Up The Inbox : First Half 2010 Email

In the spring I started an "Email of the Month" feature. It lasted two installments before I abandoned it. I get too many emails and it's crazy trying to really digest them all every 30 days. And it's better written about over time when I can see interesting trends and consistency of strategy and creative direction. And so...

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I'm liking the sly strategy Bobbi Brown Online employs for their mailings - they send them out in the early evening. That strikes me as an interesting idea for a cosmetic seller, especially if you have mobile opt-ins. No women's retailer I know of sends their emails out when their potential customers are out at restaurants or bars. And if you're just sitting at home, BBO's promos will stand out from the usual batch of 15-20 emails you get first thing in the morning from all the other retailers who schedule for the same 2 a.m. PST deployment. 

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Wondering what's up with the trend in retail of advertising the entire family of stores in email headers. This is the case with the Gap family (Gap, Old Navy, etc.) and with Forever 21 (21 Men, Twelve by Twelve, etc.). I'm not sure why a customer of 21 Men would be interested in what their plus size sister company Faith 21 is hawking this week, but the family of stores seems to think it's a good tactic. 

As a consumer, I'm turned off by the sister-store advertising - it comes off as a tad arrogant while cheapening the brand of the store whose emails I opted in to receive. Also loses some above-the-fold real estate in the main graphic area. I'd be interested to know if this has been an effective cross-promotional conversion tactic for the retail families who include them in their mailings.

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Call me corny, but I'm still loving Free People's creative. Their anti-logo scrapbook design adds flair to a brand whose store experience often seems a bit too precious, fussy and narrow.

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Back in 2008 I was on Abercrombie & Fitch's house list for all promotions. That lasted about 6 weeks until I unsubscribed because all I was getting sent to me was a single B&W photo of a liver-lipped young male or female (or both) with a link to uninspiring landing pages full of copy about how cool it is to be young and beautiful and work in one of their stores.

That never struck me as a message designed for great cart conversion metrics, so last month I opted in again to see how they're trying to sell products in 2010.

Well, if you too are currently receiving A&F's mailings, I don't have to tell you what they're sending out now: More liver lips.

I know that the brand identification of Abercrombie & Fitch is young, chiseled, tanned, ripped, and on the upper end of upper middle class, but in trying to attract business with their messaging A&F seems to be running nothing more than a ponzi operation for amateur models. As a shopper I get nothing out of it. This would seem to leave an opening for chains like Hollister to grab some market share, for while their email and web creative slavishly imitates that of A&F, they do actually let you know that they're an apparel retailer and not a casting agency for Yale dropouts. 

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Babies R Us and Carter's continue to work the online coupons in a very effective manner. Of course in my case it's a weighted example because I've been involved with some baby registries of late, so as a proven store converting customer of course I'm going to get more of this kind of thing. But I know good targeting when I see it, so kudos to these folks. I bet they're moving lots of onesies these days.

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Through an affiliate marketing program I was introduced to Fred Flare, a company whose business model seems to be grounded in a single purpose - to do whatever Urban Outfitters does and grab off some market share from that chain's unique retail niche.

Fred Flare's circus umbrella-colored creative messaging is light and friendly and unique when compared to those you would receive from a typical mall retailer, but it's considerably more staid than those loveably eccentric email designs from UO. This is probably a good thing for Fred Flare if they are looking to attract the more mainstream Urban Outfitter customer who may find that company's creative and sales messaging too inscrutable.

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Kind of liked the Father's Day promo from Coach, who put the bling on hold and threw out a collage of gift ideas for dads. You can almost smell the notes of amber and sandalwood in this über-masculine layout and color palette.

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Macy's email creative continues to exhibit a stunning consistency of blandness. Sign up for Macy's emails and experience the absolute nadir of online graphic design - billboards and text-heavy sale promotions that look the same week after week after week. 

Why Macy's can't take a cue from sister company Bloomingdale's and put some zing into their direct email? It's true that Macy's is using simpler messaging to appeal to a more mainstream customer, but I can't believe that any retailer the size of Macy's can continue to be as bland as they are and attract new customers.

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Duluth Trading Co. have a bunch of busy beavers in their online marketing department these days. I'm seeing their irreverent Flash leaderboards and skyscrapers all over the place of late, and their emails are full of contests, trivia quizzes along with the hero promotions, all stitched together with a down-to-earth northern wit. One imagines a copywriter in overalls with a martini shaker in his lunch bucket. They're approaching the utility apparel market ruled for so long by Williamson-Dickie with a different, more humorous slant, and that's not a bad way to set yourself apart from the solid but square image projected by W-D.

However, if Williamson-Dickie could re-import some of the mojo generated by their European marketing and merchandising operations, they would handily outflank smaller players like Duluth. Check their EU site and ask yourself: Does Fort Worth ever cross your mind?

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Disappointed to see what youth apparel retailer Delia*s have been putting into my Tuesday morning box. I remember some years back their design was markedly fresh and inspiring. Now I can hardly tell them from JC Penney. Which might not be a bad thing if they can make it a pair with the kind of mainstream growth that has made JC Penney one of the few retail success stories from the last couple of years.

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Finally: Bergdorf Goodman. At prices like these, we get awkwardly left-justified creative? Trés gauche!