Season Finale: 4th of July

A look back on seasonal trends, email activity and standout B2C marketing:

Start to finish: The first reference to the 4th of July was made by 1-800-Flowers.com on May 5. The last reference was made by J. Crew on July 6.

The distribution curve: Retailers sent the majority of 4th of July-themed emails after June 28. The biggest day for 4th of July emails was Monday, July 2, followed by Tuesday, July 3.



Most interesting email: My favorite is Hallmark’s Take 5 email from July 5. Regular readers know that I think that Hallmark’s monthly Take 5 emails are really cool because they clamor for interaction, always asking you to share your ideas, take polls, watch a video and read articles.



I also enjoyed a July 3 email from Blair (Special $10 savings for the Fourth), which had some nice eye-catching animation. Unfortunately, Blair left the first frame of its animation blank, so anyone that viewed it in Outlook 2007 only saw a red box and didn’t see any of the message. If you’re going to use animation, remember to make sure that the first frame contains all the crucial information in case the animation is blocked (see Animation in Retail Emails Study). Blair could have fixed this animated gif simply by making the last frame into the first and keeping every else the same.



Standout subject lines:
Hallmark, 7/5 — Great Ideas For Celebrating America
Brookstone, 7/1 — Fly the Flag, and let freedom ring on our nation's birthday!
FTD, 6/27 — Celebrate July 4th With Some Red, White and Bloom!
Oriental Trading, 6/26 — It's not too late - find everything you need for July 4th fun

Read previous posts about 4th of July emails.