Posts Tagged ‘email rendering’
Posted by Nic Winters on November 19th, 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 arts and crafts retail segment: Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann, and Michael’s. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
Both Hobby Lobby and Michael’s sent out additional campaigns beyond the welcome email within the first 2 weeks, both sending 2 additional emails. Both competitors were much more aggressive than Jo-Ann, which didn’t send anything beyond the welcome message within the first 2 weeks – missing out on this chance to quickly establish a solid foundation with subscribers.
The emails sent by Hobby Lobby include very heavy image use, however they did a good job of using informative alt tags so that all is not lost with images off. They did a very good job of sticking with a template for their design as well, as additional messages arrive in the inbox with the exact same design setup. Thus, subscribers quickly learn what to expect and where they can find the information they are looking for. However, within this design they have pushed the coupon far too low in the design – as this is an item that should be featured near the top to drive redemptions and maintain high interest in their email offerings. This design framework also always includes a quirky quote at the base of the email – a creative touch that I could see some subscribers seeking out on future emails.
Hobby Lobby incorporated a few other best practice items, however each of them was slightly flawed as they are all hidden too low in their email. They linked to their RSS feed capability, allowed you to forward to a friend and gave the ability to subscribe if you were forwarded an email… but each of these become lost as they are low in the email.
On their first additional message, Michael’s did a great job of using both text and background colors to develop an email design that is images off friendly. However, even though they have incorporated this tactic, they fall behind at the same time since none of their images included alt tags. This is especially evident when you reach the coupon section of the email (like Hobby Lobby… once again too low in the creative) and you have no indication there is a coupon without images enabled. They also successfully incorporated a forward link at the top of their message and remind their subscribers to add them to their address book to ensure delivery.
We have identified some flaws in this first message from Michael’s in addition to some successful best practice items, however in their second message it is hard to find a single item to praise. The email is comprised entirely of images… and not a single one contains an alt tag – leaving you with a completely blank email with images off. This leaves me wondering why they didn’t take the same text and background color approach they used on the first message as the entire right side of this message could have been achieved with text.
EMAIL PREFERENCE OPTIONS
In offering preference options Michael’s falls behind their competitors, as they only provide a simple unsubscribe link on all messages. Both Hobby Lobby and Jo-Ann instead provide robust preference capabilities that may assist in retaining subscribers.
Hobby Lobby features an “Update Your Subscription” link at the top of each message which takes you to an easy form to check off the subscriptions you would like.
Jo-Ann takes a slightly different approach with their link (at the base of emails) leading to a page that allows you to select to receive all emails or fewer… even spelling out the estimated frequency related to these options.
Watch for our next edition in the coming weeks in which we will evaluate the campaigns of 3 new competitors!
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Posted by Nic Winters on November 2nd, 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 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!
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Posted by Nic Winters on September 28th, 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 upscale clothing retail segment: Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer, and J. Crew. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
All 3 competitors made a definite impression over the first 2 weeks by sending additional emails beyond the welcome message. Both Eddie Bauer (6 emails) and J. Crew (5 emails) however were a little more aggressive than Banana Republic – who sent 2 emails over that same timeframe.
Each of these e-marketers utilized designs with large images that contained mainly text (thus not optimizing their creative for images being disabled). Banana Republic featured an eye-catching design, but the text across the top and down the left side was actually included in the image – causing a blank appearance with images off. Eddie Bauer sent an email that was nearly all text but as they coded this in images, it too appeared blank with images disabled. J. Crew followed in their footsteps with this email boasting a sale with what appeared to be all text, and once again with images off… all is lost. Compounding these issues is the fact that both Eddie Bauer and J. Crew are using image mapping on some of their emails (making sections within images linked to separate URLS) within these large images – a feature that is not supported by all email clients.
However, even though these emails are not designed with images off in mind – all 3 competitors are incorporating various best practices as well. Eddie Bauer and J. Crew are both reminding subscribers to add them to their address book (to ensure future message delivery) and provide forward to a friend capabilities. J. Crew even takes this a step further by including a link for your friend to opt-in if the message has been forwarded to them. All 3 are promoting their involvement in social media within their emails (including Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube). Each of the competitors are also using snippet text above their creative, however J. Crew is hampering their efforts by placing this text below their link to view a mobile version – causing the mobile link text to appear in the inbox next to the subject line instead of the snippet text, etc.
In my eyes, Banana Republic committed the worst crime of this group in only their second email to me post-welcome message. To my surprise I received a promotional email from one of their other stores, Piperlime, stating that they thought I would enjoy hearing about these deals… even though I chose not to select to receive messages from their other brands during the opt-in process. Even worse, at the base of the email I found that they weren’t just supplying me with a chance to opt-in for further Piperlime emails… I was required take action if I wished to remain on the Banana Republic list but not receive Piperlime emails!
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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!
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Posted by Rob Ropars on August 11th, 2009
A few days ago (8/7) I received an email from Famous Dave’s, a favorite local BBQ restaurant, and I was looking forward to a coupon for my next visit. The subject line appeared to have some problems and I opened the email knowing there might be an issue. Thus began a journey that would last another three days. Three days before I was able to see the actual offer, and based the nature of the offer I won’t be able to participate any way…
The subject line really stopped me dead in my tracks. As someone who works on clients’ email marketing efforts, I know there’s always a risk a test version might accidentally deploy to a recipient list. That definitely appears to be the case here as the subject line included some internal reference to the fact that it was a test: “##TEST##TECH 1 HTML##Treat the Dave in your life to a free meal!”
I had an inkling that whatever the offer was, the name “Dave” was involved. I was hopeful that this generically meant a “Dave” as in a Famous Dave’s lover. A BBQ lover. A lover of all things Famous Dave’s… Then I opened the email…
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