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.
In our last edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the luxury car segment: Jaguar, Mercedes, and Porsche. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
Within the first 2 weeks only Jaguar sent an email beyond any welcome communications to capitalize on this opportunity to establish a solid foundation with subscribers. This first email was received just over 24 hours after opt-in, and it was fairly important that Jaguar send this message quickly since they had been one of the competitors who did not deploy a welcome message.
This email relied heavily upon images, an issue that was made even worse since they did not employ alt tags to convey what the reader is missing. Thus, when this message is viewed with images off, it appears very blank within the top portion of the preview pane.
Jaguar did incorporate a text area in the message, however it is too low in the design to offset the damage done in the top area. The email does include a couple best practice-related items by utilizing personalization. They bring in both the subscriber’s first name and identify the email address the message was intended for. As noted in past reviews, listing this email address can assist in reducing a subscriber’s confusion in cases of old email addresses that have been forwarded, etc.
EMAIL PREFERENCE OPTIONS
Mercedes appears to provide the most options for subscribers of these 3 competitors, as even though we did not receive an email, we can make some assumptions based on their website. When you view the “Policies” area, you can then navigate to the “Manage Email Subscriptions” section. When you enter in your email address it pulls up all of the preferences that you selected selected during opt-in, allowing you to make updates as needed.
Jaguar doesn’t feature any preference options, only including an unsubscribe link which doesn’t lead to any of the numerous fields that subscribers enter during opt-in.
As we did not receive an email beyond the opt-in confirmation message from Porsche, we cannot evaluate their typical preference options. Within the confirmation email there was not even an unsubscribe link (as it was a transactional-type email), thus we needed to explore the website extensively to find the unsubscribe functionality. This requires a multi-step process – clicking on “Dialog and Newsletter”, then “Porsche Newsletter”, then the “Subscribe” link (a fairly odd link to have to click in order to reach an unsubscribe capability!), and then hitting an unsubscribe link on the far left which allows you to finally enter your email address for them to remove. We would assume for CAN-SPAM compliance that their usual email marketing methods include at least a clear unsubscribe link on messages beyond this confirmation email.
Watch for our next edition in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate the campaigns of 3 new competitors!
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.
In our last edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the do-it-yourself home improvement segment: The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
Both The Home Depot and Menards sent out additional campaigns beyond the welcome email within the first 2 weeks, but there was a vast difference in timing and quantity. Menards capitalized on the interest of a new subscriber by sending 7 emails spread throughout this timeframe while The Home Depot sent 2 emails arriving around 1 and 2 weeks beyond opt-in. Please note that 7 emails over 2 weeks may be considered to be too many by some Menards subscribers, however as described in our last post they allow subscribers to set their frequency preferences during the opt-in process. Both competitors are much more aggressive than Lowe’s, which didn’t send anything beyond the welcome message within the first 2 weeks – missing out on establishing a solid foundation with subscribers.
Emails sent by both The Home Depot and Menards included various best practice-related items. The Home Depot emails included links to their involvement in social media and an excellent use of snippet text above the email creative. Menards included a prominent forward to a friend function and provides the email address that is subscribed. As noted in past reviews, this can assist in reducing a subscriber’s confusion in cases of old email addresses that have been forwarded, etc. Both competitors include reminders to add them to your address book to ensure future delivery and view in a browser links (The Home Depot displaying this link above the creative and Menards putting this archive copy link below the email – a trend we are beginning to see with some e-marketers that are seeing a low amount of activity on these links).
The Home Depot has done a decent job of employing alt tags on images so that all is not lost when images are off. However, they employed an ever better technique within small sections of some emails (like on the “$50 to $200 OFF” section at the base of that screen shot) – utilizing text as opposed to relying totally on images. However, in that same email this technique could have been applied to the main content item about crime prevention month, using text and background colors/images to achieve the same look and feel without resulting in blank section relying only on alt tags with images off.
Menards, on the other hand, has relied greatly on images within their emails and incorporates alt tags – however they are not greatly informative (compared to the content with images on). In this same email, they also used a fairly “spammy” subject line (These Savings Will Blow You Away) and have a call to action within an animated gif as the “Click Here For Additional Savings” option does not appear until the last frame (note – some email clients do not support animation and thus only the first image will display).
EMAIL PREFERENCE OPTIONS
Menards provides the most options for subscribers of these 3 competitors. They include an “Update your preferences” link on all messages – taking you to a preferences page that allows you to add/remove yourself from their various email types, as well as setting a frequency for emails from Menards.
The Home Depot has an “adjust your account settings” link on all messages – taking you to their version of a preferences page. However, it turns out that regarding email preferences this is basically a glorified unsubscribe page with no additional options related to email type or frequency.
As we did not receive an email beyond the opt-in confirmation message from Lowe’s, we cannot evaluate their typical preference options. However, within the confirmation email there was only a very indirect method of performing an unsubscribe request…clicking on a Privacy link and then scrolling through their privacy policy to find out that we must send an email to remove@lowes.com with a particular subject line. We would assume for CAN-SPAM compliance that their usual email marketing methods include at least a clear unsubscribe link on messages beyond this confirmation email.
Watch for our next edition in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate the campaigns of 3 new competitors!
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.
In our first edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the sports apparel segment: Nike, Reebok, and adidas. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
All 3 competitors sent out additional campaigns beyond the opt-in and welcome within the first 2 weeks. However each of the companies waited a considerable amount of time before deploying the first email. adidas communicated closest to the opt-in date (day 5) and the was the most frequent sender (as they sent 5 messages beyond the welcome). Reebok and Nike waited even longer before sending their first (and only) additional emails, with Reebok’s arriving on day 7 and Nike taking the full 2 weeks – arriving on day 14. Nike should take a cue from a retailer I reviewed in a previous post – Gander Mountain, as they could have benefited from a very quick first additional email, since like Gander Mountain they did not send a welcome email.
All 3 competitors had links to view their emails in a browser at the top of each email, while only adidas and Nike featured reminders to add them to your address book to ensure the delivery of future messages. It turned out to very important that all 3 companies include the view in a browser feature, as all of their emails are very image heavy and include a minimal use of alt tags to provide key information with images off.
