AM Inbox: PDF landing pages?

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RetailEmail.Blogspot monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from our inbox this morning:

Sears, 5/9 — 3 Days to Save on Electronics, Appliances, & Tools
I can’t recall ever seeing a retailer use a PDF document as a landing page before, but Sears does it in this email with the Dining Dough call-to-action. I can’t think of any reason why you’d use a PDF instead of a page on your site, which would have all the branding and navigation that this plain white sheet of paper doesn’t. Here’s the email…



…and here’s the landing page:



The other thing to note in this email is that Sears has changed their preheader text, adding a preheader message and dropping their whitelisting instructions. The old preheader text was:
View the web version of this email. Make sure sears@e.sears.com is in your address book.

Kmart, 5/9 — Up to 20% off Online Today, Exclusive $5 off In-Store
Kmart has redesigned their navigation bar and dropped the search button from the top of their emails. The nav bar highlights the same departments as before, although a few have been moved around. Bringing the shape of the “K” into the nav bar design is pretty striking. Here’s the new nav bar…



…and here’s the old one from a May 6 email:



Montgomery Ward, 5/9 — On Sale This Week + Deferred Billing
Montgomery Ward has launched a blog, the Montgomery Ward’s Weblog. It’s very promotional and doesn’t have much personality (all the posts are posted by “montgomeryward”), which tells me that they really don’t get blogs at all. I suppose the fact that they call it a “weblog” is another sign that they’re not up to date on the most effective use of a blog.



Overstock, 5/9 — 7% OFF COUPON
Overstock sent this message twice. This is one of a few messages mentioning tax rebates over the past few days.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER:
eBags, 5/9 — Great gifts for Grads + Extra 15% off your purchase
Circuit City, 5/11 — Save more with coupons inside! Get Mom's gift today with in-store pickup
Walgreen, 5/9 — Great In-Store Gift Ideas and Savings for Mother's Day
Blair, 5/10 — A Mother's Day gift from Blair Home
Ralph Lauren, 5/11 — Happy Mother's Day From RalphLauren.com
FTD, 5/10 — Last Chance for Mother's Day Delivery!
Dell, 5/9 — Save up to $384 on the Gifts Mom Really Wants
Bluefly, 5/11 — EXTRA 10% OFF EVERYTHING - Happy Mother's Day
Alloy, 5/9 — Most Wanted: White-Hot Denim + Free Shipping
DisneyShopping, 5/9 — Start Your Vacation with Savings up to 50%
J. Crew, 5/9 — Want to win an island honeymoon?
Sephora, 5/10 — Hello, Sunshine: Get prepped for summer
Staples, 5/9 — Introducing our delicious new M by Staples collection.
Road Runner Sports, 5/9 — 15% OFF EVERYTHING Online! Share With Your Friends!
Norm Thompson, 5/10 — Early Summer Sale - email customers shop first!
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