From: PETCO
Subject Line: PETCO | Summer Scavenger Hunt!
Win Prizes + FREE Shipping on $25
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010

PETCO sent an email introducing a multi-day Scavenger Hunt. The hunt leads you through their facebook, twitter and blog pages, getting subscribers to follow them and familiarizing them with the content found on those pages. The hunt is loaded with incentives for the subscriber - play and you could win gift cards! How creative and fun!

My only gripes:

1) Timing
The email was sent on a Sunday and the first step of the scavenger hunt was for Sunday only. For those who didn't check their email that day, they lost out on the first opportunity to play.
A) One solution would be to send out an introductory email with an overview of how the Scavenger Hunt will work and when it will begin.
B) Another idea would be to make each step of the scavenger hunt span a week (rather than one-per-day). This would spread out the email reminders and would give the subscribers additional time to play on their schedule.

2) Segmented Email Series
So far I've only received one email - I'm anxious to see if I'll get more. If made into a series, I suggest announcing last week's winner in each email to entice subscribers to be the next big winner. I also caution against sending too many emails to subscribers that aren't interested. I would only continue to send the series to those who click on any of the first 3 emails.

3) Best Practices: HTML copy
HTML text would have been great on the hunt portion of the email. Nice job using it at the top though!

Overall, I love this concept - what a fun way to get your fan-base accustomed to using your social networks and grow your social subscriber base!

From: iTunes Store
Subject Line: Your Season Pass for Top Chef Masters, Season 1
Date: Wednesday, July 8, 2009

From: iTunes Store
Subject Line: New episode for download - Top Chef Masters, Season 1
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009









I recently had the misfortune to have a back spasm that put me completely out of commission for a week +. On the bright side, I have the best mother-in-law in the whole wide world: she got on the first plane she could catch from San Diego to San Francisco and picked up my 2 kids, then took them with her for 10 days! (Which in turn, enabled me to knock back the Vicodin, and catch up on some TV)... which brings me to my post:

We haven't had a TV for years now... not because we are snobs or anything, we just don't have the space (or much time to watch it for that matter). For years, our only TV watching options had been to either invite ourselves over to somebody's house or wait for our favorite shows to come out on DVD some time after the end of the season. Nowadays there are many more options: Netflix has lots of TV (and other) content that can viewed instantly, as do most of the major networks and Hulu (although the download quality leaves something to be desired).

...And then there's The iTunes Store! Most of the shows that I'm interested in watching are available there and the download quality, while not perfect, seems much better than the above mentioned options. The full episodes become available when they are aired on their respective networks. Plus, I really liked the Thank You message The iTunes Store sent and that there have been follow-up emails when new episodes of (my show of choice) Top Chef Masters have become available. My only minor complaint is concerning the Thank You email and its "Other TV Shows" recommendations for me: they haven't quite figured out my tastes yet.  :)

From: Serena & Lily
Subject Line: See what Serena hearts...
Date: July 8, 2009

From: Serena & Lily
Subject Line: See what Lily loves...
Date: July 14, 2009





In keeping with the J.Crew email I blogged about a few weeks ago, I'm totally into this idea of hearing what the minds behind the designs are loving about their own collections. For me, it turns these emails from Serena & Lily into a mini magazine spread, like something I'd see in Cookie. They're colorful, beautiful, and short on copy. Very compelling. The Serena & Lily customer is definitely high-end and they do count a few celebrities as their biggest fans, so offering up a special deal or free shipping would feel off-brand with such an editorial-themed email, IMHO. They know who they are and they deliver that brand beautifully. I'm wondering if there aren't more brands out there that could identify a visionary in their own ranks and create a content strategy around him or her? For example, I'd love to hear from Anthropologie's creative director. I'd love to have her email me with her (or his) inspirations. What brands would you want the insider's POV on? 

From: Southwest Airlines
Subject Line: 50% off a Mystery City Each Day
Date: April 24, 2009
 

I love the way Southwest took a 50% off sale and made it a game. Sticking out in the inbox these days is a challenge, and this is the perfect example of how simple clever can be. Best of all, I love how they do not include the city in the subject line. It forces me to open the email. Very smart. While I'm not in the market to fly to Philly today, I can tell you this: I'm hooked. I'm already guessing about what tomorrow's city will be. 

For those of you who are curious to see how the Crate & Barrel and Chefs Thanksgiving Series panned out, I collected the creatives here. Although apparently posting the Crate & Barrel Newsletters was unnecessary as they now archive their ads - including email - on their website. Interesting...check it out. They've even gone so far as to make "view all Thanksgiving newsletters" the primary call-to-action in campaigns 2-4 in this series.

Crate & Barrel Thanksgiving Series




From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Thanksgiving Countdown Ideas. Free Shipping, too.
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2007

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Time-saving Thanksgiving menu. Plus Free Shipping.
Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Serving the Thanksgiving Feast. Free Shipping, too.
Date: Monday, November 5, 2007

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Last minute turkey essentials. Plus Free Shipping.
Date: Thursday, November 15, 2007

Chefs Thanksgiving Series




From: chefs
Subject Line: Day 1: Countdown to Thanksgiving Free Shipping Any Size Order
Date: Monday, October 29, 2007

From: chefs
Subject Line: Day 2: Thanksgiving Tools and Gadgets with Free Shipping Any Size Order
Date: Tuesday October 30, 2007

From: chefs
Subject Line: Day 3: Main Course plus Free Shipping on Any Size Order
Date: Wednesday, October 31, 2007

From: chefs
Subject Line: Day 4: Dessert plus Free Shipping on Any Size Order
Date: Thursday, November 1, 2007

From: chefs
Subject Line: Final Day: Free Shipping on Any Size Order
Date: Friday, November 2, 2007

From: Crate and Barrel
Subject Line: Thanksgiving Countdown Ideas. Free Shipping, too.
Date: Thursday, October 26, 2007

From: chefs
Subject Line: Day 1: Countdown to Thanksgiving Free Shipping Any Size Order
Date: Monday, October 29, 2007

Thanksgiving is a super-prep-heavy, gear-intensive holiday - one I personally plan to never ever host. The crazy-complicated big-budget Hollywood movie production nature of the feast gives retailers a number of angles from which to approach it. Enter the email series! Both Crate and Barrel and chefs kicked off a Thanksgiving series this week, which makes for an interesting comparison.

Let's start with subject lines. They both boiled down to the same thing - "Thanksgiving Countdown" and "Free Shipping" - only chefs' SL unfortunately had a relatively "Me Talk Pretty One Day" ring to it: "Day 1: Countdown to Thanksgiving Free Shipping Any Size Order". Is that grammatical!?

Moving into the creative, I was charmed by chefs' tip about how to set the table. It's embarrassingly true that I'm always uncertain as to where to put the fork, and I appreciate that they were willing to get so basic. But I was disappointed that the content tidbit was totally unrelated to the imagery featured below it. Why not show place settings!? And while chefs' clearly read Chad White's "All I Want for Christmas Are Daily Deal Emails" Reportlet, I would have loved to have seen the deal relate to the story as well. (A pastry blender couldn't be more random!)

Conversely, Crate and Barrel did a beautiful job weaving together content with relevant imagery; their message has a very editorial feel. I love the "N weeks" graphical header, which I assume we'll see as a visual tie between each email in the series. I also enjoyed the lead-in to next week's topic, "talking turkey." Still, call me a "marketer's designer" all you want, but I don't think it would hurt too much to add a few obvious points of click-through to encourage sales? C'mon, kids! Think of it as a form of customer service...

Last point: while I've been constructively critical, I do want to hand it to both chefs and Crate and Barrel for two signs of email program maturity:
(1) Planning far enough in advance to even conceive of an email series and
(2) Having planned it, executing it, despite an email or two that may not generate as much short-term revenue as - say - a sale message might. Hooray for saying no to email crack cocaine!

Last pointless: I personally do not enjoy turkey. However, that leaves more room for multiple servings of dessert. My Thanksgiving prep tip: don't forget the punch n' pie!

From: YOOX
Subject Line: YOOX 6TH ANNIVERSARY – Read what the future has in store
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2006

From: YOOX
Subject Line: YOOX 6TH ANNIVERSARY - Latest News
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006

From: YOOX
Subject Line: YOOX 6TH ANNIVERSARY - Invite Your Friends
Date: Friday, June 16, 2006

While the YOOX brand itself sort of mystifies me, I'm interested in how they've structured this series of emails using "Chapters". They've joined the group though subject lines and layout, plus number and rainbow color progression. I like the idea of engaging subscribers in a continuing story. While the above may not be the perfection of the email series form - and while I fail to see how Nietzsche and free shipping relate - I'm curious to see how the email series device evolves industry-wide.