Posted by Drew Miller on September 17th, 2009
There are many ways to obtain customer permission for your opt in email marketing program. In this edition of the Email Marketing Minute, we will examine hand-written email opt in forms.
Posted by Nic Winters on September 15th, 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 upscale clothing retail segment: Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, and J. Crew.
OPT-IN PROCESS
The opt-in placement on these 3 competitors’ websites was fairly poor, placing the opt-in opportunity at the very bottom of the page below a large image – requiring scrolling. However, Banana Republic and Eddie Bauer did a much better job of calling attention to the opt-in area than J. Crew – which practically hid this capability by using just a small line of text asking you to opt-in.
Banana Republic’s opt-in form wins the data collection prize as they allow you to specify your interest areas, provide your birth date (as they will send you an birthday offer), and ask if you are interested in receiving emails from any of their other brands. The other 2 competitors allow for much fewer options, however at least J. Crew lets you specify your sex in order to potentially customize offerings – unlike Eddie Bauer.
All 3 competitors do an excellent job of pushing you to start shopping with messages on their thank you pages. However, only Eddie Bauer’s page suggests that you add them to your address book to ensure the delivery of future emails.
WELCOME MESSAGE
Greetings from all 3 retailers arrived within minutes of opt-in – a very timely response to begin the email relationship. Both Eddie Bauer and J. Crew utilized very large images within their messages. However with images off these messages appear very differently as Eddie Bauer has coded their email to limit the image size – leaving only a small piece of alt text in what appears to be an extremely short email. J. Crew did not utilize any alt tags for their large image of stylized text (which could have been coded as a solely as text), thus resulting in what appears as a blank email in the preview pane. J. Crew also utilized a poor from name of “ContactUs” on their welcome email – an issue they resolve on all following emails (where they change this to “J.Crew”)
At first glance it appears that Banana Republic crafted their welcome message considerably better with images off in mind – and also sport a welcome offer for free shipping (a great way to reinforce the value that will be supplied within your future emails). However, when viewed with images off one sees that they have made each of the blocks of text contained within images – resulting in only alt text within the email with images disabled.
Watch for Part 2 in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate campaigns sent beyond the welcome message and preference editing options.
Posted by Nic Winters on September 1st, 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.
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!
Posted by Nic Winters on July 27th, 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.
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.
Posted by Nic Winters on July 17th, 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 sports apparel segment: Nike, Reebok, and adidas.
OPT-IN PROCESS
The opt-in process for all 3 competitors has been fairly well constructed. Nike takes the most simplistic approach – collecting additional fields of zip code, birthdate, and gender. Nike highlights email signup very well on their main page as it stands out in the middle of their website with only a minor scroll downward to reach this area.
Reebok could use an improved wording on their opt-in link, currently displaying only a link in the top right that says “Register”. However, they collect a great amount of information in a two step opt-in form while still keeping the process fun for the subscriber. They allow the subscriber to specify their interest level in each of the sports Reebok apparel may apply to, favorite colors, and supply a rating on how you use these products (on the field/off the field).
adidas features an “eMail Sign Up” link at the top-center of their website – a great location and clear wording. Their opt-in page goes above and beyond those of their competitors as they display sample emails to show you what you can expect as a subscriber – setting expectations for a solid relationship. Their form collects useful segmentation information including which types of adidas retail newsletters you would like to receive along with your sport and style interests. Finally, the opt-in page also includes the ability to sign up for mobile alerts regarding new products, events, and downloads.
WELCOME MESSAGE
Greetings from both Reebok and adidas arrived around 2 minutes beyond opt-in – a very timely response to begin the email relationship… whereas Nike failed to send any confirmation or thank you via email.
Reebok has crafted their welcome message to be very well formatted for images being disabled, as the email is mostly text that lets the subscriber know what to expect and providing a link to access your account. However the from address of no-reply@service.reebok.com is not very inviting and they do not provide any notice on the message to add them to your address book to ensure future delivery.
The welcome email sent by adidas has text visible above the fold but carries more brand styling than found in the Reebok message. However, adidas could have coded their call-to-action links within the body using background images with blocks of background color and text so they were not lost with images off. This email includes a link to begin shopping and also provides the subscriber with a chance to join an “Insiders” group to be the first to see new products – a great way to increase the perceived value of future emails.
These 2 competitors fail to provide any true discount or offer in their welcome messages to entice the new subscriber to begin shopping right away – clearly a missed opportunity, but still a step above Nike, which didn’t send a welcome at all!
Watch for Part 2 in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate campaigns sent beyond the welcome message and preference editing options.
Check out Part 2 of The First 2 Weeks: Arts and Crafts available now only on The Digital Spin! http://budurl.com/2wksarts2 #
