Viewing all posts categorized as 'Critiques'

Those who know me well know that I am a fan of quality steaks and quality email data appends. A favorite high-end steakhouse of mine, Fleming’s, is batting .500 in this regard. They serve some of the best steaks in the world, but unfortunately, experienced a misstep while performing a recent data append.

I have been a Fleming’s email subscriber for some time. I diligently open each email looking for the next delicious deal. Recently I received an email from Fleming’s with the subject line “Email Communications from Fleming’s.” This immediately raised my suspicions. When I opened the email I instantly recognized it as an email append message. I was being automatically opted-in to receive emails from Fleming’s even though I was already an active subscriber. Oops…

This screen shot shows the append email, and past emails I have received. As you can see, I regularly receive their emails.

So, how did this happen?

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One year ago, Jordan wrote an excellent piece on the flawless online ticketing process carried out for the Michael Jackson Memorial. Well, I suppose for every yin there must be a yang — and I can tell you firsthand that the online ticketing process for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is certainly nothing to brag about.

You see, ordering tickets should be a straightforward process. You place your order, you receive confirmation of that order, and then you receive delivery confirmations or redemption instructions. But in the case of certain events such as the Jackson Memorial and the World Cup, there is one small difference in that ticketing lotteries are used to determine who receives tickets.

In theory, email is the perfect medium to execute a ticketing lottery. Once the drawing is complete, winning contestants can be reached instantly and privately with news of their purchase. Compared to past World Cups which have relied on postal mail and phone systems, email has provided a much more cost-effective and immediate medium for communicating with customers.

Unfortunately, FIFA really dropped the ball on their first attempt at online ticketing using email.

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Email design starts from the top down.

If you stop and think about it, it’s a logical statement – that’s how the email loads and is presented to the user. Therefore, what you want the user to see first should be placed at the top of the email to grab their attention and inspire interaction. This sacred area of your email template is called the “above-the-fold” area and can make or break a design.

Since you only have, on average, 400-450 pixels of vertical space, this area doesn’t give you much room to toy with the images and copy needed to truly feature your content. Factor in some additional space for a logo, main navigation bar and perhaps a refer-a-friend link, and your header section is starting to resemble a layer cake rather than an email that’s designed to attract the user.

With so much going on at the top, it’s easy to get caught up in the technical aspects of the “template” rather than the creative, eye-catching promise of the “design.” To help gain some critical distance and assess the challenges properly, let’s review some examples of above-the-fold sections. Each sample below has been vertically measured at 420 pixels which is a good average number of what the user will see before they have to scroll:

Lego does an excellent job at building an efficient and good looking above-the-fold area. Not only is most of the main featured section displayed in the preview pane, but a smaller sub-feature section makes it in there as well. Utilizing a clean design with minimal copy and navigation, Lego’s template works harder than most at getting the user to interact from the start. Read More »

Lately my team has been asked to provide insight on the appropriate width of an email. As I tell all of our clients, the answer depends on what the intended function of the email is, and whether or not it needs to be printed by the subscriber.

Our recommended width for emails that only need to be displayed onscreen is 650-700 pixels. By adhering to this guideline, marketers ensure that their full creative is presented to the user without being cut off by smaller monitors, elaborate email menu systems, or ad banner rails.

In cases such as order confirmations, ticket print-outs, or something the user needs to take with them for an in-store promotion, the email should be no wider than 600 pixels. This allows the email to fit within standard printer margins and minimizes issues at the point of customer contact (POS, ticket scanners, etc.).

Of course, not all marketers follow this rule. Take this example from Lucky Brand; weighing in at over 800 pixels wide, their creative has a good chance of sliding off the right side of the user’s screen. I would recommend trimming the width to conform to the 650-700 pixel rule to be safer moving forward.

As a general rule I would advise all email marketers to do a quick creative width test before preparing their emails for deployment.

It is becoming more and more apparent that email contests and online drawings must be thought-out completely before being executed. This is especially true nowadays with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, whose word-of-mouth capabilities expand the reach of such campaigns drastically and quickly, while also serving as a potentially treacherous criticism forum. Earlier this year KFC demonstrated what can go wrong with an online giveaway – their free meal offer not only brought down the website hosting the coupon, but the offer also inspired restaurant sit-ins, chicken riots, and overall negative feelings and publicity.

Now compare that experience to how the Staples Center , AEG, and Michael Jackson’s family recently tackled the huge task of distributing Michael Jackson Memorial tickets. The Staples Center, AEG and the Jackson family created an easy-to-follow, seemingly error-free, and clear process in the Michael Jackson Memorial ticket giveaway. They did everything right! Hopefully this model will set a new standard in large online giveaways.

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I just loved this email I recently received from Urban Outfitters, and thought I’d share some of my thoughts about it with you all.

Scrolling through my inbox, the main image of the Urban Outfitter “Where to?” campaign grabbed my attention above all the others. For those of us on the East Coast, it’s been a long winter. Nevertheless, spring is in the air, and Urban Outfitter’s image of the ocean popped out at me. The creative inspired me to open the email and daydream a little about being on a beach where I could forget about the economy and relax.

The “Where to?” campaign is a great example of using attractive photography and creative marketing to engage your subscribers to open your emails.

Because I took the time to look at the picture, I saw that Urban was advertising friends’ top picks for the season based on their travel plans. Their approach of using friends’ favorite items was a clever take on viral marketing, used in this instance to market a number of different products. Even if the recipient does not have any trips planned, the items fit different personalities as much as they fit the destinations selected.

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