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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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.

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.

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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.

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SUBJECT
Spring to it with 30% off your purchase

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

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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.

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