Emails We Love | Rooted Elm | Email Marketing https://rootedelm.com Rooted in created outstanding email marketing programs Sun, 30 Apr 2023 02:07:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.13 https://rootedelm.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/cropped-Rooted_Elm_2c-32x32.jpg Emails We Love | Rooted Elm | Email Marketing https://rootedelm.com 32 32 Subject Lines That Get Opened https://rootedelm.com/blog/subject-lines-that-get-opened Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:33:58 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=6808

Your subject line and preheader text are the first thing your audience sees and the deciding factor on whether your email is opened or deleted. So, how do you write subject lines and preheader text that make your subscriber want to open?

The Subject Line

Your subject line is the last thing you write and the first thing they see. Only once you’ve crafted your email message and identified a strong call-to-action, should you begin thinking about your subject line. Think of the subject line as a catchy headline that summarizes the main idea of your email. Start by writing down the key points from your email, and use that list to brainstorm.

When crafting subject lines be sure to:

  • Include the most important information first
  • Use no more than 50 characters
  • Consider personalizing with a first name
  • Use action words
  • Test your ideas

Tip: test out your subject line and preheader in a social media post. If you obtain engagement there, you know you have a winner.  

Emojis are a notable way to make a subject line stand out. 

The Preheader

Even if you’ve written the most compelling subject line in the world, you’re not finished yet. The Preheader is the text your subscribers see as a preview to opening the email. If you don’t provide an original preheader, it will default to the first line of your email—which works fine in some instances.  But usually, you want to use the preheader as another opportunity to hone your message. It’s essentially an extension of the subject line. Think of it as a “to be continued” on the story you’ve just introduced, or like the book jacket description to a great novel.

When writing your preheader text, here are a few tips:

  • Offer a sneak peek at how the email benefits your subscriber
  • Give a short summary of the contents
  • Give context
  • Ensure the first 50 characters make sense as a stand-alone, in case the reader is opening in mobile
  • Include a call-to-action
  • Provide an incentive to open

Starting a subject line with “Seth’s Blog” or “Email Marketing Rules” indicates the email is part of a series.

The preheader text is awesome at grabbing the attention of your subscribers and is a great way of expanding on your subject line. As I’m sure you’ve noticed though, there are two types of preheaders: those that are precise and end with white space and those that end with “preview on the web” and other text from the start of an email. Obviously, the one that ends in white space is a better experience for the subscriber.

There’s an easy way to avoid unwanted text showing up in your preheaders. On your next campaign include a hidden div full of non-breaking spaces and zero-width non-joiners right after the <‍body‍> tag of your email or template.

Jason Meeker

Development & Design, RootedELM

Get the code

Differentiate your subject line and preheader by adding white space, giving room to stand out in the inbox.

What do you think “WFH” means? At first glance, I thought they were cussing at me!  Work From Home. Clever don’t you think?

Be Mindful & Informed 

Below is an example of the need to be sensitive and aware of your external environment before you send an email. “Because the death of the First Lady Barbara Bush occurred on the same day I received this email, I was confused and a little bit annoyed when I first read the subject line and preheader,” said Lisa Wester. “Once opened, the subject line made sense, but my first impression was not a good one!”

Resources:

8 Embarrassing Preview Text Mistakes + 4 Tips on How to Avoid Them — Litmus Blog

Outstanding Email Marketing Examples of Subject Lines — Email Marketing Rules

18 Hacks for Improving Your Email Subject Lines — Campaign Monitor

 

]]> Ghoulishly Delightful Seasonal Email https://rootedelm.com/blog/spooktacular-campaigns Wed, 25 Oct 2017 05:00:39 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=2284

Halloween is the start of the something great — a time to be someone else, the guilt-free indulgence of extra-yummy treats and fun, colorful decor. To honor this devilish day, I’ve updated this post by pulling together some old and a few new seasonal email campaigns that evoked emotion, enticing me to shop, create, bake and most importantly convert.

Hyde Park Jewelers

My absolute favorite campaign of all “Halloween” time was designed by our own Jason Meeker in collaboration with the digital marketing team at Hyde Park Jewelers. In this email campaign, the intricate jewelry of Stephen Webster is stunning and flies right off the page. The creative way Jason intertwined the spooky season with the unique characteristics of these beautiful pieces is perfect. Viewing this campaign, I become a fan of the Stephen Webster instantly, and am intrigued to shop.

PETCO

Being engaged came easily with a subject line of “Boo! Your October bonus offers are HERE!” and preheader of “Plus, a few Halloween safety tips for you & your pet!” Everyone likes a bonus — especially when it involves spoiling their pet. Being that my big baby, Messi, is a huge scaredy-cat when it turns dark outside and LOVES to counter surf to sniff out anything resembling food, the “Fall Do’s and Don’ts” were helpful. This cute and colorful campaign led to an online purchase of two 50 lb bags of premium dog food and enough snacks to fill a trick-or-treat bag for all the pups in the neighborhood!

Boo! Your October bonus offers are HERE!

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Yummly #1

After viewing the email with the subject line “Easy spooky snacks 👻,” I’m tempted to throw a Halloween party even though my children are a wee-bit old and would refuse to attend. In all of their email campaigns, Yummly captures their audience with beautiful photography and creative real text vs text as an image, leading to the click through to get the recipe or search for something similar. You can get the recipes by accessing the email scope for either of the two campaigns below.

Yummly - Easy Spooky Snacks

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Yummly #2

The subject line “Pumpkin spice up your life 🍁” put me in the spirit to eat and bake. Like most, I enjoy everything pumpkin flavored, and these colorful photos make me think most of these recipes are healthy. Using Litmus, we’re able to capture the rendering of the desktop version (above) and the mobile version (below) for this clean email template used by Yummly.

 

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

 

Happy Halloween. Enjoy the season and have fun! Try not to overeat candy, or if you’re like our team — drink too much pumpkin beer. Cheers!

]]> Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-07-21 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-07-21#comments Fri, 21 Jul 2017 16:31:36 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=5285
Emails We Love

Issue 9
July 20, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we’re email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

REI Co-op

SUBJECT
Ready to Get Outside?

Abandoned cart and no purchase transactional emails can be extremely engaging and profitable too. Retailers often make the mistake of making these emails seem a little creepy in nature — no one likes a stalker. REI has taken a less “stalkery” approach to their remarketing emails and crafted them so they aren’t too different from their standard marketing fare. All this while of course keeping everything branded and multiple device friendly. Proof that remarketing emails can be profitable and look good as well.

REI Email

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Nike

SUBJECT
Nike Air Max for the Littlest Feet⁩⁩

For some time Nike has used a single column mobile friendly approach to their emails and just recently I noticed they’ve made the switch from all images to using webfonts and real text instead. This is great example of how a company that is very protective of their branding can create emails that are in-line with their brand and easy to read for everyone.

I also love the image choice and main title…it actually ended with me purchasing a pair for my niece.

Master & Dynamic Email

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Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK

American Girl

SUBJECT
This week’s AGenda: National parks for newbies

Design wise, I really love all the bright colors and I liked how the CTA buttons are translucent as the background in the two top boxes. And, as a content writer, I like how “AGenda” is on brand with the AG overall theme. It’s a perfect name for this newsletter and lends to a nice hashtag should readers choose to share photos of their adventures on social (as prompted in the email).

Zola Registry Email

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Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

Help Scout

Twice a week I receive a beautifully illustrated email from Help Scout. They are colorful, vibrant and unique. In fact, I recommend you read the post featured in the first email example I’ve included, titled Portrait of a Post: Illustrating the Help Scout Blog.

A couple of years ago I subscribed to Help Scout because of a referral that came out of a MarketingProfs course I took on content. Help Scout is a superb example of what a blog should be and how to promote it through email. The blog is written to help the reader think. They offer insight through stories, real life examples, experiences and tips. What I love most about these posts is that they don’t sell. It’s just really good content that drives me to click through on other pages of their website to learn more.

I’ve included two examples here to show the consistency of their emails. The friendly from name is always the author of the post and the subject is the title. For example, Sunett at Help Scout, with the return email address yourfriends@helpscout.com. The informative lead-in paragraph is typically three lines or less with a bold title. This is the only company I’ve seen use this style, but I may test it out myself in our next few emails. Help Scout always includes a clever, friction-free CTA button that intrigues me to convert. For example: “Say Sorry The Right Way” or “Get Inspired.”

SUBJECT
Portrait of a Post: Illustrating the Help Scout Blog

Fodor's Travel Email

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SUBJECT
How to Apologize: 5 Elements of a Successful ‘I’m Sorry’

Fodor's Travel Email

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]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-07-21/feed 2 Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-06-26 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-06-26#comments Mon, 26 Jun 2017 20:42:52 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=5126
Emails We Love

Issue 8
June 26, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we’re email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

Campaign Monitor

SUBJECT
How to Retain More Customers with Post-Purchase Email Automation

Being a robust email service provider, Campaign Monitor has a leg-up knowing how to build a good email to engage their audience.

I’ve noticed lately this little emoji stand out in my inbox when Campaign Monitor has a new post for me to read. Although I reference the Campaign Monitor blog often, this particular email caught my attention with the first five words in the subject line: “ How to Retain” followed by the simple pre-header of “Drive repeat purchases.”

Graphically, there is hardly anything to this email but the content is strong. In two short paragraphs, they have set up the problem and introduced a solution using “Read On” as the CTA. Sending two to three times per week, Campaign Monitor uses this branded email template with a short one to two paragraph lead-in consistently to introduce their latest insight. It’s clear Campaign Monitor has one goal — for their audience to click-through to their blog and for me personally, it works!

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

Master & Dynamic

SUBJECT
A shipment from order #10640 is out for delivery⁩

A lot of companies don’t really make great impressions with their transactional emails, especially when it comes to shipping. A lot of times it’s more of a data issue as apposed to an email issue necessarily. I really can’t remember the last time I received a shipment notification and was surprised and delighted by it. In fact, the first email I received from Master & Dynamic informing me the new pads for my MW60 headphones had shipped got deleted. The follow-up emails however made me take notice.

While these two follow-up shipment emails could use some branding love their content more than makes up for the lack of it. By leveraging the data that most of the major shippers provide via API’s Master & Dynamic sent two additional shipment emails; one to notify that my order was our for delivery and another to notify me that it was delivered. The other nice part of their tracking CTA in the “out for delivery” email is it takes you straight to a landing page with all the tracking data and order details without pesky log-ins or asking for additional information. Both emails create a nice touch point with customers that make an overlooked process a little more personal.

Master & Dynamic Email

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SUBJECT
A shipment from order #10640 has been delivered⁩⁩

Master & Dynamic Email

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Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICKS

Zola Registry

SUBJECT
It’s time to think PINK

I’m not typically a girly-girl, but this pink themed email caught my attention with its simple design and rose-colored hue. The copy is conversational and fresh, including the line in the bottom panel with the social media which says, “Need help? Or just want to complain about the in-laws?” Another eye catching element is the animated iPad image under the Wedding registry segment.

Zola Registry Email

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Toms

SUBJECT
Rose Gold Flamingo Print Classics

Okay, so I’m obviously into pink this week! I always love the simple, classic design of Toms emails and I’m drawn in by the catchy copy writing, including, “Whatever Floats Your Flamingo.” Shopping Toms is also a feel good experience because of their policy of giving a pair of shoes for every pair purchased. I’m not sure these flamingo print shoes are my thing, but I definitely clicked on the “Shop limited edition prints” CTA to see if there was another pair I couldn’t live without.

Toms Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Here you can create the content that will be used within the module.

]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-06-26/feed 2 Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-06-12 Mon, 12 Jun 2017 20:38:12 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=5097
Emails We Love

Issue 7 June 12, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we’re email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICKS

Fodor’s Travel

Fodor’s does an excellent job of drawing me in with their catchy subject lines—I honestly laughed at the “R-rated Guide to Disneyland”—and coordinating preview text. For example, the Disneyland email opens with, “How to misbehave in the happiest place on earth.” I like that each email is designed the same, with an article of interest for me to read, and then several other relevant links to travel information below. One thing I don’t like about these emails is the banner ad included across the top of each email. Not only is it distracting, but it’s clearly not based on my personal profile, as I am not in the market for a dating website.

SUBJECT 9021-Oooh-La-La: The 8 Poshest Hotels in Beverly Hills

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

SUBJECT An R-Rated Guide to Disneyland

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

Boxed

Boxed is an online company I tried in preparation for my daughters’ graduation party. So far, I’m impressed with the company and the content for their onboarding email series and transactional emails. I’ve received four campaigns in seven days — two transaction type and two welcome type. Each email has a friendly, personable tone and reassures the value of using Boxed.

WELCOME EMAIL SERIES:

Email 1 does a nice job of setting expectations leading with You’re about to save BIG on your favorite bulk-size groceries and household products, delivered straight to your door. I was surprised with the 15% off incentive on my order, however I had ordered before I checked my inbox to find this email 😀. Kudos to Boxed for using an original image of a couple showing excitement to open their big box instead of stock art. Finally, the CTA is friction free and direct — Let’s Go Shopping (I did again!)

Email 2 of the welcome series used the friendly ‘from name’ Chieh Huang and at first, I didn’t know who it was from until I read the subject line: A warm welcome from Boxed!  Even though the sender email address is cofounders@boxed.com, a suggestion would be to change the friendly from name to “Chieh Huang with Boxed.” Upon opening, I read the entire email and learned quite a bit about the company and their mission in just a few moments.

TRANSACTIONAL EMAIL CAMPAIGNS:

Email 1 reiterates their value with Keep smiling! You just saved a TON of money, time and gas! The incentive to share my new found excitement on another channel with a personal link — Give & Get $15 was nice.

Email 2 again reiterated their value by personalizing how much money I saved with my order. Using my tracking order as the CTA was a huge bonus to check the status of my order. My wow factor, however, was the image they included of the interior of my order packed and ready to be shipped.

The email scopes below are listed in the order received.

SUBJECT Welcome to Boxed, we’re so glad you’re here!

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

SUBJECT Woo hoo! Your Boxed order is being processed!

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

SUBJECT Your Boxed order is on its way!

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

SUBJECT A warm welcome from Boxed!

Fodor's Travel Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

Motorola

SUBJECT Moto Z is $200 off for a very limited time.

This campaign from Motorola stood out in my inbox mainly because I don’t remember receiving any emails from them since their purchase by Lenovo was finalized. The design is clean and mobile friendly with the single column design. I also love that other than the branded name of the phone everything else is actual text which they achieved by using a simple background and some transparent PNG’s. What stood out the most though was what was at the top of the email—a reminder of why I was getting this email. I’m not sure if this is the very first Motorola email I’ve received since their move to Lenovo but I think this is a great way to handle list migrations. Whether it’s because of a merger/acquisition or just a moving stale subscribers to a new ESP this is a great way to help keep your list clean — putting the unsubscribe at the top of the email — and not get marked as spam.Motorola Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Stephen Webster

SUBJECT Help him look Daddy Cool this Father’s Day

I think this campaign could use a bit of design love (they could have easily changed up the font choices a bit to better match the brand and made them a bit larger) but really loved that they’ve moved from all images to a mix of images and actual text. Far too many fashion brands and designers send out campaigns where if you’re on a slow connection or have images off you see absolutely nothing all so their copy can be in skinny serifs. I applaud Stephen Webster’s step into modern email design and understanding that, while important, having two different typefaces in your print and online campaigns isn’t a bad thing. Bonus points for a responsive design and even using video in the campaign as well.Stephen Webster Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

]]> Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-05-26 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-05-26#comments Fri, 26 May 2017 15:45:25 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=5058
Emails We Love

Issue 6 May 26, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.
Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICK

Meijer

SUBJECT Garden deals + $20 off a Char-Broil grill

Unlike many other retailers grocery and general store’s rely heavily on their weekly ads, mainly as their prices and selection can change on an almost daily basis. Sending these as weekly emails though tends to fall in two camps — those that try to make their email look like the print ad (all images of course) and those that try to adapt to the medium at hand. Meijer has moved over to the latter group in the past year and it’s a good example of how you can have a weekly ad campaign without a horrible experience. Meijer’s first step to decluttering the weekly ad email experience is they’ve separated their campaigns into a grocery and general merchandise weekly campaigns. This is their general merchandise campaign and — like the grocery one as well — they’ve selected several key items from their ad to feature. The large images and prices make it a clean and simple email and the subscriber always has the ability to click through to the full ad on their website. For their mobile subscribers everything collapses to keep the large images and price points and they even selectively remove items from the footer for a better layout. Meijer Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK

Thirdlove

SUBJECT Bras 101 – Caring for your 24/7™ T-Shirt Bra

One of the best aspects of this email was the timing. I had recently purchased one of these bras (which by the way, comes with a “try for free” policy to guarantee the perfect fit). Several days after receiving my purchase, this email was delivered to my inbox offering step by step instructions for keeping my purchase as good as new. I like the “4 Easy Steps” complete with breezy sketches, and I’m in love with the copywriting on this one, which reads as if an older sister or friend is casually offering me advice over a cup of coffee. Thirdlove Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICK

Teavana

SUBJECT Let’s Get This Weekend (Sale) Started

What a fun subject line! It gets even better with the crafty header — “Cheers to Tea-Day Weekends filled with BBQ’s, BFFs and the Best Iced Tea Ever.” So I became super excited when I saw the survey at the bottom. It’s not asking for your favorite; the call-to-action is enticing me to try something new. At first I thought the populated survey results were stagnant images showing results from the time of send, but when I took a closer look after clicking through and refreshing my email screen, I noticed my vote counted and the percentage increased! It was dynamic (literally) thanks to images being generated at load time via MovableInk. This email uses consistent branding—from the email received to the landing page—even showing me several offers that would apply to my interests. I rate this email as an exceptional example of engaging the subscriber to obtain feedback for product interest, as well as collect data for personalization and future offers. Teavana Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-05-26/feed 4 Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-05-12 Fri, 12 May 2017 21:01:03 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=5012
Emails We Love

Issue 5
May 12, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

Sherwin-Williams

SUBJECT
RE: Donate your digital color to communities in need

Sherwin Williams has a clever “color-full” or should I say “color-less” philanthropy campaign called Donate Your Color going on right now. The engaging email campaign promoting the humanitarian effort is original, fun and creative. With minimal lines of copy, this campaign had me doing just what they asked — to scroll, then click to learn more. I landed on a beautifully branded website supporting the email and even donated my digital color. In my opinion, this campaign met its goal.

The campaign renders beautifully on desktop as well as mobile however, because it is 100% image based, Sherwin Williams could have used actual text instead of text within an image for the content and call to action buttons to reduce load time.

Sherwin-Williams Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

fitbit

SUBJECT
Your May Newsletter

I remember being at the ExactTarget Connections conference a few years ago and hearing Scott Dorsey, CEO at the time, talk about how Fitbit, a wearable device, will track your daily fitness activity and send personalized emails using that data to educate and inspire your workouts. This email newsletter does just that.

Fitbit uses text as friction-free and formative call to action buttons that inspire me to take action. The email layout is clean, using two lines of header text for content and small image for a section header. Each section is supported by images of people wearing the device (instead of stock art) building confidence in the product and interest in the linked content.

fitbit Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

Veerle Pieters

SUBJECT
Veerle’s weekly EDITION #00022

Far too many “newsletters” have devolved into digests of links driving you to the senders website. While digest type emails are fine — and sometimes extremely useful — the heady days of emails full of content is a dying art form. Veerle’s weekly newsletter is what a newsletter should be…a blog disguised as an email. She’s even monetized it by including content about a design bundle with a referral link.

Veerle Pieters Email

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YOOX News

SUBJECT
Men’s Style: 6 brands chosen for you

As far as lifestyle and fashion brands go YOOX typically sends some great emails. This one is no different, not only is it personalized to me — If you know I’m a man why would I be interested in dresses *caugh* Macy’s *caugh* — but it looks great regardless of your device. My personal favorite is how they collapse their content on mobile.

Their template is a hero image with three items beneath. Most fashion retailers would shrink the three items to the point of being unreadable. Those that care about their mobile audience might make them into a single column of items or float them so you have two items with the third on the bottom. YOOX takes a different approach though, they simply hide the third item.

I always stress that each client/device is different and an email doesn’t have to look identical on each. YOOX takes it to the next level showing that not even all content necessarily needs to be seen on every client.

YOOX Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK’S

Kenneth Cole

SUBJECT
Treat yourself! Night Cap flash sale starts NOW

Arriving in my inbox just after dinner, this email included clever copy and a sense of urgency to shop, but with a twist. The sale ends at 3 am, in keeping with the night cap theme. The image of the fancy cocktail and the words, “This is what dreams are made of,” topped off the fun. Again, easy to navigate and simple. A sense of urgency that does not cause friction.

Kenneth Cole Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Lucky Brand

SUBJECT
It’s Official. You’re On The List!

This Welcome email from Lucky Brand is clean, simple and includes a 10% off offer to redeem now that I joined. I like the copy which is both inclusive and friendly. I also like the clean design, and that I can click on text to shop, find a store, etc. Easy to navigate. No distractions.

Lucky Brand Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Here you can create the content that will be used within the module.

]]> Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-5-1 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-5-1#comments Mon, 01 May 2017 15:17:38 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=4899
Emails We Love

Issue 4
May 1, 2017

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks — we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK’S

Beautycounter

SUBJECT
A gorgeous gift set just for Mom

I’m almost always drawn into an email based on the copy, which makes sense, given that I’m a content nerd. Of course, with Mother’s Day right around the corner, I’m looking for something special for my own Mom, so I opened this email out of curiosity. But what caught my eye on this email wasn’t just the content, but the animation of the words “Perfectly Pink&rdqou; once I opened. The clever play with words—“Give her flowers, only better,” followed by “Make her day with a curated beauty bouquet,” was the perfect touch for this sweet email that made it way too easy to finish my Mother’s Day shopping.

Beautycounter Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Target

SUBJECT
Patio furniture perfection

I really liked the simplicity of this Target email. I’m in the market for patio furniture, so the subject line immediately caught my eye and the preheader, “Crush that outdoor style,” gave me confidence. The email went on to make it easy to shop, depending on my patio needs. The photos of each set of patio furniture flow into the next set, drawing me further down and through the email. Overall, I liked the design layout and clear, concise copy on this clean, easy to read campaign.

Target Email

VIEW THE EMAIL SCOPE

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICK

Canva

SUBJECT
Design awesome Facebook post with our top weekly picks [Canva for Work]

How did Sherwin Williams know I needed to paint my front door? This very helpful campaign, animated with five colorful visuals, caught my attention immediately. The mention of the sale completely slipped by me as my focus was on the animation and which color combination would be perfect for my entrance.

Canva for Work did a nice job with this email newsletter as it’s visually pleasant and clean. Canva for Work is an online design product for the “non-designer” like Christina and I. We use this tool on a daily basis, so the content they are promoting here is on point and very helpful.

Canva for Work gets bonus points here for using actual text instead of text within images, so even with these beautiful images turned off, I can read the email to as it is intended. They have also used friction-free CTA’s so my anxiety to click-through to learn more is very low.

The visual of the Canva pro-tip: left aligned at the bottom is a nice example of showing how to use the tip within the product and the outcome. Personally, this is one of my favorite B2B email newsletter’s I’ve received so far.

Canva Email

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Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

Font Shop

SUBJECT
It’s Time – Masqualero Promo Ends Tomorrow

Aside from their great design, Font Shop – unlike some other foundries – makes a point to use webfonts in their emails. While the featured font in their emails aren’t always represented in actual type, their commentary and all other text has their specific fonts applied to them. They even add the extra step of letting people on desktop/webmail clients that might not render webfonts that they need to look at the email in the browser for the full effect. The only drawback is that with recent changes in the email client landscape they could easily change their code to remove the “looks best in browser” for a large portion of their audience as the overwhelming majority probably are able to see the webfonts in the email.

Font Shop Email

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REI Co-op

SUBJECT
Why We Are Putting Women Front and Center

I’ve featured REI before but they truly do have a great email program and that includes their monthly member news emails. This month they’ve focused on their “Equal Outside” initiative to bring gender equity outdoors. The design matches their in store POS and other material produced and really drives home the REI feel while remaining on topic. A great email to match an equally great cause.

The only suggestion I’d give is to ditch the image CTA’s and image Headers and use actual text. While the Outlook folks might not see the branded font, it will greatly reduce the size of the email and make it even easier for those with disabilities to read.

SPG Email

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Here you can create the content that will be used within the module.

]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-5-1/feed 3 Emails We Love: Visual Impact https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-4-14 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-4-14#comments Fri, 14 Apr 2017 18:29:14 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=4806
Emails We Love

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks–we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

 

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

 

Inspirato

SUBJECT
Legendary Vail Valley

The high end luxury market – whether it’s jewelry, cars, or real estate – are targeting the wealthiest among us but all too often their emails tend to fall flat. Half the time it looks like they’re trying to shoe-horn a magazine ad into your inbox and of course, it’s typically one or two giant images. Inspirato, a luxury vacation club, cuts through the norm and is a prime example of what others in the luxury world should strive for when crafting their email campaigns.

Inspirato knows their market well and has capitalized on that by sending on-brand messages that work extremely well on the devices people are using. From the images of their vacation properties to the layout that looks great regardless of your screen size, their emails always exude luxury. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that had no desire to join Inspirato – whether they could afford it or not – after getting several of these emails.

Inspirato Email

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Starwood Preferred Guest

SUBJECT
Your April eStatement

Starwood Hotels and Resorts have an extremely loyal base of customers. In fact, those customers and Starwood’s loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guests or SPG, was one of the main reasons that Marriott gave for their recent purchase of the company. Luckily for those of us that are members of the SPG program, most everything has stayed the same, including their great monthly statements.

Automated emails tend to have the highest level of engagement for sends. However, when those automated sends include various amounts of data to be displayed, most designers typically go the bland spreadsheet approach. While sometimes a regurgitating of numbers on an automated statement is all that is needed, the majority of the time a graphical display of that data is going to be more meaningful to the recipient. SPG takes that cue and makes their monthly rewards statement easy to read and understand at a glance while continuing to incorporate marketing messages. It’s another reason why it pays to be an SPG member.

SPG Email

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23andMe

SUBJECT
Good News About Health Reports

Sometimes content for an email needs to incorporate nothing more than good ole fashioned text. No big call to action button, no flashy image — just a short message from you to your subscribers or members. 23andMe had such an email recently and didn’t try to pretend that their CEO was sending you a message from Outlook. It looked great and showed how a textual email can be branded, simple and impactful.

23andMe Email

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Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK’S

 

Snapfish

SUBJECT
🌈 60% off sitewide shines on through tomorrow!

Let’s face it, an offer of 60% off right in the subject line always catches my attention, but it was really the rainbow emoji that caught my eye first. Using a rainbow elicits happy and positive feelings, preparing me to be open to the rest of the email’s message. I clicked through and found sales on items I can use right now for the busy Spring season. Overall I wasn’t moved to make a purchase, but the emoji did its job of getting me to open the email.

Snapfish Email

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Old Navy

SUBJECT
💃 Your name is on the list for $12 dresses & $10 ballet flats

Although I’m not typically an Old Navy shopper, and couldn’t remember signing up for their emails, I smiled when I saw this one pop up with dancing fiesta lady. There’s just something about a woman dancing in a red dress that makes me feel festive! As a content writer, I also especially liked how the subject line addressed me directly. Who doesn’t want their name on a list of dresses and ballet flats this time of year? I opened out of curiosity and although I found the email to be too busy and overwhelming, I still appreciated the catchy emoji and subject line that attracted me to open in the first place.

Old Navy Email

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LISA’S PICKS

 

Sherwin Williams

SUBJECT
5 welcoming exterior color combinations | Your exclusive 30% off sale ends Monday.

How did Sherwin Williams know I needed to paint my front door? This very helpful campaign, animated with five colorful visuals, caught my attention immediately. The mention of the sale completely slipped by me as my focus was on the animation and which color combination would be perfect for my entrance.

This email is full of best practices, leading with a solid subject line and a pre-header, shown only in my inbox preview, that re-iterated the second half of the subject line (below).

Sherwin Williams is using real text instead of images as text, allowing the content to be readable on all devices. Something that you don’t see often is the placement of the unsubscribe link at the top as well as the bottom of the email. I like this as it’s the first thing you see, telling the subscriber they care about your preferences and only want you to be there if you want. They have three pre-headers stacked closely together on desktop which would be an issue on a mobile device but they disappear on mobile.

The content has been well thought out. It’s short and to the point, they use several friction-free calls to action buttons each leading to a branded landing page. They even give kudos to the employee who selected the perfect color palate.

This email is full of inspiration and information on how to achieve painting my entrance, but it’s also the perfect example of an email campaign done right.

Sherwin-Williams Email

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Starbucks

SUBJECT
Easy-to-make Cold Brew Pitcher Packs are back

The informative, “how-to” element of this subject line intrigued me to open. Much like the Sherwin Williams campaign, the animation drew me in, followed by the video with steps on how to make the perfect pitcher of cold brew coffee.

The downside to this campaign is that Starbucks uses images for every piece of this email, including the menu. The only exception is the footer area.

Starbucks Email

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Ivivva

SUBJECT
my bra. my story.

Obviously my theme this week is animation. I like what Ivivva has done here with the play on words with the product theme of the campaign. Ivivva supports the content with a video testimony taking you behind the scenes. The testimonies bring the product to life.

Ivivva Email

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]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-4-14/feed 2 Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-3-31 https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-3-31#comments Fri, 31 Mar 2017 20:00:03 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=4639
Emails We Love

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks–we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

 

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

REI CO-OP

SUBJECT
Member Coupons are Here!

REI knows their market, their members, and their non-member customers very well. This is another perfect example of them tailoring their campaigns to their members and the devices they’re reading these campaigns on. While the email is very much on point when it comes to the REI brand, it also ensures that regardless of where you’re viewing the email you get a great experience and can easily read the email.

Too many retailers tend to focus on a desktop only approach to their emails, which can make it difficult to convey your design properly and extremely difficult to read. With mobile opens of email approaching 60% of the market, one would think that retailers would move this direction en masse; unfortunately, they aren’t. This email is a perfect example of having the best of both worlds; using the same assets from the traditional desktop version of the email to create a perfect experience for mobile users.
REI Email

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Harry’s

SUBJECT
The easiest way to try Harry’s

The razor and men’s grooming market is a crowded space and Harry’s is using email to stand out from the pack. Upon signing up for their email campaigns you’re greeted with a welcome journey that is on brand, short and to the point and explains what Harry’s is and how it works. While most have some sort of on-boarding for new subscribers, a lot of marketers seem to struggle with what those welcome emails should be. Harry’s has hit it spot on; this campaign is clean, simple and gets the point across.
REI Email

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Litmus

SUBJECT
Litmus Live 2017 tickets on sale now!

Tickets for Litmus Live 2017 went on sale Monday and Litmus sent an email with all the bells and whistles to let everyone know. Expanding on several of the methods they’ve used in previous emails, they sent an email that for the large majority of their audience was an interactive ordering system. Select which location you want to attend, then select how many tickets you need from the live updating price list (notice that the early birds were gone by the time I took this screenshot). Once you click the checkout button at the bottom you’ll be taken to an Eventbrite page that’s ready for your billing information; one more click and you’ve purchased your tickets.

As always Litmus is a great example of what email can be when you use progressive enhancements to make a much better experience for your largest audience. In the case of Litmus, most of the recipients of this email are opening it in Apple Mail or another Mac OS email client. If you opened this email on a Mac OS email client, you got the awesome live ordering view. If you opened it on mobile or somewhere else you still saw an informative and on-brand email that let you order the tickets.

Litmus Tickets Email

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Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK’S

 

Aveda

SUBJECT
Smooth Solutions, Just for You

As someone with enough hair on my head for 3 people, I can’t live without my Aveda products to keep the frizz under control. This subject line is clear and to the point; I opened right away to access the “Smooth Solutions.” Inside, it was as if Aveda had read my mind with content that says, “Take control of Frizz.” I’m also a big fan of the way they design the images so I can clearly see what the offer entails and choose the best option for my needs. I’m loving the color scheme as well: very soothing–much like their products are for my hair!

Aveda Email

Target

SUBJECT
New, now, wow home items

This email was timed perfectly & delivered to my inbox on the first day of Spring with a preheader that reads, “Celebrate Spring with a refresh. Style, priced right.” I’m not normally big on home decorating, but something about the start of Spring has me in the mood to clear out the clutter, open all the windows and start anew. The design of the ad, with square photo boxes, each featuring a singular item refreshing the home, makes it easy to skim and then click for more options in that category.

Target Email

 

Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

 

Shutterfly

SUBJECT
Your memories from this week three years ago…

Shutterfly took an approach similar to what Facebook does on a regular basis with previous posts. They presented the past to evoke emotion by showing photos that had not been developed yet from three years ago. With hardly any text, this simple email would make the perfect “missed you” or reengagement campaign.

Shutteryfly Email

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J. Crew

This ingenious campaign series from J.Crew stood out because of its wittiness, timing and vibrant colors used for the Spring theme. J.Crew, while always creative with their campaigns, rotates on a regular basis between product emails and off-the-wall concepts like the three shown below with the springs. With very little text, it’s clear the goal of this email series is the sale, much like the Gap email Jason talked about in our last “Emails We Love” post.

SUBJECT
It’s spring! Celebrate with 30% off your purchase.

petco foundation Email

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SUBJECT
Spring to it with 30% off your purchase

petco foundation Email

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SUBJECT
Act fast! 30% off your purchase ends tonight.

petco foundation Email

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Wistia

SUBJECT
Friends don’t let friends miss discounts

This simple B2B email to me screams perfection — including the subject line! This is another example of using minimal text for clean email design, but have a significant impact on the content. Unlike the J.Crew campaigns, Wistia used formatted text to support the large header image to make it possible to read the content with images off. The blue geometric shape below the crafty friction-free call-to-action looks like a background image, but it is formatted text as well on a blue background. The images surrounding this content area gives it that geometric shape. The same theme is carried over onto the branded landing page to provide more information about the Wistia event so you know are in the right place.

Wistia Email

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]]> https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-3-31/feed 1 Emails We Love https://rootedelm.com/blog/emails-we-love-2017-3-17 Fri, 17 Mar 2017 20:38:46 +0000 http://rootedelm.com/?p=4311
Emails We Love

With all the emails that end up in your inbox, there are always a few that stand out. Here at RootedELM, we are email geeks–we admit it. Whether it’s outstanding content, design or development, when we see it, we want to share it. Watch for our insight here, direct from our own inboxes, and use it to inspire your next campaign.

Jason Meeker

JASON’S PICKS

Litmus

SUBJECT
Play to win a ticket to Litmus Live

Litmus has been hosting THE conference for email designers for the past several years. Their Save the Date email, while conveying the necessary information, has become a showcase of what email can be; each years more complex than the last. The #emailgeeks community treats it like Christmas Eve as we await to see what bleeding edge designs they incorporate each year.

Litmus did not disappoint, once again proving conference emails don’t have to be boring. As they did last year they incorporated a game to find golden tickets into the email which would grant the first finders of the ticket a free ride to Litmus Live. On tap this year we have dynamic images and text achieved via style sheets dynamically generated server side, a Litmus quiz, a live pageable twitter feed, and an live update on which tickets had been found and who won them.

The bar for next years LitmusLive Save the Date email is stratospherically high.

LitmusLive Save The Date Email

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GAP

SUBJECT
📆 We owe you code HAPPY (plus, a bonus 10% off!)

GAP’s emails have gotten progressively better over the years. While most are still close to 100% images – when much of them could be pure text – they have at least made efforts to make sure their images are focused towards how they’ll be viewed on mobile and provide progressive enhancements. This email however stands out for the brevity of it’s main content.

Far too often B to C retailers tend to treat their emails as extensions of their print/in-store campaigns. This results in too much content and too many images in their emails. Sale emails don’t have to showcase a bunch of product images or flowery pun filled language to grab consumers. GAP has proved that with this 40% off email; the message is simple and straight forward. While I don’t necessarily like separating numerals from their percent sign, this is still a great design and a wonderful example of what a sale email can be.

GAP 40% Off Email

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Christina Noll

CHRISTINA’S PICK

BEAUTYCOUNTER

SUBJECT
It’s a customer fave

I liked the subject line. Seeing, “it’s a customer fave” made me want to find out what everyone else is using from Beautycounter that they love so much. Maybe I would love it, too. Inside, the email continued with the theme with a “Rising Star” headline and then, to back up their claim of “customer fave” they included actual customer testimonial quotes. Overall, this email hit home with the content and I also liked the clean and polished look.

Beautycounter Email


Lisa Wester

LISA’S PICKS

Homage

SUBJECT
Hey yooo! BOGO 50% OFF in store and online

I love this witty and creative email by Homage. The copy and concept of sharing the offer with a friend by text is so realistic because who talks on the phone these days? Everything about this email stood out to me including the Refer A Friend section and the on-brand call-to-action (CTA) button at the bottom. A suggestion for Homage would be to convert the text used through the email as actual text, and not text placed within an image. This will help with the reader’s experience and conversion.

Homage Email

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petco foundation

SUBJECT
Let love change your world

Call me a pet-loving sensitive schmuck but I LOVE the content of this email! It started with the subject line: “Let love change your world.” My favorite part of this email is the use of actual photos. I was instantly drawn and didn’t need to read the text below, or the CTA, to want to read more. The the main, cartoon image is cute and tender evoking emotion.

Just like I mentioned with the Homage review above, Petco Foundation could convert the text toward the bottom of the image and CTA button to actual text instead of an image with text. This will decrease the time to download the image, while making it clear what the email is about. The branding with the cartoon image is carried through to a landing page telling me more about the upcoming adoption event. The Donate Today CTA is perfectly placed in the bottom right where my eye finds itself to click through to another branding landing page — reassuring me I’m where I need to be.

petco foundation Email

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