Searching for the Perfect e-Dialog Holiday Party Outfit

e-Dialog conducts research on the customer purchase path because we recognize that marketers need the ability to communicate with their customers through various connection points in multiple channels.  (Read more in The Online Marketing Suite.)

 

Our research found that the typical purchase path has 3.8 touch points.  This means that a customer saw your print/online/broadcast ad and was introduced to your product or service.  Next, they likely did some research either on your website, a review site, or even by posting a status asking for opinions on their Facebook wall.  This second connection likely influenced whether or not they considered buying from you.  If they wanted to purchase, they probably looked for a deal online or in their email archive.  Finally, they purchased either digitally (yes, this includes e-, m-, or f-Commerce) or in-store.  This totals 4 touches - and there are endless other combinations of introducing, influencing, and closing advertising activities involved.

 

Key findings:

    - There are 3.8 touches in the typical purchase path

    - 36-50% of purchase paths involve more than one touch point

    - If the path includes multiple touches, the average order value is likely to increase by 42%

 

I would like to detail the recent purchase path I traveled while shopping for the e-Dialog holiday party (our Facebook page probably has some pictures!).  My path probably starts in August 2011 when I bought a dress for a wedding at White House | Black Market.  Since then, I’ve been receiving catalogs for the store at my home address.  In a recent catalog I saw a patterned silk top I liked. 

 

Next, I visited the website to see additional pictures of the item.  I decided I definitely liked it and that it would be great for the party.  So, I checked my email archive for any recent deals or promo codes.  Finally, I went to the store to try on the top.  I ended up buying it – along with 3 pairs of jeans that I found there! 

 

To recap, after 1) seeing the catalog, 2) viewing the item online, 3) checking recent WHBM emails, I ended up 4) spending almost $200 in store. 

 

While the company did not offer an e-receipt option, or send an immediate thank you, I did receive an email to rate my purchase 1 week later.  This was definitely a multi-channel win:

 

 

Overall, I was extremely happy with all aspects of the experience.  However, for the purpose of continuous improvement, I do have to point out a multi-channel miss: I went back to the site soon after my store visit to look at the swim collection that was announced via a recent email.  The swim line is not available in local stores so I considered ordering online.  I had trouble logging in to receive my loyalty program discount.  I chatted (online) with a customer service representative who quickly realized that while I had an in-store purchase history, I had a very old online profile – from two addresses ago!  (This is a perfect case for why getting the “big data” together to get the 360 view of your customer is so important!)

 

All Hail to the Sale-Presidents' Day is Here!

Wow, my inbox still has a rosy glow from Valentine's Day, but now it's been taken over by red, white and blue! Retailers are not waiting until the actual holiday to get the sale started.

 

Pottery Barn sent this email on Thursday, offering a head start on savings of up to 60% off. 

 

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston took a more literal approach, offering 25% off gifts inspired by the famous painting, Passage of the Delaware, which depicts George Washington prior to the Battle of Trenton. 

 

 

J. Jill uses animation to draw an Uncle Sam-style hat on top of their sale announcement in this email. Click on the image to see the animated version.

 

Who gets your vote this Presidents' Day?

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Feeling the Love

This year, it seems like Valentine's Day has really become a focus for marketers. My inbox is overflowing with love, in the email sense, anyway. This has taken the form of free gifts, special promotions, and even color themes. 

 

Here's an example from Lands' End which turns the tables a bit, showing how much their customers love them. This email features a comment they received on the Facebook wall detailing all the things Arlene loves about Lands' End. Although the cynic in me thinks this is a little too perfect for a spontaneous Facebook comment.

 

 

J. Jill and Lucy both went with a color theme, promoting red and pink clothing. 

 

 

Clarins offered a free gift with purchase for Valentine's Day, but what I liked more was the follow up email. The subject line was "Did you get what you really wanted for Valentine's Day?" and they extended the free gift offer for one more day.

 

 

What emails did you love this Valentine's Day?

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

Love vs. Football: The Battle for the Inbox

I don't know about you, but for the last week or so, pretty much every marketing email I get is either about Valentine's Day or "The Big Game" as so many like to call it for trademark reasons. Some tie-ins are pretty weak, others are kind of inspired, so I wanted to share some favorites with you. 

This email from Uncommon Goods goes beyond the traditional "romantic" Valentine's Day options, and includes ideas for best friends, teens, pet lovers, music lovers, etc.

 

 

I also liked this email from Fab.com, which encourages personalized Valentine's Day gifts for a cliche-free V-Day. It can be hard to find gifts that aren't super sappy, like stuffed bears holding a heart, so it's nice to showcase modern, unique gifts. 

 

I also liked this email from Tuesday Morning, with the subject line "Love Means Never Having to Say I Spent Too Much Online." I also like that they ask what movie inspired the subject line and direct subscribers to Facebook to post their favorite romantic movie. 

 

For football themes, I liked this message from the Christmas Tree Shops, which features everything you might need to watch the game on Sunday. I like the background that simulates the football field and also the circles and arrows which remind me of the telestrator commentators use when talking about a play. 

 

Crate and Barrel get in on the game day action by also showcasing the items to have on hand if you're hosting a party. They keep it a little more formal, but I like that each item they show in the hero image is then repeated below along with price. 

 

Finally, I have this example from Dancing Deer that incorporates both the big game and Valentine's Day in the same email. I also noticed that they've added Pinterest to their social sharing links in the footer. I think this is the first time I've seen it in an email this way. 

 

I'd love to hear from you who you think is being creative for Valentine's Day or the big game!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Marketing Wrap-up: Week of January 20, 2012

Wow-a big week for online marketers! Let's get right into it.

 

The big (BIG!) story this week is of course SOPA. SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act. This act was proposed as a way to protect copyright holders from online piracy, however, as written, it could change the way the Internet functions, by shutting down, and banning companies from doing business with, sites that have been flagged as hosting copyrighted material. This would mean sites which allowed user-generated content, including comments, would need to monitor that content to be sure it was not copyrighted. The fear is this would be overwhelming, and sites would simply stop allowing user-generated content. This week, numerous web sites went dark in protest of SOPA,  and encouraged users to contact their government representatives. It seems to have worked, since the sponsor of the bill has withdrawn support and it looks the bill will be revised to address some of the issues. Check out this article for a good overview. Also, you may want to take a look at Mashable's round up of their coverage. 

 

In Facebook news, they announced this week that sixty apps are now integrated with Timeline, including Pinterest, the new darling everyone is talking about, plus eBay, TripAdvisor, Zynga, and others. These apps use Facebook's OpenGraph for what they call "frictionless sharing" which is similar to the way apps like Spotify share what music you're listening to. Fab.com will apparently reward you for enabling Timeline posting and doing some social shopping. If you enable friends to see when you make a Fab.com purchase, you get a $5 monthly credit. If you also reveal your Fab.com username, another $5 credit, for a possible $10 per month. This looks like it is going to be valid through May 2012, so it looks like you could possibly get $40 total in credits to spend on the site. The email below was sent to customers. It's a little light on details, IMO. 

For retailers, this week was the National Retail Federation's Big Show in NYC. e-Dialog was there along with GSI Commerce, PayPal and Milo. You can take a look at NRF's blog posts from the show here and be sure to check out eBay Ink as well.

 

Well, that's it. Another busy week gone by. Until next time!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Are Your Fans as Passionate as Glee's?

A while back, I wrote a post that talked about the FOX show Glee, and the tips email marketers could learn from it. Little did I know that I was tapping into not only an audience of email marketers, but also a passionate Glee fanbase. I wanted to share with you some of the comments we received from Glee fans and also some lessons we can learn. 

 

Lesson #1: Fans want to share ideas with you

One of the reasons we got so many comments on this post is because if you Google email and Glee, one of the top results is our blog post. So obviously, Glee fans are looking for a way to reach out to the show creators to give them feedback. Here are a couple of comments:

Why do you completely ignore the instrumentalists that back up the singers on Glee? Every high school usually has a Band Director, why is there no character playing this role? At one point one of the singers actually referred to the pianist who backs them up, all the time, as "Furniture." How insulting to the fine musicians that make these kids sound great! There are other musical instruments being played besides the guitar and it takes top professional musicians years to learn their craft. As much as I enjoy your show I find this slight of instrumentalists appalling.

 

Glee should do a song from the movie Rent. Seasons of Love. That song would be really cool to see the cast of Glee performing.

 

These people are highly-engaged with the product, and want to share their opinion with you. For email marketers, this means encouraging product reviews, and letting people know how they talk to you and to other fans, such as on Facebook, Twitter, or your own online community.

 

Lesson #2: Fans want to give you their opinion (good and bad)

People who use your product or services have a relationship with your brand. You are part of their lives, and that means there are emotions attached. This can be positive or negative. For example, this strongly-worded comment on the racial make-up of the show and the sexual activity on the show:

I am so mad at Glee this season. First you only have one black person on the show, that makes it unbalanced. So what you have a few in the back ground. You have two Asians, hella Whites and one Black, we make up more than 1% of the nation. And let Rachel and Finn get together. She never had a boyfriend, now you are making her a geek again. Third why is Curt still on the show ? He is at another school, you give him a man but not the girls. These are school girls they are having a lot of sex and this is a high school. You’re making them whores before they get their wisdom teeth. Finally you will lose me if you do not change. You guys are making me sick.

So, as marketers, you need to acknowledge this emotional connection and find ways to promote a positive relationship, as well as responding to a negative experience. In email, this can be done with simple "Thanks for being our customer" emails, or emails that ask customers to take a quick survey to let you know how they think you're doing. Here's a great example from Art.com that thanks customers and talks about ambitions for 2012.

 

Lesson #3: Fans sometimes want to be part of the show

Because Glee is a show with lots of singing and dancing, we did get a few comments in which people said what an awesome dancer they were, and wanted to know how they could submit an audition tape! Here's one comment that made me smile:

Hey Glee cast my name is Simon. (age12) I live in Ontario, Canada. I am a huge fan of your show ;-) I mean who isn't. But I am a competitive dancer and a closet singer. Anyone who has heard me in the shower says that I'm very good for my age. I'm also a decent actor and I was wondering if you could send me an e-mail with a script to an new character so I could give you an audition tape. much love -Simon

I replied to Simon to let him know that unfortunately, this blog was not the way to contact producers and wished him good luck. So how does this connect to email marketing? I think one thing for marketers to keep in mind is that there are probably people who are customers who would also like to be employees. Here's a nice example from Christmas Tree Shops:

 

 

So while Glee is no longer one of my favorite shows, I do still think it has lessons for us a marketers. What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

2012, the year of...

Big events! There will be some significant occurrences in the upcoming year including the Olympics and the Presidential Election. Make sure you have them marked on your promotional calendar now. Having well thought out promotions built around these special events can help you stand out from the crowd.

First up: Leap Year.  February 29 appears on the calendar once every 4 years. Therefore, Leap Year Babies are often thought of as being neglected. If you have enough customers born on 2/29 to justify a special birthday message, it would be nice to treat them to 4x the typical birthday deal. The majority of your database will likely be born on other days of the year, so celebrate them too by offering a special deal on their birthday if they enter or confirm their information on the 29th. Perhaps 29% off?  This will fill in gaps in your data and give customers something to look forward to. 

“Leap” also implies skipping over or avoiding something – like shipping fees! This holiday season we saw an incredible number of Free Shipping deals starting on Black Friday. Many companies extended the deal to the last minute, offering free upgrades to 2-day shipping and free express delivery. Some companies, like L.L. Bean, offer Free Shipping all the time.  If you are still charging shipping fees, Leap Year Day might be a nice day to temporarily suspend them – or charge a nominal flat rate like $2.29.

Another event occurring every four years is the Summer Olympics.  Starting in July, the Olympics will be the focus of much attention. Many athletes have interesting backstories and the news media will be doing a lot of biographies. Take a cue from this this channel and feature in-depth information on designers or employees that are inspirational or have shown great teamwork. J.Crew published a web video last spring on how a particular pair of shoes was made.  It provided a look into the personalities of the team who designed the shoe, picked the materials, and ultimately produced the product. The video made me much more attracted to both the product and the company. According to e-Dialog research, nearly 20% of consumers subscribe to email because they identify with a brand or the lifestyle it promotes. Let them in on more of that lifestyle by putting faces to your brand. 

An obvious tie-in to the Olympics is to feature a game in your email. Games promote interactivity and engagement. The current email from the Choice Hotels loyalty program advertises a simple matching game where you flip over cards and match each of the brand logos. The game times how fast you make the matches and lets you share it on Facebook.  Not only did it engage me, but it also familiarized me with hotels I didn’t know already. This could be replicated using brands or even products from a new line.

http://choicehotelscreative.com/ecrm/11-767/index.html

 

Election 2012.  An event we can expect to hear about for the majority of the year is the Presidential election. The population will be urged again and again to get out and vote.  Therefore, including a poll or survey in your email will be right in line with what customers are seeing and hearing in their day-to-day lives. This is an especially great way to refresh and/or build out the information in your preference center and to gain actionable data from your subscribers. Multiple choice polls can be built directly into your emails with e-Dialog and results are tied to email addresses.

See the example CVS poll below. Based on the answer chosen, you could direct customers to different landing pages. If they are done wrapping, show them gifts for themselves – they earned it! If they haven’t started, bring on the tape, scissors and gift bags.

 

The 12 Days of Christmas.  If you thought you saw a lot of companies doing a daily-deal and counting down the 12 days of Christmas, you were right. And if you think they won’t do it again – especially when the calendar turns 12/12/12 - you would probably be mistaken. Review your favorite daily-deal emails now to see what competitors did and start brainstorming creative takes on this concept. I like the approach L’Occitane took this summer by displaying outlines of the products they would be discounting but still keeping some mystery around them. 

 

I also liked the video Best Buy did right before Christmas where they summarized their deals-of-the-week in a 2 minute video. The video was a nice change from having to click and scroll through all of the deals. Furthermore, it was engaging and entertaining with a little humor sprinkled in.

 

Others.  While Leap Year, the Summer Olympics, the Presidential Election and 12.12.12 are events special to the new year, there will indubitably be others that pop up along the way.  (I’m not even going to address the end-of-the-world stuff predicted for next December). Be flexible and ready for these “events” too with branded templates. At a minimum, create a postcard-like shell with your branding that can be pulled off the shelf to promote something last minute or to match a competitor’s offer.

Wishing you a happy and health 2012!  (And, Happy Birthday leap year babies!  Go Team USA…)

Are there any events I missed?  Please send them my way!

Animation Adds Interest to Retail Emails

Email volume was way up this holiday season and made it more important than ever to grab a recipient's attention quickly. Increasingly, the way to do this is through animation. I've seen an increase in animation in email by retailers and wanted to share a few examples. 

One of the trends I noticed was animation for the call to action, or to highlight the offer. J. Jill had a 5 days of gifts promotion, and animated the countdown in the series of emails.

 

 

 

Here's the animated section in action:

In this email from Boden, they use animation to reinforce the urgency of the one-day deal. The text changes from Monday to One Day to Today. Click the email to see the animation.

Another trend was animating products, like in this Coldwater Creek example, where the sweaters stack up. Click the image to see the animated version. 

Then there are animated design elements. OpenSky has been experimenting with adding subtle animation to their hero images. This example features host and hostess gifts and uses an image of the ribbons from the gift box blowing in the wind.

In this example from CVS, to emphasize their gift card offer, they add a garland of animated gift cards at the bottom of the section. Click the email to view the animated version. 

 

Do you think we'll continue to see an increase in animated elements in email? I'd love to see any examples that cut through the clutter in your inbox this holiday. 

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

 

 

Green Monday: How Did You Celebrate?

Well, apparently Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not big enough, because now there's Green Monday, the newest "big" shopping day of the holiday season. You probably celebrated without even knowing it!

 

The term Green Monday supposedly originated because it is the last day before Christmas to purchase a gift that will arrive in time using standard shipping. But with so many free shipping offers this year, does it still ring true that Green Monday will be one of the season's biggest shopping days? Plus, there's Free Shipping Day to think about, coming up this Friday, December 16th. 

 

So far, marketers don't seem to be promoting Green Monday the same way they have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Kmart and Sears prepared special deals for last minute shoppers and extended their shipping deadlines. They also promoted their "Ready in 5" in-store pickup option for online orders. 

My inbox was not showing a lot of green on Monday, but there were a few examples. The first is from the Food Network Store. It was pretty basic, and actually didn't use any green in the creative, instead sticking with the traditional red. 

Justice, a retailer of girl's apparel, was a little more colorful. They featured Green Monday in the copy and put the shipping deadlines right up front. Interestingly, the Green Monday sale is online only, but they also offer an in-store coupon for the same dates and percentage off the purchase.

 

Finally, Miles Kimball sent a Green Monday-themed message. I like that they give the deadlines for shipping for both personalized and non-personalized items. 

 

Do you think Green Monday will become as familiar to consumers as Black Friday and Cyber Monday? I'd love to hear your take-just leave a comment.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate,
e-Dialog, eDialogLiz 

Finding the Holiday Fun in my Inbox

I’m done holiday shopping.  It is a new record for me, and I’m not going to lie – it feels good!  I shopped at the mall Black Friday Weekend and I “celebrated” Cyber Monday.  I scoured my email for coupons, promo codes and free shipping deals to get the best prices.  Now that I’m done, I can focus on the fun in my inbox!

 

The first “fun” I came across was in an email from White House | Black Market:

 

They created a Facebook-based application where customers drag-and-drop items to generate a personalized wishlist.

 

This wishlist is, of course, share-able to your wall:

 

The SC Johnson family also got into the fun on Facebook by allowing customers to create a mood board based on their favorite Glade fragrances.  This really struck a chord with me – since I’m done with shopping – now it’s time to concentrate on decorating!

 

The email directed consumers to Facebook:

 

Once on the site, you select different room scenes and decorate them using furniture, trimmings and Glade products.

A few companies used contests or sweepstakes to draw interest to their product offerings.  The Limited sponsored a “Holiday Wishlist Facebook Giveaway”.  Just “Like” their page to enter for a chance to win a prize a day.

 

Others used Twitter and YouTube to promote their holiday initiatives.  Bed Bath & Beyond asked subscribers to follow them on Twitter using a cute play on decorating your nest:

 

Finally, there was the just plain silly.  Walmart added a banner to their email to encourage views of a holiday “Yodeling Cat”. (While I don't see any real added value here, the link is here in case you just can’t resist!)

 

 

Overall, companies are using email to broadcast their social programs this season.  This makes sense because the overlap between email is social is only around 18%, according to
e-Dialog’s primary research.  Furthermore, email is typically the first medium a customer chooses to interact with.  Seventy-five percent of respondents said they signed up for email before they investigated the company’s social presence. (Source: Deciphering Customer Acquisition: Connecting Acquisition Across Email, Social and Mobile, e-Dialog © 2011) 

 

So, I will continue to kick-back and watch the fun file into my inbox!  What is your favorite interactive holiday activity to date? 

 

Lauren Pizzi, e-Dialog

 

 

Getting to the Point at Point of Sale

At this time of year, with consumers heading into the mall for some serious shopping, retailers are looking to capitalize on that warm body in-store by promoting their online programs and collecting email addresses at the register. This can be a good idea, if it is well-planned and well-executed. Handled the wrong way, it may not even be worth doing. You must keep in mind upfront costs, backend costs, and the true value of the resulting email address.

Retailers will often give an incentive on the spot to entice customers to provide an email address at checkout, like $5 off their purchase. This makes sense, since the $5 in this example to acquire a valid email address is a good value in the long run. But depending on how you actually collect that email address, you might be throwing $5 out the window. For instance, using a guest book where the shopper scrawls the email in the midst of their rush to complete the purchase and not hold up the line of people behind them is probably not the best approach. It leaves too much room for human error when the customer is filling out the form, or when it is entered into your CRM system at the end of the night - particularly since a lot of people's handwriting is less than legible these days. A better method is when the cashier enters the email directly into your POS system, confirming the address back to the consumer as they enter it.

Even better, think about how and when the incentive is delivered. To increase the chances of getting a valid email address, structure the program so that the incentive is delivered via email, to be used on the next visit. This is also a perfect opportunity to ask for a confirmed opt-in (i.e., "To get your coupon and to receive marketing messages click here"). While confirmed opt-in may sound scary, it validates the email address and interest of your customer to participate in your online marketing. More importantly, it effectively eliminates any possibility of hitting spam traps, which are often part of the backend costs of POS acquisition programs.

Building incentives for your customers is only half of the equation. How you motivate your employees is equally important. Don't build programs based on total number of email addresses collected each shift. Your employees can easily be tempted to make their quota by fabricating addresses, some of which might actually belong to a real person who will flag your email as spam, or have now been made into spam traps by an ISP. Employee incentives should only be based on the number of deliverable and confirmed email addresses collected.

Offering an incentive to customers or employees comes at a cost, which you can estimate up front based on your acquisition goals. But there are other costs to keep in mind. One is data auditing. You'll want to make sure you catch common errors in addresses like misspelled domains or missing dots in dotcom. An easy way to do this with online data collection is to add a real-time validator to your enrollment applications. This is easy to do and usually not very expensive. This will not only make corrections on they fly, but it can also be configured to catch your current customers who are already in your system.

Another hidden cost to consider is the time spent in the checkout process overall. Depending on how time-consuming it is to collect email addresses, it could mean fewer transactions per hour, and some shoppers might even abandon their purchase if the line doesn't move quickly enough. So be sure to train employees well, and perhaps set guidelines to keep the line moving.

Once the email address has been added to your database, the work is not done. Don't add these new addresses to your latest promotional message stream right away. It is important to nurture the new subscribers and keep them engaged past the holiday in order to make the acquisition efforts worthwhile. So make sure the first email you send delivers the incentive you promised, but also sells your email program. Outline that the reward they just received for signing up is only the first of many great things coming their way. If you can do that, hopefully that first point of sale won't be the last.

 

Rick Buck, vice president of Privacy and ISP relations, e-Dialog, @eDialogRick

 

This post was originally published by ClickZ.

 

First-Hand Proof One Channel Isn't Enough!

I’ve taken up skiing in the last couple of years, and needed to get out of rentals into a set of my own.  Before the season starts I’ve been doing my homework/research which has involved:

l Talking to friends about what they like and what they recommend for me
 

l Researching and reading numerous ski reviews online
 

l Visiting many different vendor websites, both manufacturers (Atomic, Rossignol, etc…) and resellers (rei.com, skis.com, skichalet.com, ebay.com, etc…) alike
 

l Searching YouTube for video ski reviews (many of which are published by skis.com)

l Visiting 2 ski shops in NH and MA to hear firsthand what the “experts” recommend 

After a few weeks I finally pulled the trigger and purchased new skis/bindings from skis.com.  The buying path was a combination of everything above, but there were two things skis.com did that their competition didn’t which made the difference. They re-targeted me via web ads and re-targeted me frequently, and also had video content/reviews of their products available on their website and on YouTube. I very rarely click on any web ads as I’m typically disinterested in what they have to say. In fact, I can’t recall any that I’ve seen recently except for skis.com.  Skis were on my mind, so when casually browsing the web I couldn’t help but look over, click, and do some more research. They custom publish a couple skis I’ve looked at specifically, and a couple others I haven’t viewed to try and gain interest.

 

The video reviews were fantastic as well. Employees were giving their opinions and made mistakes in the videos (what ski was this again?). The videos were shot on mountain with a no-frills approach right after the demo was complete. I trusted them as unbiased opinions.

 

My only issue – I purchased a few weeks ago and they keep re-targeting me with ski promotions which have now become irrelevant. They know I bought skis/bindings, why not re-target boots/poles/clothing/goggles/etc…?

They got me – but there is room for improvement. 

During the entire research/buying process I didn’t sign up for any email newsletters (blasphemy, I know.) The only way they were going to get me was through the web.

When I did finally purchase, I created an account and signed up for email, and they are targeting other products very well in my inbox.

Being primarily an email guy, this is first-hand proof an integrated customer engagement marketing strategy across mediums is necessary to target your customers appropriately.

 

Jared Chase, client services lead, e-Dialog

The Spirit of Giving: Retailers Make It Easy with Gift Guides

Black Friday is coming up fast, and retailers are looking ahead to the holidays, knowing that most shoppers will begin in earnest soon. Personally, I love shopping for friends and family, but for others, figuring out what to get someone is a conundrum. Thankfully, retailers are here to help with handy gift guides!

 

Here's Clarins' "The Beauty of Giving." It offers options for the Jetsetter, the Girl-on-the-Go, and the Hostess. They emphasize the value of the sets, showing that a relatively small investment can still make a big impact. 

 

 

Garnet Hill goes big, featuring 11 gift guides in this email. Obvious choices, like gifts for her, him and the kids, but also interesting ones, like warm & toasty and the gift of a good night's sleep. When you click through, you are taken to an interactive catalog. I think the execution was nice, but where it was lacking for me was in the social sharing. If you clicked on the share to Twitter link, it populated a link. No product detail. Same thing for Facebook.

 

 

 

Philosophy takes a different approach, adding a gift guide footer to their email. They break it down by price, stocking stuffers, holiday exlusives and best sellers. 

 

 

They also provide a gift finder app on their website. Answer three questions, and it comes up with gift ideas for you. It first asks who you are shopping for, either him, her, a friend, a coworker or a hostess, then asks what your price range is, and then asks which holiday scent is the favorite.

 

 

 

Have you seen any great gift guides in your inbox? Share it in the comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate

e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Darkness and Light: The End of Daylight Saving Time

Each year, when we turn the clocks forward and back, marketers incorporate the important date into their marketing messages. Usually I see a lot of clocks and time-related emails. This year, I saw more emphasis on darkness and light. 

 

City Sports, a  sports apparel chain in the Northeast US, sent an email promoting Hi Viz gear that keeps you visible in the dark, which is really important for people who want to get their normal after-work or early morning run in, even if it is dark. The theme is Battle the Dark. 

 

What I like about this is that when you click through, there is a full microsite that shows various products, interactive photos, links to their blog, tips for runners, and a video from Saucony explaining why visibility is such a priority and what products they are creating to make runners safer. 

 

Lenox uses a darkness and light theme in their email as well. The copy reads "The days may be getting shorter (and darker), but that's OK. At Lenox.com you'll find plenty of ways to brighten your home, from lighting accents to colorful serving pieces."

 

 

Have you seen any emails using the darkness and light theme this year? I would love to see them!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate, e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

PETCO Sees Jump In Revenue with Black Cat Friday Email

In a timely fashion for Halloween and Black Friday, PETCO, a leading specialty retailer of premium pet food, supplies and services created a successful one-day sale campaign called Black Cat Friday.

Compared to PETCO’s standard promotions that are planned six to eight weeks in advance, this fun promotion took their team only three days to brainstorm. With a focus on keeping shopping easy for their customers, the prominent call to action advertised 20% off sitewide and free shipping on $49. There was no use of promo codes making it easy for shoppers to make a purchase. To save time on turnaround they kept the creative simple by using graphics from their website.

Partnering with e-Dialog, they mailed their entire promotional subscriber database. Although they did not see a jump in open rates, they saw a significant jump in revenue: This one-day campaign brought in as much revenue as a three-day sale.

 

Have you been successful brainstorming and executing a campaign in a short timeframe like PETCO? We'd love to hear about it, just leave a comment! 

 

Melissa McClay, marketing communications associate, e-Dialog

Email Marketers Hand Out Treats, Not Tricks

According to the National Retail Federation, Halloween spending is projected to hit 6.86 billion dollars for 2011. The average American will spend more than $72 on costumes, candy and decorations. Marketers have taken note and are promoting Halloween products and events, or just using the holiday to scare up some business. 

 

Uncommon Goods not only has uncommon goods, they also have uncommonly good emails. They don't oversend, and each email has a theme. For Halloween, they offered up an email that was "Wicked Awesome" and included eye candy, in the form of eyeball ornaments. They also featured a range of dark items, all mostly black. The text says "Skip the sweets and satisfy your cravings with something unexpected."

 

Philosophy offers subscribers a treat of their choice with a $65 purchase. They can get a mystery grab bag of products, or chose a product-specific gift. The subject line is "trick-or-treat - pick your treat, philosophy style!‏" I like at the bottom they include a little quote about their philosophy, "life is sweeter when you treat instead of trick."

 

Finally, an email from Jack Link's Jerky. They have a lot of fun with their email, and usually have some really interactive elements. For Halloween, or "Growl-o-ween" as they call it, they have some free downloads for their email list. You can get a pumpkin-carving template, tee shirt transfer and more. You also get a coupon for 25% off so you can give Jack Link's jerky to your trick-or-treaters. 

 

 

What's your inbox look like at Halloween? Leave a comment and let us know!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate, e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

Turning the Inbox Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

It's pretty hard not to notice that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the color pink is everywhere, including the inbox. Since 1985, when Breast Cancer Awareness Month launched, there has been a proliferation of partnerships promoting awareness and participation in fund raising for breast cancer research. 

While it's still early in the month, I've already gotten some nice email examples featuring breast cancer awareness content. This first example was sent to InStyle subscribers by Bloomingdale's. They ask for the recipient to "like" them on Facebook, and for each "like" they will donate $1 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

 

 

This second one is interesting because the donation can happen in two ways. You can buy the reusable mug and they donate $1, and you can also donate the 25 cent discount you get each time you use the mug. 

 

Along similar lines, Proctor and Gamble sent an email alerting consumers to keep an eye out in their Sunday paper for some special coupons. For each coupon that is redeemed, P&G will make a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. While I like the overall message, the headline "do it for the girls" is kind of cheesy, and I have no idea why those two ladies are so happy to be looking at a gigantic ribbon in a box...

 

And finally, Payless is offering a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon when you buy a set of 2 pairs of breast cancer awareness earrings. Doesn't exactly say how purchasing the earrings benefits Susan Komen for the Cure, though.

 

 

Have you seen any good examples promoting breast cancer awareness so far this month? Share them with us in the comments!

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications specialist, e-Dialog, @eDialogLiz

First couch commerce, then Black Friday

US shoppers aren’t going to wait until Black Friday this year to search for deals and kick off their holiday shopping. Consumers will begin shopping the day before, on Thanksgiving – from their couches on smartphones and tablets, according to PayPal.

PayPal’s Laura Chambers, senior director of PayPal Mobile, calls it “couch commerce.” She said that it would be the first spike in holiday shopping ahead of Black Friday.  

“We’re predicting that after dinner on Thanksgiving Day will be the first mobile shopping spike of the season. Retailers looking to lure these early holiday shoppers should think about extending offers and deals to these mobile buyers,” said Chambers.

The prediction is based on mobile trends that have surfaced in the last few years as well as a consumer survey conducted recently on behalf of PayPal. Here’s some insight from PayPal’s mobile shopping survey:

-Nearly half, 46 percent said they plan to make holiday purchases with a mobile device this year

 
-More than 60 percent of mobile buyers will make mobile purchases at home

 
-Nearly one-quarter of mobile buyers spent more than $100 on their last mobile purchase

 
-35 percent of mobile purchases are spontaneous

-More than half of mobile buyers currently use PayPal as a mobile payment method
 

By the end of the year, eBay expects mobile sales to exceed $4 billion.

As most stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, it will be interesting to see how mobile plays a role in kicking off the holiday shopping season. It’s definitely a great opportunity for retailers to reach out to consumers earlier, and/or to promote mobile.

I’m eager to watch how retailers will promote mobile shopping this year and if the increase in mobile shoppers will be as big as expected.

What are your thoughts on “couch commerce?” I would love to hear your opinion and comments.

 

Melissa McClay, marketing communications specialist, e-Dialog

Labor Day Email Landslide

Wow, it seems like marketers have suddenly realized Labor Day is upon us and they are bringing on the sales and the emails! Early this week I had one or two messages referring to Labor Day, but on Thursday the landslide began. I got 11 emails from various retailers and restaurants that mentioned Labor Day and sales good through the Monday holiday. 

There were the usual suspects like Home Depot and Pottery Barn, but also Cheap Caribbean and Kikkoman. Here are a few of my favorites.

This email from Castor & Pollox, a pet food company, stood out for two reasons. Number one, the buy one get one free offer is a really high value coupon, because their food is premium and sells for almost $20 per 5-pound bag. Secondly, in order to help pets displaced by Hurricane Irene, for each coupon that is redeemed, they are going to donate a meal to a shelter in Vermont or New Jersey.

 

And here's Kikkoman's Labor Day email. The subject line is "Score Big in the Grill Zone-Don't Stop After Labor Day-Keep Grilling for Back to School" which I thought was interesting because it incorporates football season, Labor Day, and Back to School!

 

This email from Philosphy isn't overtly about Labor Day, but I like the subtle message in the main offer. "Working hard? Treat yourself." And they also smartly use the preheader text to tie in to Labor Day, "philosophy friend, celebrate labor day with a free shipping offer and brand new products. indulge in some relaxation on your day off because you deserve it."

 

What do you think of these examples? Are you sending Labor Day promotions? I would love to see them!

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communications associate, e-Dialog

The Rise of Curated Shopping

Today's consumer is faced with so many options, it can be overwhelming. Using search to find a specific item returns 100 different sites you've never heard of and probably don't want to send your money to. In reponse to this, we are seeing the rise of curated shopping. There are sites that ask a few questions about you, your style (so far, these are mostly fashion and lifestyle sites) and then offer expert opinions and items selected just for you. Let's take a look at a few of these sites to see how they work and the experience they offer their users.

 

One site I recently came across is OpenSky. OpenSky bills itself as providing exclusive deals on special items hand-picked by experts in style, food, health, and design. When you sign up, you choose up to ten curators you want to hear from each week. They email you with a product pick, offered at a discount. When I joined about 6 months ago, they didn't have a large roster of curators, but they have since significantly expanded, and curators include both well known and niche experts. Some of them overlap the four categories. 

 

OpenSky's email communications come from either the curator, or from OpenSky. Each week's deal email is from the curator, and includes OpenSky in the subject line. OpenSky also sends updates about current sales and new curators. But I find their messaging has been somewhat inconsistent. For example, I got the same message twice, once from a curator and once from OpenSky. Occasionally I get an email from a curator that doesn't include OpenSky in the subject line, and I frequently get several emails on the same day from all five curators I follow, which is kind of overwhelming. Sometimes the emails are about a product and sometimes they are tips on how to wear an item, etc. but there doesn't seem to be a consistent cadence. Personally, one thing I find annoying is that you have to click through to see how much the item is. It's great to offer it at 40% off, but don't make me work to find out the price. 

 

Here's an example of a product email.

 

And here's an update with the sales from several curators.

Overall, I think it's an interesting idea, but I think 10 curators is probably too many, and you need to curate the curators in this instance to get the best results.

 

One other company that's been getting some buzz lately is JewelMint. JewelMint is a partnership between Kate Bosworth, an actress, and Cher Coulter, a stylist. The way this service works is you answer a few questions to help them figure out what your style is, and then each month they present you with a selection of jewelry for purchase. Each piece is $29.99 and shipping is free. 

 

Their emails are a mix of product-focused and editorial-style. They send updates when the new showroom is ready, info on trends and how to wear the accessories, and special offers or coupons.

Here's their most recent trend piece.

 

And here's a really great fan favorites email that includes social media content, featuring the real people who posted about the jewelry and how they wear it. I think this approach really helps make a connection between the product and the consumer and helps them see how they might include it in their wardrobe.

 

So one of obvious differences between these two sites is the amount of content they provide to their email subscribers. OpenSky takes the minimalist approach, requiring a click through to their site, while JewelMint gives a lot more information within the email itself. 

 

Have you signed up for any of these curated shopping sites? I would love to hear your experiences and impressions of their marketing.

 

Liz Lynch, senior marketing communication specialist, e-Dialog

 

PS. If you'd like to set up an OpenSky account, use this link and they'll give you a $10 credit.