Ho Ho Or Ho Hum: Some E-mails Miss the Mark

Up on the laptop,
Click, click, click.
Some missives inspired sales,
While the others didn’t stick.

How’s your e-mail in-box looking? Mine is stuffed fuller than Santa’s sleigh just before the big ride.

The week surrounding Cyber Monday was particularly heavy for e-mail. Which marketers rated a clickthrough—and possibly a sale—and which hit the delete bin quicker than last year’s fruitcake? Let’s take a look at a few of the e-missives I received in the 10 days surrounding Thanksgiving.

(Soapbox time: I should note that a lot of the messages I clicked through on I never would have given a second look, had I not been writing this article. The glut of messages in my in-box was and still is tremendous—many marketers are e-mailing on a daily basis. Folks, even if I have purchased from you, please, for the good of your lists, think about how often you’re contacting your customers. A lot of you—and you know who you are—are becoming the boy who cried sale one time too many times.)

First up is GourmetFoodMall.com, which sent me a message featuring an attractive picture of an elegant holiday table ” The holiday party season is upon us. This year impress your guests with gourmet delights from GourmetFoodMall. Click here to shop now” began the message. More copy and contact info followed, but overall? It was kind of a snooze. There was really nothing drawing me to clickthrough.

One of the mall’s merchants, Scottish Gourmet USA, fared better. Their e-mail invited shoppers to ” Share the Taste of Scotland” with families or co-workers, and featured not only pricey gift hampers and savory treats, but a special on fudge to lure in more price-conscious shoppers—an apt offer, considering the fabled thriftiness of the Scots.

Probably the best marketing e-mail I’ve received in a while was the day after Cyber Monday missive from L.L. Bean. I may sound like a broken record, because I feel like I’ve sung their praised in these seasonal round-ups way too many times. But, they’re good.

The e-mail begins with a plug for their ongoing holiday free shipping offer, always a draw. Bean succeeds in conveying a lot of information and a ton of links, without looking overly cluttered. A left hand nav bar links shoppers right to departments, while the main body links to a number of gifts, from kids’ slippers to tableware to turtlenecks. Keep reading and you can link to the extended holiday hours for your closest retail store. Simply put, it’s really, really well done.

Lands’ End also gets high marks, for a much sparser approach. On a bright red background in white text, their Cyber Monday e-mail simply serves as a reminder that it was the last day for free shipping and a free $20 voucher for my next order of $100 or more. It was quick, to the point and very effective.

J. Jill gets a thumbs up for a nifty e-mail sent late in the day on Cyber Monday. The women’s clothing retailer offered recipients a 25% discount reserved for ” friends and family.” A promo code is given to use online or for phone orders. To use the offer in stores, the customer needs to print out the e-mail and fill in their contact information, including whether they’d like to opt in for on- or off-line communications. It’s a neat way to encourage sales and list growth.

Finally, ever since I signed up for their newsletter on a whim, I’ve been treated to regular e-mails from WilliamShatner.com. One communication they beamed up offered a ” Free Spplat Attack Cards With Every Order of $10 or More WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!”

Now, I have never ordered from this site. Nor do I have any idea what a Spplat Attack card is. But the very commanding photo of Capt. James T. Kirk next to the headline makes me want these ” 9 RARE promotional” cards bad, very bad.

I scan down the rest of the e-mail and see an interesting mix of editorial content and offers, all of which mix nicely to draw visitors to the site—where they may or may not have boldly gone before.