MindComet

Flexibility with your Editorial Calendar

Yesterday we revisited QA practices, today we go back to February to take another look and add to our take on Editorial Calendars.

Of course in a perfect world, we would receive content when it is scheduled on the calendar, testing would go off without a hitch and our live sends would go out on the scheduled day, at the scheduled time.

But sometimes life gets in the way.  There are meetings, travel, holidays and vacations that can impede your precise schedule. 

While it’s a good idea to maintain the schedule, allow yourself to have some flexibility to get your message out correctly.  Take your time with testing and the approval process. 

Your editorial calendar should help to eliminate or at least reduce the fire drills you may come across, but it is much more important to have your message go out a little late and correct than to rush it to stay on schedule.  Rushing may mean sending out correction messages similar to the ones mentioned in yesterday’s post.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 31, 2007

QA Revistied :: Avoiding Mistakes

Back in January we talked about reviewing the quality control basics.  Because this morning I received two separate correction messages for things we didn’t cover in January I thought it was a good idea to revisit the topic.

One of the messages I received today was an updated version of a message I received yesterday that contained an email address in the message to RSVP to an upcoming event.  The email address was wrong – an ‘s’ at the end where there should have been none.  Today’s message asked that subscribers reply to the message that was sent this morning if they were interested in attending the event. 

A simple review of the copy before the message went live could have eliminated the embarrassment and a second message.

The other correction email I received was related to an incorrect offer going out.  The interesting part is I opted in to receive messages from this brand two days ago.  I never received the original message. 

The brand chose to honor the incorrect offer – 75% off, which was nice of them.  However, now they have opened the offer up to everyone, including those who have opted-in since the message was sent.

While I appreciate their generosity, had it been me, I might have limited my correction message to only those who were sent the original message. 

Mistakes happen, after all, we are only human.  However, there are ways to minimize the risks:

By reviewing copy and getting approvals, both of these correction messages could have been avoided.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 30, 2007

Who is Victoria Knight-McDowell?

Let me start out by saying I am a HUGE fan of Airborne. I have used it as a preemptive strike against cold symptoms as they rearing their ugly heads.  Scratchy throat?  Airborne.  Nose starting to run? Airborne.  I believe that it has helped me keep several colds at bay.  So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I have registered for email communication from them. 

Last week, I received an email from Victoria Knight-McDowell.  The subject line said: “Get a FREE sample of NEW Airborne Seasonal”.  My first thought was that I had just received some SPAM.  Was Airborne the new SPAM De Jour?  As usual, I opened the message.  The message really was from Airborne.  No SPAM here, but why would they send the message from Victoria Knight-McDowell? 

The box Airborne has a red banner at the top that says “Created by a School Teacher!”  As it turns out that schoolteacher is Victoria Knight-McDowell.  This wasn’t mentioned in the email.  I searched the internet to find out who she was.  While Airborne has made it well known that it was created by a schoolteacher, they have not done a very good job of letting consumers know who that teacher is. 

There is a strong argument about personalizing messages.  If you have an individual who is synonymous with your brand, then by all means, use that name as the From Name as a part of your email marketing campaign.  But if the individuals associated with your brand are unknown, it could cause confusion and doubt with your subscribers.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 24, 2007

The Name Game :: Indentifying Friends

We talked last week about using forward-to-a-friend as a part of your email marketing campaigns.  However, if you implement this functionality, there are some things to consider before you get started.

It’s critical to make a good first impression with your future subscribers.  This could be their first exposure to you.  Make sure they know why they are getting your message.
Last night a friend sent me a link from the NBA Photo Store.  And while this isn’t an email campaign, each photo on the site has an “email to a friend” link.  The message arrived in my inbox from “NBA Photo Store” and the subject line read “NBA Photo Store link”

I sat looking at my inbox and I wondered as I often do, “Why did I get this message?”

I decided to throw all caution to the wind and open the message anyway.  The body of the message said “This message was sent to you by:” and included my friend’s name, email address, a personal message and a link to a J.J. Redick picture. On a side note, the message also included a link to sign up for NBA email news and special offers.  All of this is simple and effective.

Forwarded messages might achieve better opens and conversions if the sender is identified before future subscribers even open the message.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 23, 2007

Create Your Own Style

It has been said that imitation is sincerest form of flattery.  But when you are a classy brand like Tiffany & Co. why would you take away from the beautiful simplistic imagery of the jewelry and add an illustration that looks like it was ripped directly from Daily Candy?

The email marketing campaign from Tiffany & Co. represents the brand well.  The background color is the classic Tiffany blue, and matches the look and feel of their website as well as their print catalog.

Email messages I have recently received from the brand have had the jewelry prominently displayed, sometimes with, and sometimes without a model.  When the models are included it has never distracted my attention away from the jewelry.  However the most recent message was so distracting, based on the similarity to Daily Candy I couldn’t remember what the piece being displayed was.

The uncanny similarity between these images was enough for me to lose focus.  And if I had to guess, I would think that both email campaigns have the same target demographic. While I wouldn’t rule out illustrations in the future, Tiffany & Co. should develop their own style.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 22, 2007

CB2 Gets It

CB2, the little sister of Crate and Barrel, does a fantastic job with their email marketing campaign.  I actually think, this lower priced sibling’s messages look cleaner and are more visually engaging than the messages I receive from Crate and Barrel.

The CB2 messages have a tongue and cheek feel about them.  From the subject line (Today’s message:  “dishing out summer” and the image has several plates on a diving board.  Very cute and very clean. The image feels like summer.

This is a classic example of Subject Line directly relating to the message copy.  “priced in the shallow end .95 – 14.95”  Although I wouldn’t have a diving board in the shallow end.

CB2 is ahead of the curve with a Mobile program, noted at the bottom of their message.  I haven’t signed up for that yet, but with the possibility of winning that incredibly adorable chair for doing so, I just might.

The tongue and cheek feel continues on to the request to subscribe:  “Did someone forward you this message? Skip the grapevine. Opt in to receive CB2 email. Click here and hear it first.“  The difference between Crate and Barrel and CB2 is that Crate and Barrel messages contain a Forward to Friend option, while the CB2 messages do not.  I find it curious that CB2 asks people who received the message from a forward to opt-in, but doesn’t give subscribers a way to forward the message on without using their mail client.  Maybe it’s an oversight…

The footer also contains a request to whitelist, an unsubscribe link, a link to the privacy policy and the physical address.

If this message had that missing Forward –to-a-Friend Functionality it might quite possibly be the perfect email marketing message.  Other retailers could learn a lot from CB2.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 21, 2007

Survey Says… Part Deux

So last week, I received an email from Nike that I covered in a previous post.  The gist is that if you’re going to send out a survey email—especially early in the morning while people are at work – make it short and sweet.  It can’t be too distracting or time-consuming, since people gots things to do!

Today, I received a survey email from Photobucket, which was significantly efficient in comparison to the Nike survey.  It was short, sweet and to the point. Expectations were set up front at the beginning of the survey that it would take no more than two minutes.  There was one page of questions (no more than ten at the most) instead of the three (or more) pages worth of questions I encountered with Nike.

The moral of the story here is that timing and expectations are everything.  If you must send out a lengthy survey, time it appropriately and let your subscribers know either how many questions they are committing to, or how long they can expect to spend on your survey: Send it early evening, when most people will have enough free time to commit to filling it out in its entirety.  If you want to get a feel of what your client base is thinking, it’s ok to send out a survey during the day while people are at work.  If you’re looking for a more specific feel, break the survey up into separate parts.  People will be more willing to invest their time to let you know what they think.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 18, 2007