Shipping, No Minimum 3 Days Only + 100s of Gifts Online‏
Ann Taylor, 11/2 — Wrap Up In Our Sumptuous Sweaters + Last Days: $39.50 Perfect Pieces‏
JC Whitney, 11/2 — Prepare For Snow And Ice Plus $40 Off Your Order!
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The Most Popular Posts during October 2009

cwhite@smith-harmon.com (Chad White) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:00:00 +0000

The posts that were visited the most during the month:

10. AM Inbox: First embedded video in retail email
9. AM Inbox: This deal's surprise is not a good one
8. AM Inbox: Bloomingdale's and Art.com email redesigns
7. Reportlet: Many Retailers Not Optimizing Preheader Text
6. AM Inbox: Serialized content as easy as 1-2-3
5. Ping Time: Google Wave, getting clicks, address capture 'tricks,' etc.
4. AM Inbox: eBags email redesign + an inflated preheader
3. Email Design Look Book 2009
2. Retail Email Guide to the Holiday Season: Executive Summary
1. Takeaways from ExactTarget Connections 2009

Looking to get a jump on ideas for this month? Then check out the November 2008 archive for inspiration and trends from last year.
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