My home's halls haven't quite been decked yet, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my email inbox. Here's a quick look at some of the offers that have come my way this week. While none are particularly naughty, some are a lot nicer than others.
Bruegger's drew me in with a subject line beginning "Free Bagel & Cream Cheese…." because, hey, who wouldn't want a free bagel? Upon opening, I see that this is a special on Wednesday for folks who have joined their 2012 Bottomless Mug Club.
Working at home, I don't grab my morning caffeine fix out enough for this to make sense for me to buy. But I was curious about how much it cost to join. Price isn't mentioned in the email, so I click through to the website to find that it costs….well, I don't know what it costs. I'd suspect that the price varies depending on the area of the country, and that the mug can only be purchased in-store, but some copy explaining that would be very helpful.
Fisher-Price sent me a "welcome to the family" email yesterday, offering free shipping on my first order of $50 or more from their online store. It's lovely, except for two things.
The first is that I signed up for their email list when I placed an order for a gift for my son. The wording makes it sound like they have no knowledge that I've already purchased from their web store. The second is that the purchase I made was two months ago, for my son's birthday. That's a heck of a long time to wait to send a welcome email. Sure, the timing is great for holiday shopping, but it's pretty lazy for customer relationship building.
The fact that they have quick, free shipping and had boots in my son's size in stock made placing an order with L.L. Bean a no brainer for me. But was a bit of a puzzler was the items offered for crosssell on the order confirmation email. I was clearly in the market for kids outerwear, so why was I being shown adult fleece pullovers and what appeared to be men's sweaters and jackets. Sure, I obviously have other folks to buy for in my life, but the kids bib snowpants offered in the later "order being processed" message felt like less of a disconnect.
I recently ordered some dress clothes and new PJs for my boys from Gymboree (because it just isn't Christmas without new PJs, right?). The "A Special Gift from Gymboree" caught my eye and I opened immediately—even though I don't need more clothes for them right now, the word "gift" does have an allure, doesn't it?
What I found was a 50% off and free shipping offer from their women's brand Shade. I was immediately intrigued—I didn't even know Gymboree had a women's brand, even though they do offer some adult clothing on their main website. It was a nice bit of synergy and it did lead me to order some things for myself, purely in the name of marketing research, of course.
Anything interesting cross your inbox this week?
For tips on crafting more effective holiday email campaigns, click here.
For a roundup of how emailers utilized mobile and social to boost their results, click here.
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