1. Which campaigns inspired, what stayed the same,
and how marketers can plan for 2017
and let your creative sparks fly!
Celebrate the 4th of July
2. time to celebrate
Introduction
With summer in full swing, the 4th of July serves a
dual purpose for retailers. This red, white and blue
holiday is a final opportunity for major end-of-season
clearance events. But retailers are also well along
with their November-December Holiday planning. The
July 4th promotional calendar gives retail marketers
the opportunity to test possible email approaches for
this critical November-December shopping peak. Still,
Americans spend $6.7 billion on the 4th of July (Internet
Retailer), and there’s clearly upside when retail brands
contact consumers who are willing and ready to buy!
In this e-book, we share five notable 4th of July marketing
emails. In collaboration with eDataSource, Inc., Epsilon’s
email experts have analyzed the subject lines, read rates
and creative of these emails, and have offered expert
commentary on their execution.
New! We’ve also included a Spotlight section, where
we’ve featured two brands that had creative ideas, but
should consider a few changes for future campaigns.
Let’s face it! We all have areas in which we could improve
in digital marketing, right? It’s great when we can share
feedback, peer-to-peer.
• We cannot overemphasize the
importance of responsive design
in truly accommodating effective
message rendering on both
mobile and tethered devices.
• Video and animation are neat
ways to enhance engagement,
entertainment, product
information and demonstration.
• Imaginative and highly visible
CTAs (including prominent “Shop
Now” buttons) are critical sales
drivers.
• Always of high value --- where
applicable in multi-channel
businesses --- is identifying the
customer’s closest store, and/or
the store where she usually buys
(they are often different).
• For close-ended promotional
events, retailers can enhance
urgency and responsiveness by
clearly featuring event end-dates
above-the-fold.
#Shooting stars
Key insights
3. JOIN THE “LOVELOFT”
Nice jobe Ann Taylor.
The message within this email was clear, concise,
focused and well structured. The animation added a bit
of visual interest to the message and helped to carry
the eye down further in to the email. How convenient! I
loved that they included the stores close to my home.
Additionally, I liked the dynamic card member offer at the
top. The “Loveloft” is a cute play on the card member
appreciation month.
Kara Trivunovic, Vice President
Client Services - Epsilon
Subject Line:
Flag this: $6
styles + EXTRA
50% off
#Ann Taylor Loft
• •• •• • • • •• •••• ••• • • ••• ••• ••••• •• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • •• • •• • •• •••••••••••• • • ••••• • •••• • • • • • • • • • • • • •••• •••••• • • •• •• • •• ••••••••••••••
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Read rate: 15.06%
KARA’S QUICK TIPS
• This message appears to be a mobile first design,
which isn’t optimal for desktop experience
where most conversions tend to take place. I’d
recommend testing a responsive approach.
• The email is image heavy. When the images
are suppressed, the CTAs are lost. Consider
leveraging bulletproof buttons.
4. THAT’S THE SPIRIT!
What fun and consistent emails!
Lands’ End sent a series of emails around the July
4th holiday promoting their swim sale. Each email
leveraged the same template, but all had a fun, playful
iconic animation that definitely captured my attention.
In addition, in their call to actions, they included a
“starting at” pricing, which is an effective tactic to entice
additional clicks (see the highlighted image). What was
most unique about these emails is they broke away
from Lands’ Ends standards, showing lifestyle shots of
people wearing their clothes and instead, focused on the
holiday as an opportunity to create a unique campaign
to promote the swim sale.
Lauren Gentile, VP Executive Creative Director
Digital Solutions - Epsilon
#Land’s End
Read rate: 13.65%
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Subject Line:
All American Sale
40% off swim!
LAUREN’S QUICK TIPS
• Include the sale end date to drive urgency around
the event and countdown the days left to shop
the savings.
• Enlarge your Shop Now button to match the size
of the other navigation and ensure it stays large
and tap-able, especially for those mobile opens.
5. RED. WHITE. OR BREW
Want to learn more?
July 4th is a holiday in which consumers enjoy being
with their friends and family and ‘cheering on’ the
holiday with a favorite beverage is an activity many
enjoy. PF Chang’s promotional email playing on the
‘red, white or brew’ theme is very creative. It leaves
the recipient intrigued, wanting to learn more, leading
to the click. The hero imagery was large, festive and
appetizing. And, PF Chang’s did a nice job with the
typography. Additionally, I liked the connection of the
offer to the mobile and social channels.
Jason Kertz, Senior Art Director - Epsilon
#PF Chang’s
Read rate: 19.57%
Subject Line:
Red White or Brew?
Your choice.
JASON’S QUICK TIPS
• Consider shifting the design from one large image
to a redesigned header and footer with additional
navigation items (menu, locations, order online
as well as a map with a geolocation showing the
nearest PF Chang’s).
• To increase reader engagement, include
animation in the hero image. And, since people
love taking pictures of their food, consider
including an Instagram feed and having a hashtag
for this event.
6. SPOTLIGHT
We loved Edward Jones’ spirit for the 4th of July holiday with
their video. Videos are an effective tactic in email marketing
and really help to drive open rates, etc. It’s great how
Edward Jones employed this campaign in both their email
and social (Facebook) channels. While the read rate of this
email was well above the norm with 30%, there were areas of
improvement in which we’d like to share.
As marketers, it’s important to streamline your efforts across
all channels, and it appears that Edward Jones sent a direct
mail piece to their customers and then leveraged the ‘direct
mail creative design’ for their email as well. The email appears
like a direct mail piece and there are creative opportunities
to change the layout and design. Consider designing an “all
purpose” HTML template that can be used for quick instances.
This all-purpose template would have the Edward Jones look
and feel and typical email best practices (navigation bar, pre-
header, image to text ratio, CTA button, etc.) and be flexible for
dropped in copy and images.
Video is an effective way to drive engagement. Share with
your customers the why behind your selection of the video. Is
there a specific reason as to why you chose this video? If not,
think of a video that has meaning to your brand, your story.
Lastly, don’t forget about brand consistency throughout all
digital channels. The logo within the email is different than the
logo on Edward Jones’ Facebook page.
Mara Crisafulli, Amy Crouch & Amy Pepler
Epsilon’s Client Services Team
#Edward Jones
“All purpose” templates...
tips on how to better drive engagement
Subject Line:
Happy Independence
Day from
Edward Jones
7. What a fun concept with this email!
We loved it!
If you’ve ever experienced trying to take a video or
photo of fireworks, it doesn’t always go as planned.
While we love the idea behind this email, there are
some great opportunities for improvement, and I hope
we can all learn from these tips as we’re planning our
future holiday emails.
While black does a nice job of making the fireworks
pop along with filming in the dark, it makes forwarding
to a friend and responding quite a challenge. And, this
is the type of email that has the potential ‘to go viral.’
Think about what other colors would be an effective
background choice. Additionally, font selections are an
integral part of the creative design of emails. Consider
using a design font such as Bella, Otto, Bembo, etc.
The CTA is your opportunity at attempting to ‘close the
sale.’ Don’t settle for a ‘read more.’ Think about CTAs
that reflect the fun spirit of this holiday email. Also
include the do’s and don’ts of taking still photos. Play
on the sound effects of fireworks for your CTA and bring
it to life.
Mara Crisafulli, Amy Crouch & Amy Pepler
Epsilon’s Client Services Team
How to Capture the Excitement of
Fireworks on an iPhone or Android
Fireworks are notoriously difficult to film, especially on
a mobile device. Most phone's cameras simply do not
perform well enough, when left on automatic settings,
to adjust to the bright flashes of light set against a dark
sky. To help you get the footage you want this 4th of
SPOTLIGHT
#Sprout Video
Subject Line:
10 secrets to
capturing stellar
footage of fireworks
using your phone
‘close the sale’
8. Conclusion
As demonstrated, a lot of great creative work went into the 2016 4th of July
holiday planning. And, it’s in no doubt due to the fact that marketers are in
planning mode months ahead of time. Marketers begin with their Summer
season planning strategy in the early part of Q4. Keep this e-book handy to
help you with your planning for next year. It will be here before you know it!
Want to hear more from our experts about the Summer season?
Please visit our Epsilon blog site, a Brand New View.
Driving response through
creativity in email marketing