Email marketing: the New Year edition During 31 December and 1 January, emails trickled through my i
Email marketing: the New Year edition During 31 December and 1 January, emails trickled through my inbox, emails that were - for once - aligned on topic: Happy New Year was the general feeling - a rare, if predictable, instance of brands sending the exact same message on the exact same day. Does it matter? Are you more likely to purchase from a brand that sends you New Year (or indeed any national holiday) wishes, or do you regard it as just another marketing arrow? Reading through those emails, I picked up two key trends: either a pure greetings email, with a large, clean, brand-representative visual and a Happy New Year or similar message (as deployed by Petit Bateau, Chloé, The Kooples), or a more mercantile email with a Happy New Year message and a least one call to shop (as deployed by Net-a-Porter, Matches, By Malene Birger). I automatically disregard the mercantile emails but I do enjoy the greeting ones, even though I don’t click through to purchase. Petit Bateau and Chloé were my favourites this year, which is why I reproduce them as part of this post. I loved Petit Bateau because of the playful illustration, a medium too rarely used in fashion emails, aside from Hermès. Founder Gaby Aghion’s quote that: “You have to tell yourself you are capable of anything” made the Chloé email. It was a nice hommage as she died last September, as well as a wink to the belief that at the beginning of the year, everything is possible again. ‘Tis the season for positive mantras. Other brands played more directly on the New Year’s resolutions theme. Marc Jacobs Beauty, which sends some of the best high-end brand make-up emails, deployed ‘Beauty Resolutions’, challenging recipients to ‘indulge in a beauty dare once in a while’. The concept, supported by strong copy and visuals, made it my third favourite email received this New Year. Jo Malone also used the new beginning idea to encourage receivers to buy a new fragrance for the new year. The French translation I received was clumsy, but it was a nice way to wrap an otherwise basic call to buy. None of these emails however cover what I really want to see from the brands I subscribe to. As much as a new beginning, the New Year is a time for reflection. I would love to see at least one brand say: this is what we learnt in 2014 and - as a result - this is what we’ll do in 2015. If you expect us, the customers, to self-improve by purchasing your products, or at least expect us to buy into that marketing message, the least you can do is improve too. And then maybe, as my Happy New Year to you too, I’ll shop with you. -- source link
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