Welcome to The Alchemy Worx Subscriber’s Choice Award Q3 2013. With Gmail tabs making waves in the email world and a royal birth in the UK becoming an international news sensation, there were lots of tactics deployed to make the most of goings-on from July to September.
Our teams have chosen their three favorites across design, copy and subject lines and we’ll also have a look at all those royal baby emails – from pre-planned celebration strategies through to last-minute subject line ambushing!
BEST CREATIVE
Winner: M.A.C Cosmetics
Subject Line: M.A.C Illustrated – Drawn to Creative Expression
Why we chose it:
The striking use of illustration by Rebecca Moses, the clean-simple product links and the recovery section underneath.
Why it’s great:
Using large, impactful images in emails is not that unusual these days, but a stylized illustration sets this one apart from the photographic representation of models or products. The repeating pattern of eyes and lips immediately stands out from other content in the inbox and communicates M.A.C’s creative credentials. In fact, our design team have speculated on the influence of surrealist painter Joan Miro, who used the eye as a motif in many of his paintings. The products featured are small but, with illustrations by Rebecca Moses, relate to the main image.
The recovery module is simple and functional, promoting a free delivery offer, new products and how to chat online with their make-up artists. A great creative strategy for a top-end fashion cosmetics brand looking to visually seduce their subscribers.
BEST COPY
Winner: Fab.com
Subject Line: In Response To Your Feedback about Fab.
Why we chose it:
For its simple yet upbeat way of communicating a new brand promise.
Why it’s great:
The copy is simple but tells a story about the evolution of the Fab.com brand through dialog with its customers. The tone of voice is personal and easy to empathise with, in part because of the storytelling aspect, but also because it’s written in the first person and signed off by CEO Jason Goldberg. The ‘Smile Guarantee’ is also a great proposition, affirming Fab.com as having a strong sense of integrity, which should have a significant amount of cut-through in the current climate of heavy discounting.
BEST SUBJECT LINE
Winner: Best of the Best
Subject Line: Hold onto this email…
Why we chose it:
It’s playing on how people interact with email, but also references the themes of fast cars.
Why it’s great:
Is this an important message that must be kept safe? Is it a play on the driving phrase “Hold on to your hat”? Is it something trying to be deliberately ambiguous? Perhaps it’s all three? Regardless of your immediate reaction, it’s intriguing enough to make you want to open and find out more.
We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how meaning in a subject line influences who opens and what they do next. So is it a help or a hindrance to be interpreted in a few different ways? In the case of this email, we think it works because the meaning in the subject line follows through into the email body. Whatever your interpretation of the subject line, the email content has something for you.
It’s also great to see subject lines and email content that is designed to influence subscriber behavior, in this case conditioning customers to revisit their emails over three consecutive days. Whether or not this strategy would have worked better as an email each day, we don’t know, but assuming this strategy is designed to add variety to the email programme rather than reduce frequency, it ought to be very effective.
BONUS SECTION – ROYAL BABY EMAILS
Greetings Card Pizza Hut and Ambassador Theatre Group say peekaboo to the royal baby with their expedient use of the theme in subject lines:
Pizza Hut Delivery
Hi [Firstname], a delivery offer fit for a prince
ATG Tickets
A Royal Baby. A 24 Hour Flash Sale. What else can one ask for on a Monday?
Coffee Morning
One of the first out of the blocks was PrezzyBox, coming up with an email in anticipation of the royal birth showcasing their products that celebrate the Best of British, with union-jack patterns and visits to Blenheim Palace and Wimbledon.
Polly at Prezzybox – Brits Do It Best!
Diverse fashion brands Yoox.com and La Redoute promoted baby clothes with a special offer and creative nod to the news of the new baby.
YOOX.COM – Kids: sweet styles fit for a royal at an EXTRA 10% off
La Redoute – Felicitation! The Royal Baby has Arrived!
Baby Shower Pandora produced a Baby Carriage Charm and, while they don’t refer specifically to the royal baby, the gold crown on the side of the charm made the inspiration behind it very clear.
Oasis‘ email was heralded by a stork flying in with a congratulations message and included a prize draw for subscribers to ‘get the royal treatment’.
The leader in patriotic celebrations was M&S, with a slew of baby presents and celebratory gifts, including a limited-edition biscuit tin which was bound to sell like hot cakes amongst memorabilia collectors.
