When your heart knows what you want… a heart CTA

• Date – 9th February 2021
• Brand – Lovell Rugby

An explanation

You can tell you’ve been away for a while when WordPress changes their entire CMS portal. This new blocks based system is going to take some getting used to.

Whilst it’s not the most adventerous of emails, with the same generic images for the main shirts on offer, I had to include this Lovell Rugby Valentine’s email for one simple tweak made to celebrate Valentine’s Day…. Their CTA.

I know it’s a tiny little tweak, and it does look slightly out of place, but it’s a cheeky little joy which made me smile when I saw it.

• Subject Line – The perfect Valentines Day Gift
• Snippet – Lions, Six Nations, adidas Boots & Gallagher Premiership
• From – Lovell Rugby <sales@marketing.lovell-rugby.co.uk>

When someone knows their competition…

• Date – 22nd September 2020
• Brand – Mindful Chef

An explanation

It’s been a while. I’ve been saving emails during Covid-19 Lockdown, but never got chance to upload them. I love this one from Mindful Chef though, so had to post it.

For me, aside from the glorious, simple layout I love the slightly arrogant approach. Mindful Chef know they’re the best for the explained reasons and they’re happy to shout about it.

Looking at the general email style, the palet is simple and easy on the eye, with a lovely shade of purple. The footer too, there’s not a lot too it, but it just gives a simple, soft feel.

It could be argued that the table and the 4 step box are possibly overkill, but personally I think they both add to the email and can be justified. The centralised font is restricted to a few lines, so that works too.

In summary, it looks good and it does it’s job. Nothing else needs to be said.

• Subject Line – Have you ever compared us to our competitors?
• Snippet – Summary table inside! [Green tick emoji]
• From – Mindful Chef <hello@mindfulchef.com>

When the world goes in to Lockdown…

• Date – Ongoing
• Brand – Multiple

An explanation

Have you been living under a rock?

Well even if you have, you’re probably doing so as a way of self-isolation as the world goes in to Lockdown to slow down the spread of Covid-19.

We all know how the disease works, and we all (should) know why we’re self-isolating. Stay safe, protect lives, etc. What has been quite interesting whilst sitting around at home is the plethora of emails from all walks of life offering insights on brands, products, stores, company practices, etc. Whether it is Tesco regularly emailing saying “Every little helps” or it is Deliveroo and their lunchtime recommendations, every brand seems to be contacting their database.

It would take months to access every single good email that has gone out, and I don’t yet have that available time. As such, I thought I’d just share a list of some of my favourite subject lines to date.

• Firebox (13/03/20): “Another Coronavirus email 🦠”
• Sugru (17/03/20): “A Note for You – How Sugru is Responding to the Current Pandemic and Our Community”
• Men’s Health (18/03/20): “What Actually Happens To Your Body When You Get COVID-19?”
• Prince Charles Cinema (18/03/20): “We’ll Be Back! ❤”
• Places Leisure (26/03/20): “Our place or yours, we’re here for you”
• Fatherly (30/03/20): “Covid-19 is Ultramarathon, Not a Sprint”
• MOO (31/03/20): “It’s business as UNusual at MOO”

There have been lots and lots of emails hitting the inboxes since this started. Most are simple and to the point. Some are creative like these above. Ultimately though, as long as the message is to keep calm, keep safe and be kind to others, then all are good. I just wanted to give a shout out to the above as even in times like this, I love a bit of creativity.

Have you got a favourite Covid-19 Subject Line? Comment and let me know? I’d love to hear them.

Stay home, stay safe, and lets protect the NHS everyone. Take care.

Note: For the latest Government news on the Pandemic, check out their dedicated page here – https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus 

When Brands are considerate…

• Date – 8th March 2020
• Brand – Odeon Cinemas
• Date – 9th March 2020
• Brand – The Daily Telegraph

An explanation

Data segmentation and targeting can be a bit of a mindfield sometimes. You never quite know 100% if the people you are contacting will be happy, sad, pleased or offended by your communications. You can take a risk based approach to come up with a plan, but you can never be fully sure.

So when it comes to marketing sensitive subjects, sometimes it is safer to preempt the risk.

This is what both Odeon Cinemas and the Daily Telegraph have done on this occasion.

Personally, this author has no issue with Mother’s Day emails (and at this moment mine is very much still alive & kicking), but every year there are people struggling to cope with the loss of a loved one who might not want to be reminded of this day.

So it’s an unique and nice touch for brands to start sending out an early email offering a supportive hand and asking about this level of marketing.

It will be interesting to see if this is the start of a whole new trend, or just an one off, but for now I applaud both these brands for their thinking.

• Subject Line – Don’t want to receive Mother’s Day emails
• Snippet – We understand…
• From – ODEON Cinemas<odeoncinemas@e-mail.odeon.co.uk>

• Subject Line – Would you rather not hear about our Mother’s Day offers?
• Snippet – If this is a difficult time for you, please let us know
• From – The Telegraph <thetelegraph@email3.telegraph.co.uk>

When Brexit can be funny…

• Date – 31st January 2020 [a long delay I know]
• Brand – Eurostar

An explanation

So at the end of January 2020, Brexit finally happened. In between the rejoicing on one hand and the sorrow on the other, some brands took the time to embrace the event from a marketing perspective to add a bit of humour.

Eurostar were the best at this, and in this instance, content was most definitely kind.

• Subject Line – Get back into Europe with Eurostar
• From – Eurostar <explore@e.eurostar.com>

When the obvious works…

• Date – 3rd April 2019
• Brand – Fullers Brewery

An explanation

There’s a degree of “OTT” about email marketing sometimes. A countdown timer, an uber personalised header featuring name and personal facts, gifs. It’s easy for an email to be more about the style and less about the substance.

This isn’t me criticising that approach by the way, I’m guilty of it myself sometimes. I’m just accutely aware that sometimes the most obvious, most basic idea can have a massive impact.

Take the latest email from the Fullers Brewery for example.

For free drink offers, or simply out of curiousity, I am registered to multiple pub email chains. Yet, whenever a brand changes their menu, there’s an obsession with getting people on site to view the menu. This isn’t surprising really. After all, Open Rates and Click Through Rates are often the be all & end all of solid CRM KPIs. However it is refreshing to see a brand try a different approach and paste their menu smack bang in the middle of their email as the header!

Simple, effective, mouthwatering. Yes, the image isn’t perfectly alined with the email template, but for the straightforward approach, I applied their efforts.

Now if you excuse me, I might go grab myself a halloumi wrap.

• Subject Line – Check out our tasty new dishes…
• From – The Merchant <merchant.manager@fullers.co.uk>

The clever, contemporary cross-sell…

• Date – 7th February 2019
• Brand – Racing Post (with special mention to Genting Bet – see below)

An explanation

British Horse Racing has been suspended due to an outbreak of Equine Flu (Horse Flu). This happens every now and again, but for obvious reasons needs to be contained. It also has a massive impact on the sports-betting industry.

So what’s the solution?

1. Cross-sell to foreign events
2. Cross-sell to virtual

The first out of the stalls today was the Racing Post who provided the below email offering updated news, whilst simultaneously plugging the racing in Thurles (location: Tipperary, Ireland), Meydan (Dubai) and the Greyhounds via the app.

A clear, detailed email, the Racing Post have managed to taken a potential damaging day, and with a bit of creativity, have created a lovely piece of cross-sell. The question is, will they be the first past the post at the end of the day. I’d predict a win by a nose.

• Subject Line – Breaking News: All you need know about the equine flu
• From – Racing Post <email@racingpost-email.com>

Special Mention – Genting Bet

As an additional note for today, whilst not an email, I thought it apt to give special mention to the quick thinking of Genting Bet regarding today.

Even beating the Racing Post out the door with their SMS, the push to Virtual Horses by this brand is impressive. Succinct and clear copy, it almost makes me want to try a gambling experience I am personally sceptical of.

Copy – Equine Flu won’t stop our virtual horse racing. Giddy up with GentingBet, & place your bets today >> bit.ly/2Gj8Syz Txt NONE to 60300

The simple Gambling approach…

• Date – 18th December 2018
• Brand – LeoVegas

An explanation

I enjoy a good punt. It all goes back to when I was a child and the family used to have a friendly sweepstake on sporting events. Nowadays I’m registered to multiple sites and enjoy receiving a huge number of emails a day from different sites.

As such, a lot of these will feature on this site. I’m not encouraging gambling, just like I’m going to try to avoid promoting certain brands. This site is purely to give a shout out to emails I love, whatever the reason.

So what’s so special about this LeoVegas email?

Well, take your pick. Whether it is the simplicity, the multiple calls to action, the design. This wonderful responsive email screams “play this game”. Like Paddy Power (who will feature on a number of occasions in the future), this email provides quick options with minimal copy, and is directly targeted at a segmented section of the database.

Like most emails I receive, I’d be intrigued to see the click through and heatmap results for this email.

• Subject Line – What’s trending at LeoVegas this December
• From – LeoVegas <noreply@leovegas.com>

The email which made me fall in love with emails…

• Date – 17th December 2015
• Brand – Odeon

An explanation

In December 2015, Stars Wars VII was released to mass acclaim. A return to an universe far, far away, the film reunited children (young and old) with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and the rest of the original cast.

The movie was coming soon… Expectations were high. Then Odeon turned it up a notch. With a now defunct countdown timer, familiar colours and fonts, they caught that mood wonderfully. If memory serves, there was even a scrolling graphic!

This, along with the interactive follow up emails (a slider featuring different characters… class) caught the mood and stuck with me.

These emails now look a bit dated and I’ve (to my lasting despair) lost the countdown timer, but their impact stuck with me to this day.

Here’s just one of them…

• Subject Line – ****, the force has awoken!
• From – A Galaxy Far, Far Away <odeon@email.odeon.co.uk>