So I received an e-mail from the independent online boutique, ‘Pink Boutique’, and decided to review the style of their e-mail and put my thoughts and feelings down on paper. As I had opt’d in to receive e-mails from them the e-mail was classified as permission-based. Chadwick & Doherty (2012) claim that permission-based e-mails are now used more fondly due to increased customer complaints about ‘Spam’ mail.
And I know how much we all hate spam mail, so I had a think as to why I would open an e-mail:
- Do I recognise the sender?
- What is the subject line – is it enticing?
- How frequently does the sender send me e-mails?
In this case I recognised the sender of the e-mail as I have shopped with them before and since I don’t receive e-mails too frequently from Pink Boutique (PB) it always feels more exclusive when I do get one. Next, I considered the subject line, did it entice me to look inside? Well yes it did, the subject line was short and snappy – ‘NEW STYLES You Won’t Wanna Miss…’ as a keen shopper this was most inviting, I like to have the most current clothing, so a subject line containing the words ‘NEW IN’ will always appeal to me. Talarico (2016) stated that “35% of people open emails based on subject line”.
NOTE: Two important things to remember when sending out an e-mail:
- Avoid SPAM words in the subject line as this may cause the e-mail to go to spam folders.
- Time of day the e-mail is sent – Companies will often A/B test their e-mails for the best open rates, by sending them at different times of the day i.e. morning and evening. I received the e-mail from PB at 7.36AM, and as I check my e-mails every morning this time slot worked for me.
So since the subject line had me hooked, I had to have a peak inside to see what PB had to offer. I had a browse through the e-mail and was pleasantly surprised by the design. Firstly, as stated by Chadwick & Doherty (2012) the headline of an e-mail should be relevant to the subject line, the PB e-mail displayed flashing text – ‘NEW IN THIS WEEK’, which made me want to scroll further down to see what was in stock.
Example: Headline
Now lets consider the length of an e-mail, I think there are very few of us who want to read through pages of text to find out the purpose of an e-mail. So, when I opened the e-mail from PB to discover it consisted of majority illustrations I was overjoyed, in my opinion the less text, the better. Chadwick & Doherty (2012) stated that “over 90% of marketing e-mails use illustrations”. From my perspective being a keen online shopper, the design of the e-mail suited me as it gave me a taster of the new products in stock in a catalogue style, this meant that I was more inclined to click through if I saw an item of clothing that caught my eye.
The illustrations used were at the top of the e-mail showcasing the ‘New In’ products and had been animated so the products alternated between the 3 items of clothing, as shown below. Chadwick & Doherty (2012) state that using animation has been proven far more successful than static advertising in terms of email marketing, as it is more likely to grab the readers attention.
Example: Animated Imagery
The e-mail had over 30 hyperlinks leading to different pages on the PB website, the hyperlinks were either inputted on the illustrations or the product text. The images were in a catalogue style so if I clicked on a specific image displayed it would take me directly to that product on the website for easy purchasing as shown below.
Example: Flow of hyperlinks
The preview of the stock in the e-mail intrigued me, so I selected the first call to action (CTA) ‘SHOP ALL STYLES>>’ and was taken to the ‘New in’ section on the PB website, this landing page worked as the e-mail told me it was about new in stock, however the CTA doesn’t flow and should say something like ‘SHOP NEW IN’, using ‘SHOP ALL STYLES>>’ shows a disconnect in the content. I also felt, the CTA was very small and lost within the illustrations used, a CTA should be very prominent and stand out to the reader.
Example: Call To Action
The only thing I felt the e-mail lacked was it was not personalised which can make an e-mail feel more special, in comparison to the e-mails I receive from clothing store New Look which are always personalised with my name in the subject line.
References
Ellis-Chadwick, F & Doherty, N.F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research. 65 (1), p843-848.
Talarico, D . (2016). From inbox to enroll: Email marketing tips. Recruiting & Retaining Adult Learners. 18 (11), p2