We reviewed two similar shoe companies in order to understand their email flows and determine which email marketing strategy is the most effective.

1. Email strategy teardown:
Converse vs. Toms

2. Teardown of two email strategies:
We reviewed two similar shoe companies in order to
understand their email flows and determine which
email marketing strategy is the most effective.
Checkout the online version here on our website!
Get ready to rumble!

3. • Founded in 1908
• Malden, MA
• Originally designed for
basketball
• Purchased in 2003 by Nike for
$305 million
• Founded in 2006
• Santa Monica, CA
• One for One business model. They
give a pair of shoes to someone in a
developing nation for every pair of
shoes purchased.
The contenders
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner

4. The actions we took in each round
Subscribe to email
newsletter
Abandoned a cart Purchase abandoned
item after a week
ROUND 3
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
ROUND 2ROUND 1

5. Day
01
Day
02
Day
03
Day
04
Day
05
Day
06
Subscribed
to emails
Welcome
Promotion Newsletter
Abandoned
cart
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
OUR
ACTIONS:

6. Day
07
Day
08
Day
09
Day
10
Day
11
Day
12
Abandoned
cart
Abandoned
cart
Promotion
Abandoned
cart
Abandoned
cart #2
Promotion Newsletter
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
OUR
ACTIONS:

7. Day
13
Day
14
Day
15
Day
16
Day
17
Day
18
Purchase
Newsletter
Order
confirmatio
n
Shipping
confirmatio
n
Promotion
Order
confirmatio
n
Newsletter Newsletter Newsletter
Shipping
confirmatio
n
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
OUR
ACTIONS:

8. Day
19
Day
20
Day
21
Day
22
Day
23
Day
24
Newsletter
Delivery
confirmatio
n
Newsletter
Promotion Promotion Newsletter
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
OUR
ACTIONS:

9. Who won the battle?
Let’s break it down!

10. Timely, I received this email
shortly after subscribing.
DAY 01 Welcome email
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Very direct, clear, minimal text.
There isn’t a discount or
clear CTA for this email.
With so many other promos
for Converse it seems weird
to not include one in here.

11. Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Missed opportunity
Converse asked for my gender in their
signup form.
This seems like a missed opportunity to
segment the newsletter list by gender to
make it more relevant to me.

12. Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
No welcome email?
I couldn’t really believe this.
I double checked a few months later
and saw that TOMS has been
experimenting with their sign up form.
This time around when I signed up they
generated a dynamic coupon for me on
the spot.

13. Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Round 1 goes to…
First impressions are everything, and I
could not get over TOMS’ lack of a
welcome email.

14. DAY 07 Abandoned cart
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
They minimize risk by telling
me the terms of returns
They included a picture of
the product I was looking at

15. DAY 07 Abandoned cart continued
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Dynamic product
recommendations are spot on

16. DAY 07 Abandoned cart
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Clear CTA
Overall email is to the point
and somewhat effective
There’s not even a hint of
what this company sells in
this email. No mention of
shoes or any images of
shoes at all.

17. Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Round 2 goes to…
Round 2 was a tough call.
Ultimately, TOMS is the winner for having
a multi-touch abandoned cart flow in
addition to a very clear call to action.

18. DAY 14 Order confirmation
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Covers all the information
someone would want in an
order confirmation
The from sender has
changed from Converse to
Nike.
This could make it harder for
those who are searching for
their email.

19. DAY 14 Order confirmation continued
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
While dynamic product
recommendations are usually
a good call, in an order
confirmation email this seems
untimely.

20. DAY 14 Order confirmation
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
It has all the necessary information
someone would want for their records
including a picture/price/shipping
address/confirmation number/etc.
The from sender has changed. This
could make it harder for those who
are searching for their email.

21. Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner
Round 3 goes to…
Not only did Converse send a clear,
confirmation email, they also sent us a
delivery confirmation email right away.

22. And the winner is…
With a strong brand, a dynamic
recommendations and helpful
visuals, Converse is the winner in
this battle.
Introduction
Round 1:
Subscribe
Round 2:
Abandoned
Cart
Round 3:
Purchase
Winner