January 23, 2012 | By: Travis
It’s a known fact that many people read their personal email during work hours. In fact, the most popular time to view email is between the hours of 6 and 11 am. That being said, there are many retailers who try to take advantage by offering short daytime sales. These sales are brief, usually only lasting 6 hours or less. If recipients are willing to look at their personal email while at work, they just might be willing to purchase something as well. These emails are usually chock-full of visual urgency, which is often achieved via the use of bold text, vibrant colors, and captivating photography.
Below are some examples from a few top retailers who want you to shop while the boss isn’t looking.
*Notice how Neiman Marcus starts the sale at 11:30 am which is only 30 minutes past the 6-11 am prime time for viewing emails. Coincidence? I think not.
Got questions? Call or contact us, we’re always happy to help.
Tags: Email Design, Email engagement, email marketing, email tactics
Posted in Email Design, Email Layout, News | No Comments »
January 16, 2012 | By: Travis
I found a recent email from J. Crew interesting; and it’s not because it has to do with weddings or that the groom in the picture has decided he’s going sans-socks. What I find interesting is they are using the power of their list to essentially market for them. It’s a sort of indirect tactic where they’re asking the recipient to forward the email to someone it’s relevant to. This means the email has the potential to go beyond their list.
Got questions? Call or contact us, we’re always happy to help.
Tags: Email Design, Email engagement, email marketing, email tactics
Posted in Email Design, Email Layout, eCommerce Email Marketing | No Comments »
January 11, 2012 | By: Travis
It’s interesting how retailers can make a sale out of almost anything. A trend I’ve noticed lately is retailers jumping on the football playoff bandwagon, even if football really has nothing to do with their product(s). Below are few examples I’ve seen.
Sam’s Club is promoting products typically associated with the “Man Cave”. Large high-definition televisions, surround sound audio, and other items to make the game watching experience more enjoyable.
Tiger Direct has an obscure approach in which they seem to be promoting products that don’t necessarily have anything to do with the big game. Nothing gets you fired up for playoff football like nice laptop, right? Regardless, they are still trying to take advantage of playoff fever.
In 2011, we worked on a campaign for Waterford Crystal which promoted the winner of the BCS championship game. This email directly correlated to game by featuring Auburn Tigers memorabilia.
If there’s one thing I take from this trend it’s that there’s never a shortage of reasons or opportunities to run a promotion or sale. So don’t miss an opportunity to take advantage and get creative with your promotions! If you have any questions or would like some pointers or design ideas, contact me here.
Tags: eCommerce Email Marketing, Email Design
Posted in Email Design, News, eCommerce Email Marketing | No Comments »
November 14, 2011 | By: Megan
There is no denying that shopping cart abandonment campaigns work. Lost sales are recaptured through the timely, triggered campaigns. A simple campaign is enough to generate sales; but just like other email marketing campaigns, different factors can greatly impact campaign performance. Personalization. Timing. A series of messages vs. a single message. Graphics. Offers. Subject Lines. And so on. Each factor can change the outcome of the campaign.
We recently released a shopping cart abandonment email campaign look book highlighting 20 different campaigns from top Internet Retailers. The guide shows a wide variety of campaigns and provides our insight into what we love about each campaign and items we’d test about each campaign.
If you’re just getting started with shopping cart abandonment or if it’s time to refresh your campaigns, this guide provides a lot of good ideas for you to consider. Download it here, or contact us with questions.
We’re also hosting a webinar this Wednesday 11/16 at 1:00 ET discussing the results of our latest study on the Internet Retailer 1000′s shopping cart abandonment practices. Register here.
Tags: Shopping Cart Abandonment
Posted in Shopping Cart Abandonment | No Comments »
October 14, 2011 | By: Megan
We released our third shopping cart abandonment study this week (which you may read or download here) and we were shocked that only 14.6% of the 1000 largest websites send remarketing campaigns to cart abandoners. Why? A timely email reminder series is the single greatest thing you can do to increase online sales. It’s not hard to implement. Once it is set up, it runs in the background with little maintenance. The sales literally just roll in.
But don’t take my word for it. We have case study after case study after case study discussing the real benefits of a shopping cart abandonment program.
In a couple of weeks, Karen Nuss and I will release a look book containing samples of some of the remarketing campaigns we received during the study. We discuss what we love about the campaigns and point out areas we would test to see if we could increase results. The email campaigns differed greatly in scope, strategy, and design. We included a variety of the messages, including campaigns consisting of a single message, a single message with a follow up phone call from a customer service representative, two message campaigns, and three message campaigns. It will be a good reference guide for online retailers, whether you’re just getting started with shopping cart abandonment or if you want to fine tune your communications.
And, as always, we’re here to help. Shopping cart abandonment is one of our passions. We love talking about it. We love testing and tweaking campaigns to find what works best. We love studying trends and we especially love implementing successful campaigns. Contact us if you’re ready to learn how you can benefit from a solution.
Posted in Shopping Cart Abandonment | No Comments »
October 5, 2011 | By: Megan
Email marketing is constantly evolving in a Darwinism-natural selection sort of way. Subscribers don’t respond to email newsletters the way they used to, so email marketers became smarter and savvier and implemented behaviorally triggered email campaigns that send the right content at the right time. But, just like our arms didn’t fall off when humans learned to walk upright, your email campaigns can’t abandon the basic best practices.
Inboxes have changed. Gmail offers Priority Inbox which automatically organizes emails based on importance. Hotmail is replacing the old “This is Spam” button with a newer “Sweep” feature, which allows recipients to remove unwanted emails without negatively impacting the sender’s reputation. The spam button has become a quick and dirty unsubscribe method for unwanted messages; however, many of the messages technically aren’t spam as the subscribers initially opted-in to the senders’ lists.
But this fact remains the same: inboxes are crowded. You must do everything you can to help your messages stand out…starting with ensuring your messages reach the inbox. Deliverability best practices include:
- Using a dedicated IP address
- Configuring your email serve correctly
- Authenticating your messages
- Monitoring bounces and complaints
- Sending messages to a seed list to test deliverability and renderability
- Checking for blacklisting
- Removing or suppressing inactive subscribers
- Sending relevant and timely messages
- Avoiding “spammy” words and tactics, such as including an IP address in links, typing the subject line in all caps and/or bold letters, etc.
Once you make it to the inbox, here are some tips for standing out:
- Use short, intriguing subject lines
- Find what works for your customers – we noticed that one of our clients’ email ROI spikes whenever they use “Today Only” in its subject lines
- Be specific and set the right expectations
- Identify your company in the From line
And, when your emails are opened, be sure they:
- Have a clear call-to-action
- Render correctly
- Contain links that go to specific landing pages
- Maintain your corporate branding
- Are relevant to subscribers
These tips are pretty simple, but sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the new trends and lose sight of the basics. For even more tips, check out the best practices section of our resource center.
Posted in Deliverability, News, Subject Lines | No Comments »
August 15, 2011 | By: Megan
The holidays are right around the corner and we have everything you need to make it your best ever! It’s your busiest time of year – but a little advanced planning will go a long way!
Free Online 2011 Holiday Retail Email Campaign Calendar
Not sure how to get started with your holiday planning? View our online calendar for tips and suggestions. Online retailers – we have a limited supply of printed calendars available. Contact us if you’d like a copy mailed to you.
Free Online 2011 Holiday Retail Email Campaign Interactive Planner
This interactive calendar includes strategies, implementation plans, key campaigns, and suggested deployment dates – everything you need to get started. You can download it for free and make changes to fit your requirements.
Best Holiday Ever! Packages from Listrak
If you need a little more help, we’re offering a number of different packages with holiday templates and deployments to help relieve your workload. Our designers will make the HTML templates to your specs and you can pick your own deployment dates that make the most sense for your business.
- Package 1 – 1 HTML template and 4 messages
- Package 2 – 2 HTML templates and 7 messages
- Package 3 – 3 HTML templates and 12 messages
Contact us for pricing, and have the best holiday ever!
Tags: Holiday Email Campaigns
Posted in Holiday Email Tips | No Comments »
July 20, 2011 | By: Megan
The holiday season is almost here. It’s a busy time for everyone, but especially for online retailers. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be offering tips on what you should be focusing on logistically to make sure your lists are healthy, your campaigns are done early, and you actually have time to enjoy the holiday season!
Right now, you should be focusing on your subscribers’ preferences and lists. Size matters, so consider sending out an acquisition sweepstakes campaign like Waterford did last year (you can read about it here and here.) You should also look at your bounce reports and postal files and use an ECOA/Email Append service to update your list.
If you have a preference center, send out an email asking customers to update their preferences so they receive the right content and cadence of emails from you this holiday season. If you don’t have a preference center you can still update subscribers’ profiling attributes in Listrak so you can easily segment them.
Spending a little extra time managing your list now will ensure you reach as many customers as possible this holiday season; and, doing this early will help you avoid the holiday rush. If you need help, talk to one of our email experts today.
Posted in Email Acquisition, Email Append, Holiday Email Tips | No Comments »
June 29, 2011 | By: Brian
Brainstorming to optimize subject lines, conversion, timing and other variables with colleagues can produce great ideas. The problem is finding the best one. Many of us rely on our “gut,” copy competitors or blindly follow “best practices” instead of what we should be doing… testing.
In “Which Test Won? A Research-Based Look at What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why,” Anne Holland, President of Anne Holland Ventures, presents several real-life case studies that illustrate how A/B split testing results in more revenue and a stronger competitive advantage.
Examples include:
Posted in Split Testing | No Comments »
June 29, 2011 | By: Brian
Measuring customer behavior is no longer the biggest challenge. Instead, it’s become what to do with the data once you have it.
Kevin Hillstrom, President of MineThatData, explains how data analysis makes your email campaigns more relevant in his presentation, “Not All Attributes are Created Equally.” He covers concepts like:
Posted in Analytics | No Comments »
