The Dark Art of Store Emails

Would you open up this email?

Photo via kkilometer

During this holiday season your email inbox will receive more email than any other time of the year. This Wall Street Journal article provides details on what retailers are doing to make sure you are opening up their emails and making a purchase.

– Average consumer receives about 38 promotional emails each week during the holidays says Chad White, research director at Responsys.

– Stores time the arrival of their emails and design them with attention-grabbing subject lines, personalized messages.

– Emails used to arrive mid-morning but now with smartphones may arrive as early as dawn.

– One hook is the subject line creates make or break moment where customer is saying, ‘Do I keep it or do I dump it?” says Shelley Perelmuter of Gap Inc.

– Emily Bidwell of Etsy (one of six staffers that design emails) subject lines playing off song titles are often big draws one recently was “The Final Countdown”

What are the results?

Response rates vary, but consumers overall open only about 22% according to the Direct Marketing Association.

The big kicker is that only 1.5% of emails result in a purchase.

You may also be interested in these posts:

How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday

How to Get Your Sports Story or Guest on ESPN, Boomer and Carton, and USA Today

How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News

How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows

Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel

Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines – PRSANY Panel

How to Reach and Foster Relationships with Mommy Bloggers