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Williams Sonoma Understands Blocked Images

June 9th, 2009

In a post from earlier this year I made note of the nice use of blocked images from Williams Sonoma. This was from the welcome letter I received after joining their mailing list.

They did it again in an email I received recently and it’s clear that Williams Sonoma understands the importance of adjusting email creative for inevitable blocked images.

Below are three screen grabs

1. Williams Sonoma w/ Images Blocked

2. Williams Sonoma w/ Images Enabled

3. Sephora w/ Images Blocked (previous post on this email)

These screen grabs show quite clearly the difference between a good understanding of blocked images, and little effort at all.

(Click on an image to enlarge it)

Now Williams Sonoma WITH Images…

And the drastically contrasting Sephora without Images…

Major points to Williams Sonoma for putting careful planning into their email design. They will reap the rewards with subscribers actually being able to see their email content.

Questions or thoughts? Leave a comment or feel free to shoot me an email.

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Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2C, Design, Retail Email

Email Review – Wrapables.com

June 6th, 2009

I recently joined the e-mail list for wrapables.com. Below is a screen grab of one of the first promotional emails I received this week.

A few quick comments on this delivery

Some Nice Elements

1.Pre-Header: They have a link to an online version of the message. Good move, and something that should be present in all emails.

2. Social Media Options: Simple and clean buttons in the header to connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter

3. Navigation: As I pointed out in a previous post, this not only give the user relevant options for connecting to your site, but it provides you the ability to create meaningful segments later based on their click engagement.

4. Pricing Layout: Instead of just showing the sale price, they also have the regular priced crossed out. Nice way to help visualize the savings.

Some Areas of Improvement

1. Text to Image Ratio: In this email, the ratio is to heavy on images. This creates problems, as many email clients will block images by default. Even with Alt-Text, it can have a negative impact on the success of your email program. You can design an email that is more text driven while not hurting the aesthetic design intentions.

2. Subject Line: The subject line used in the email was 59 characters w/spaces. In general, this is a bit long. Of course you always want to test, and A/B subject line testing can help make nice improvements to your metrics. We see high engagement though with subject lines that are below 39 characters.

3. No Order Now Button: What I would like to see next to the price is an ‘Order Now’ button (or text link). While everyone hopefully clicks on the image or title to view the product, many won’t. Additionally, in some of our own tests, we’ve seen higher engagement with a clear button or text link for ordering.

While there is some more intricate improvements that can be made, tackling some low-hanging fruit here should improve the success of Wrapables’ email program.

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(Click on image to enlarge)

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Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2C, Design, Promotions, Retail Email, Subject Lines

RedBox Leverages Email Marketing

May 29th, 2009

I have used Netflix for years, but recently I tried RedBox at my local grocery store for a quick flick. After joining their email list, I have noticed some very nice elements that they are implementing to leverage the email channel.

Nice usability, focused communications, integrated landing pages, some ’small-touch’ best practices and more. There are many things going well here for RedBox.

Let’s look at a few elements from the email screen grab below:

1. Pre-Header: You should always link to a web version, but offering a ‘mobile device’ option is a nice addition.

2. Navigation: In a previous post I commented on the benefits of navigation in your email. Here, they provide 4 primary nav links that are consistent with their site. How Redbox Works, Find A Movie, Find A Redbox, Reserve Online. Simple, to the point, and relevant.

3. Design: Clean, consistent with their brand, and welcoming.

4. Focus: They have a clear focus here; to highlight the new release. (in this particular email it was the movie “New in Town.” They provide an image, movie description, and clear call to action to reserve it online…

5. Landing Page: You can have a great email, but if your landing pages are not integrated then you are not getting maximum benefit (and hurting your email efforts). Here, they take you to a page specifically about the movie with the option to search for availability at your local RedBox location (and of course then reserve it online). Not every company executes this well. In a previous post, I pointed out some landing page mistakes by William Sonoma.

6. Forward to a Friend: Nice option in the upper right. I may not be interested in this particular movie, but my friends may be.

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Upper fold of RedBox New Release Email (Click Image to Enlarge)

Landing Page for ‘Reserve Online’ and Movie Image (Click Image to Enlarge)

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Posted in Analysis of Live Emails, B2C, Design, Dynamic Content, Landing Pages

Quick Tip: Use ALT Text for Images

May 20th, 2009

Isn’t it frustrating when you get an email, images are blocked, and you can’t see much of anything? Using alternative text for the images will help with that communication barrier. Use the ALT tag for important (if not most) images. When your subscribers have images turned off, the alt tag will provide a text view of the image. This is extremely important.

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Posted in B2B, B2C, Design, Email Marketing Strategy, Quick Tips

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