Chaffey identified six digital marketing channel approaches “for opportunities to reach more prospects”(Chaffey, 2015). Brands in the fast moving fashion industry need a diverse marketing strategy that leverages all channels that Chaffey discusses. This blog post will focus on the email element of a fashion retailers digital marketing strategy, at it ties directly to customer acquisition, conversion rates and general purchase behaviour (Beashel, 2014). Various research surrounding the importance of email has shown that email can deliver more return on investment than other channels as this gives them a direct line to their customer base (Beashel, 2014).

Chaffey identified that emails must be effective by “doing the right thing” involving supporting business objectives by obtaining sales, leads, ROI as well as being efficient by “doing the thing right” referring to maximising opens, deliver and being optimised on mobile (Chaffey, 2015). Both play pivotal roles in the success of a company’s email marketing campaign. The use of the CTAs, image layout and copy structure will impact the efficiency and effectiveness of the email.

Call to Action

The use of CTA’s must be both efficient and effective to achieve the goal of a click-through to their website and ultimately increase conversion by a purchase.

• Verbs: Strong action orientated verbs should be used such as “click, buy, shop” to tell the consumer “what? Why? When?” in a matter of seconds (Moth, 2012). For example, “Shop tops now!”.
• Repetition: Repetition of the CTA across the email, gives the suggestion more weight by strategic scattering. The CTA could be placed in logos, images, headlines and products to link to appropriate pages to maximise conversion rates. For example, in the ASOS email sent on 21/11/2017 most elements of the page are clickable. The top category tab, the large landing image and the product images beneath all link to product pages on site. Image based buttons have been proven to have a higher click rate (Moth, 2012) and placing CTAs at the top of the page have been found to increase click through rates by 50% (Lavery, 2017).Figure 1: ASOS Black Friday email received on 21/11/2017
• Colour: The colour of the CTA button should be contrasting but in keeping with the colour palette and theme of the email. It should have a white or negative space around it, and other images and text should be further away, to bring more attention to it (Moth, 2012).
• Arrow Icon: Research by the Digital Evolution Group, has shown that customers are more likely to click on a CTA with an arrow next to the button (Moth, 2012). To lead with effective email marketing campaigns retailers should place an arrow next to their CTA’s to increase click-through rates to be more engaging with customers.

CTA button with NO arrow	CTA button WITH arrow
CTA: “Shop Watches” 13.6%	CTA: “Shop Watches” 17.1%
CTA: “Shop now” 4%	CTA: “Shop now” 4.9%

Figure 2: Customers shopping for watches at Helzberg Diamonds were more likely to click on CTA with an arrow (Moth, 2012)

Layout

The layout of the email can determine how easily and effectively the customer reads the email. The retailer must want the customer to read as much as possible, but research has shown that the customer has little time and often scans (Amunwa, 2017).

• Width: The email should be kept at a width of 600px wide as scrolling from side to side will hinder email response rate. Eye tracking studies have discerned that the average web users reading habits lean more towards scanning rather than reading word for word, so content on the left gets more attention that content on the right (Amunwa, 2017). Retailer’s will be producing effective emails, if the most important information is on the left hand side of the email.
• Column arrangement: Studies have shown that readers eyes are attracted more strongly to striking imagery over text. Research has found that they read this first, then go on to text. There should be a maximum of three columns on the page. Creating a layout of more than 2 columns limits what you’re able to create that’s still visually impactful (Amunwa, 2017).

Figure 3: Eye tracking study by Nielson demonstrating the consumes eye movements. Image provided by Telepathy (Telepathy, 2017). 

• Eye Tracking Study by Jakob Nielson: Jakob Nielsen conducted a study tracking 1.5 million eye movements. He found that web users skip over content that appears unimportant resulting in an F-Shaped pattern, indicating that imagery and copy on the left side of the screen get more attention. Taking these findings into account, retailer’s should lead with the most important and relevant content in the top left hand corner. (Nielson et al, 2010).

Related Video: Watch “F-Pattern in Reading Digital Content” by the Neilson Norman Group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=XU1-Rz2Q7-E

Copy Structure

The copy structure will have an impact on the attention gained by the consumer. Retailer’s should consider the the copy of the email in the inbox (Subject Line) and also the structure of the text in the email (Serial Position Effect) in order to be effective.

• Subject Line: Effective emails ensure that it is clear who is sending the email, the “from field” is what the customer will see first. The logo should also be at the top of the email page, to make the retailer even more recognisable (Amunwa, 2017). The subject line should catch the customers attention so will need to entice the customer to increase their email open rate. The content of the preheader text will also aid this decision making process. Companies must be aware of this and pay particular attention to these three attributes.

Figure 4: Diagram of email layout, created by Writer from personal email account. 

• Serial Position Effect: Research conducted by psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus found that the the first and last messages in a series are ones that the customer remembers. Companies should put their most important message first, use a filler in the middle or a piece of information that carries the least importance and the other important piece of information last. The study also showed that a P.S line at the end, had a high rate of being recalled (Beashel, 2014).

Figure 5: Data displaying words recalled depending on the position in the sequence. Source: Beashel, 2014

References

Amunwa, J. (2016). 28 Tips for Designing Effective HTML Emails.Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/9263-designing-the-perfect-email-call-to-action-infographic. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Beashel, A. (2014). Are You Missing Click-Throughs by Not Structuring Your Email Campaigns for ‘Scanners’?. Available: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2014/09/structure-email-marketing-campaigns-scanners/. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Chaffey, D. & Ellis-Chadwick, F. 2015, Digital marketing, Sixth edn, Pearson, Upper Saddle River.

Lavery, J. (2017). 8 best practice tips for successful email marketing.Available: https://www.web-foundry.co.uk/blog/item/8-best-practice-tips-for-successful-email-marketing. Last accessed 29th November 2017

Moth, D. (2012). Designing the perfect email call to action: infographic. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/9263-designing-the-perfect-email-call-to-action-infographic. Last accessed 29th November 2017.

Nielsen, J. and Pernice, K., 2010. Eyetracking web usability. New Riders.