The wife and I are avid Target shoppers. More than likely if we have a choice between Walmart and Target, we choose Target. So given that, I decided to sign up for Target’s email updates program. I fully expected a thank you email to come within a day or two (at most)… not so much.
A WEEK LATER, here’s what I got from Target:
Subject Line: Welcome to Target.com!
Before I harp on the utter lateness of this message, let’s start with what Target did right (in my opinion):
- Whitelisting request at the top and with prominence in the design below the primary message. Definitely a priority in a welcome message (regardless of how late it is)
- Solid use of the red as branding. Use of imagery tying the store designs to the email is great.
- Thanks me for signing up, then sets the expectations upfront. (The Images Off version has all of the copy in that primary box at alt-text, so kudos there)
- Decent use of a nav bar at the top and recovery module at bottom.
Now the bad:
- This message is a week late. I received NOTHING from Target until this message a week later. When I ask for email updates, it’s top of mind folks. Hit me within an hour, and you might get an impulse buy. Much more so than a week later.
- This may be nitpicky, but I would have liked to have seen Daily Deals not just in the recovery module, but as a button.
- The “Shop Target.com” should be a red button or something to draw the eye. It’s a bit too dull. Perhaps a combo with the Daily Deals to spark that impulse buy.
- The fact that this is a do-not-reply email (as indicated in the disclaimers). Target should know better and have at least a central reply-to email box.
Here’s the email in full-size:
If I had received this message in a timely manner, I probably wouldn’t be so negative.
So get to it, Target! You have been put on notice!
Andrew Kordek
Justin Premick
Chris Wheeler
Scott Cohen
Jake Holman
AngeBarber
DJ Waldow
jacaldwell
Wendy Croissant
Luke Glasner
Scott Hardigree
Maddy Hubbard
Rory Carlyle
Kelly Lorenz
Remy Bergsma
Laura McIntire
Jordie van Rijn
elenah13
loveofemail
georgiachristian
preemo55
Totally agree re: the timing. They have to get faster than that!
That’s a really good-looking email overall, and I like the fact that they used ALT text effectively.
Random aside: it always bothers me when a company’s “from” address isn’t at their domain – is it really so unreasonable to use “targetnews@target.com” ? If I’m a subscriber, I’m wondering “who the heck is bfi0?” (Yes, you and I know it’s an ESP, but we’re in the industry. As far as the recipient is concerned, this email is/should be coming from Target directly.)
Maybe I’m just more sensitive than most people to that sort of thing, but it seems like bad practice to send from a sub-domain of someone else’s site.
This is a total surprise to me. I would have thought Target would have sent something soon. They have such an opportunity to capture your attention right away. At a previous company, we gave the incentive to the user to get $10 in coupons by signing up for the email program. Since we were a multi-channel retailer we offered both an in store and online coupon.
Sad to see this as I love Target and would have expected more out of them.
Lousy customer services are every where! especially from the big companies. They should know that not because they are big corporation they have the right to treat their customers in a bad way. They should know better that they can’t afford to do that especially given the opportunity of the internet to voice our opinions and you know a negative opinion from fellow consumers have a deadly impact on purchase choice. These big stores need to step up!
[...] “Target, I don’t feel welcome” | Another Email Zoo Blog guest post [...]
[...] It’s not a bad welcome email; the big issue is it comes a week too late. It’s also missing a few things that might get some buyers. I take the email to further task here: The Email Zoo. [...]