Dec212010
In this final installment, I have to slap the hand of a brand I adore. It hurts. I must do it anyway. I deliberately chose to select from emails received on Monday, December 20th. It’s that last big push for holiday shopping when there is still that sprinkle of hope that it might arrive on time. It’s a great chance to reach out to procrastinating shoppers like myself.
Naughty
This time, it goes to Stila Cosmetics. I love their products. I was all Stila-faced on my wedding day. They have a lot going for them, but email marketing isn’t one of them. Described as a “prestige brand,” the email I found in my inbox had no upper crust feel to it at all. It was… wait for it… text only. Cosmetics are about color and experience, and their holiday email left me wanting for either (and both). The links weren’t encoded, and the copy was pretty weak. It went like this (I removed my id from the link):
Hi Stila fans!
Last chance to get your orders in time for the Holidays!
Orders placed by midnight tonight will be upgraded to 2-day shipping for FREE*! No code needed.
Shop now:
http://www.cprpt.com/StilaCosmetics/10000/redirect.asp?vid=0&lid=1052201&o=1&rt=0&mk=490141&eidHappy Holidays!
xoxo,
Stila*Orders under $50 will be charged the ground rate of $5.95 for 2-day air. Orders over $50 will be shipped 2-day air for free.
Stila Cosmetics considers the environment when designing our packaging. Earth friendly packaging means: recyclable, made from a renewable resource, reduced raw material consumption or low carbon footprint.
At the end of the email were tracking links to share the email, Stila’s Twitter account, their Facebook page, and the required unsubscribe and address info. But why would I share this email? I’m sharing it with you now just to note that it’s not good. I say it all the time: lost opportunities are failures, too.
It looks like they are using an email system inside their ecommerce platform instead of going with a dedicated ESP. The chances that it has the powerful features you need to make the most of your campaign are minimal at best. In fact, it may be the reason they went this direction: they couldn’t figure out how to use it to make it any better.
Stila is a Lynn Tilton company, and when I saw this email, I went looking to see if there was a more systemic problem, and there is. Lynn, if you’re listening, please contact me. I can help you! Your online brand is your brand. Make the most of it.
Nice
I recently decided to get on the Gaiam mailing list to check out what they do with email marketing. I was pleasantly surprised. They are still a relatively small company in a niche market (yoga, if you hadn’t guessed), but their email was pro-level all the way. Here’s what I love about it:
There’s my final email marketing breakdown for the holiday and for the year. Don’t forget to check out Volumes 1 & 2 if you haven’t already seen those. And leave a comment. I’d love to hear what you think about the topic and the usefulness of this 3-part series.
