ecommerce – Phyllis Fang

Huckberry remains relevant

Automation, Customer Preference, Unsubscribe

Who: Huckberry, a curated outdoor retailer, inspirational guide and lookbook to enable your more adventurous, stylish self. Or as they describe themselves “Gear for today. Inspiration for tomorrow.”
What’s Working: Subject line is a simple “Want to keep hearing from us? This is a personalized reengagement trigger that:
1. knows you haven’t been opening in awhile
2. wants to give you other options for keeping them around and
3. reminds you that while you may have only stumbled on their brand in order to buy that fancy, collapsible water filter, they can serve up travel inspo & tips for your next backpacking trip in the Sierras …so stay you should stay subscribed.
What’s Not: “adding value to your inbox” sounds like it was lifted straight from a marketing brief. Is that how marketers talk? Yes. Is that how consumers think of their inboxes though? Likely not.

Brooklinen’s Built-in Loyalty

Customer Loyalty

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Who: Brooklinen (best bedsheets ever, by the way) sends users a dynamic feedback email directly tied to their VIP Loyalty program. Their e-commerce site is pretty clean–crisp photos, efficient descriptions–but contain a wealth of customer reviews. As a D2C (direct to consumer) brand, they clearly know where their strengths lie and are effectively playing into them.
What’s Working: A 1-click rating that users can fill out directly in the email–no need to click out to a separate browser window, no messy log-in’s.
What’s Not: Given how targeted this is, they should also be able to identify if the user is a VIP member or not & tailor that CTA accordingly. It would tidy up the text here and make for a more streamlined message.

Hyper-targeting with Target

Promotion, Retargeting

Who: Target is super sharp on their retargeting. Within a day of my viewing these office desks, I received this follow-up email. Savvy online shoppers now are quite familiar with retargeting ads, but this paired with a promotion, would be just the push consumers need to purchase.
What’s Working: A lot of dynamic product fit into this email. Straightfoward and effective subject line.
What’s Not: I actually already knew of this promotion when I was initially browsing. Having a “your promotion is ending soon” angle would have been more valuable information.

The Limited’s Not-So-Subliminal Messaging

Promotion

Who: Anyone remember The Limited? This womenswear brand used to be a mainstay at the mall. It’s recently closed all its brick & mortar stores, though it’s still fighting for it’s place in e-commerce.
What’s Working: Clever “subliminal” messaging nicely splices up the many many deals they are promoting.
What’s Not: The aesthetic is in line with the brand… but how am I supposed to be tempted to shop without any merchandise imagery?

Bonobos Wants To Know Your Size

Customer Preference, Promotion

Who: Bonobos, an e-commerce (mostly) menswear start-up founded in NYC and recently acquired by Walmart.
What’s Working: Customer preference data in a natural, frictionless method, built directly in email.
What’s Not: Would’ve been great to see a size guide or some kind of reference guide alongside the size picker, especially given their “Perfect Fit Starts Here” tagline.