Venus Swimwear has a weekly promotion that puts a nice spin on the classic "weekly newsletter". Each Sunday they promote their "7 Deals of the Week" - 7 items on sale at dramatically reduced prices. Each item is available all... More

Venus Swimwear has a weekly promotion that puts a nice spin on the classic "weekly newsletter". Each Sunday they promote their "7 Deals of the Week" - 7 items on sale at dramatically reduced prices. Each item is available all week, though the call-out of 7 items for each of the 7 days in the week is a nice touch.

The email contains a nice image of each item on sale, while the web landing page offers the same images. The body of the email also has a nice reminder to check back the following Sunday for the next week's items.

The approach, while simple, is compelling in that re-packages the weekly newsletter in a form that many marketers are not using.

An example of their latest email is below:


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Some of the most effective email programs are those that are automated and tied to a subscriber's buying cycle. FAO Schwarz has a nice Repeat Purchase Program where they send subscribers a special offer if they have not purchased within... More

Some of the most effective email programs are those that are automated and tied to a subscriber's buying cycle. FAO Schwarz has a nice Repeat Purchase Program where they send subscribers a special offer if they have not purchased within 60 days of their last purchase. In the email below, they are offering 20% off the next purchase. I particularly like the "We hoped they loved it!" call out, as it directly ties the email to the last purchase made.


In respect to these types of programs, do you, have a:

•       1st Time Buyer Program

•       Repeat Purchase Program

•       Lapsed Purchase Program

•       Abandoned Shopping Cart Program

There are many other variations; however, these four are some of the most important. Less

Another example of a company not doing a good job of tying the subject line to the body content within the message, only this time the example comes from Marketing Sherpa - someone whom you would think would have their... More

Another example of a company not doing a good job of tying the subject line to the body content within the message, only this time the example comes from Marketing Sherpa - someone whom you would think would have their stuff together...

Subject Line

[EmailSherpa] Benefits of Centralized Database Control

Body Content

1.      Check Your Email Reputation to Improve Deliverability with Easy, No-Cost Tools

2.      Exclusive Sherpa Research: Social Media Marketing and PR Benchmarks, Best Practices, Tactics

3.      Social Media Marketing: What Works and What Doesn't

Perhaps this was just an error in the subject line; however, if so, it reinforces another recent callout of the importance of Quality Assurance.

It is these types of errors that lead consumers to have a lower opinion of the brand in question.

Take a look at the email:


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Love the fact that John McCain chose to announce his intent to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate via email (see below):Hate the fact that upon clicking through to the John McCain website the graphics on the page are off... More

Love the fact that John McCain chose to announce his intent to seek re-election to the U.S. Senate via email (see below):

Hate the fact that upon clicking through to the John McCain website the graphics on the page are off (see below) - what happened to the "donate today" button?!?:
 


Suffice it to say this reinforces the need for all email programs to have a good solid approach to Quality Assurance. How many times have you fully tested the content of your email campaign only to forget to fully test the destination URL's? It happens to the best of us.

If you haven't in awhile, it is a good time to review your QA practices.
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The election may be over, but don't anyone tell Barack Obama. He continues to utilize email to drive his message home. In the process, he is creating new "brands" that never existed. When was the first time you heard of... More

The election may be over, but don't anyone tell Barack Obama. He continues to utilize email to drive his message home. In the process, he is creating new "brands" that never existed. When was the first time you heard of "Organizing for America".

Another theme of his messages is an increased use of video to drive his message. Over the past three days two campaigns have been sent featuring video as the primary call to action:

Saturday, February 7: "Urgent Message from President Obama"

Monday, February 9: "Your economic crisis story"

Are you using video in your marketing efforts? If so, let me know how effective it has been.

On an unrelated side note, it continues to irk me that the Obama campaign continues to forget to have a link at the top of the message referencing a hosted version of the message... it is so easy!


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I really like the way Lucy has integrated their "Find us on Facebook" in the Bottom Navigation of their emails.The Lucy Fan Page is also fairly built out.As a marketer, have you built out a Fan page on Facebook? More... More

I really like the way Lucy has integrated their "Find us on Facebook" in the Bottom Navigation of their emails.

The Lucy Fan Page is also fairly built out.

As a marketer, have you built out a Fan page on Facebook? More importantly do you have an active strategy regarding how you are using that Fan page and cultivating customer relationships on it?

We can help.

See below:



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Kudos to Express for doing a really nice job of integrating with Facebook.Beyond having a nice call to action in their normal emails; they have used Facebook in the following ways:• Utilized Facebook Events to publicize upcoming sale promotions (e.g.... More

Kudos to Express for doing a really nice job of integrating with Facebook.

Beyond having a nice call to action in their normal emails; they have used Facebook in the following ways:
• Utilized Facebook Events to publicize upcoming sale promotions (e.g. This Saturday and Sunday Friends and Family Sale)
• 5 published videos
• 8 posted albums featuring new fashion and over 375 fan photos wearing Express merchandise
• Usage of the Fan page discussion boards

And they have over 20,000 Facebook fans.

Take a look at their Facebook call-out:


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