The First 2 Weeks – Arts & Crafts Retail: Part 1 of 2
Posted by Nic Winters on November 10th, 2009
Welcome again to The First 2 Weeks, where we analyze 3 competitors’ email marketing strategies when it is most crucial… the opt-in process, welcome message, and first few campaigns as these marketers attempt to establish relationships with subscribers.
For this edition of The First 2 Weeks, we have chosen 3 competitors in the arts and crafts retail segment: Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann, and Michael’s.
OPT-IN PROCESS
The opt-in placement on these 3 competitors’ websites was fairly similar, placing the opt-in opportunity near the top right of the homepage – not requiring scrolling. However, Hobby Lobby did the best job of calling attention to the opt-in area. Jo-Ann’s opt-in area blends into the background a little too easily, and Michael’s is practically trying to hide the opt-in area with a very small “Register” link that is quite muted (on top of the fact that “Register” doesn’t exactly scream opt-in for emails).
All 3 competitors’ opt-in forms are quite lengthy, collecting a great deal of information that could be valuable for email segmentation efforts. Both Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann do however provide the interested party with the opportunity to quickly sign up and skip these additional details (with Hobby Lobby highlighting a required section and Jo-Ann offering an express sign-up section). On the other hand, Michael’s requires an immense amount of fields including a username and password, postal address, and birth date (items that could detract from getting email subscribers). However, overall, all 3 competitors offer some great options during the opt-in process such as your various interests and which types of e-newsletters you would like to receive.
WELCOME MESSAGE
Greetings from both Jo-Ann and Michael’s arrived within 10 minutes beyond opt-in – a timely response to begin the email relationship, whereas Hobby Lobby failed to send any confirmation or thank you via email. However, this is fairly forgivable as they provide you with a coupon right on their website the moment you complete the opt-in form… but they should have promoted this perk on their homepage to entice subscribers!
Both Jo-Ann and Michael’s remind subscriber’s to add their from address to their address book to ensure future delivery. Jo-Ann includes a couple more best practices by including a prominent forward link at the top and by listing the email address that is opted-in (to avoid confusion in cases of old email addresses that have been forwarded, etc.). Both competitors also establish the value of their email programs quickly by providing a coupon in these welcome emails. Michael’s doesn’t feature any sort of graphic representation of this coupon within their message – instead they rely upon a fairly simplistic “Print Coupon” button. Jo-Ann does feature a graphic of the coupon, however they bury below the preview pane… thus it is a good thing that they place a simple link above the body of their message linking to the print location.
Overall Michael’s takes a non-flashy approach to email design, utilizing mainly text – thus, very little is lost with images off. Jo-Ann has incorporated alt tags for many of their images so when images are disabled the reader is not left clueless… however, the largest portion of the preview pane is used by 2 large images that were left with no alt tags. Michael’s also experienced some alt tag issues, exposing a lesson for all of us. As you build an email design, be careful with labels that you intend only for internal use – or you may end up like Michael’s, who display 2 alt tags that say “spacer” within the areas that blank images display with images on.
Watch for Part 2 in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate campaigns sent beyond the welcome message and preference editing options.
Very good observations. Look forward to part 2. BTW, Michaels doesn’t have an apostrophe.