Retail Surgery: How can I make sure that my email marketing is engaging?

More than 250 billion emails are sent and received every day, while the number of email users will reach 2.5 billion sometime in 2014. So against a backdrop of so many distractions, how can retailers create email campaigns that stand the best chance of gaining the attention of consumers?

Digital marketing company Responsys compiles the best examples of innovative email campaigns from retailers in its Email Design Look Book. According to Responsys senior marketing and alliances director EMEA Simon Robinson, each of the best practice examples uses one or more clever techniques to grab customers’ attention.

Pizza Express, for instance, sends an email on the customer’s birthday with an image of their name spelt out in pizza flour by a chef. Brooks Brothers, meanwhile, sent a cheeky email to its subscribers introducing ‘the $2,000 polo shirt’ as a hook. The main message plays off customers’ curiosity about what such an expensive polo shirt might be, and included a colourful stack of 44 shirts that showcases the full range. It included a tongue-in-cheek offer to buy the whole stack for $2,000.

And B&Q is re-engaging inactive subscribers with an email that is optimised in case images are blocked by the recipient, and which rewards subscribers by offering entry into a competition.

Robinson concludes: “From messaging and coding to strategy, each of the 20 campaigns in the book marks a prime example of how brands are pushing our industry forward to engage with consumers.”