Tale of two email blasts

I recieved 2 Memorial Day email blasts with very different messaging and brand positioning. While Lowes chose to focus on their sales event, Home Depot chose to focus their email on the veterans and current service men and women that the day honors.

Sure, Home Depot, like most retailers, sent out an email blast to promote their Memorial Day sales and to keep their brand top of mind. But, the foremost message is to tell the story of how they support veterans and the meaning of Memorial Day, and that’s a win for the brand. I think Lowes missed the mark on this one.

Timing is everything

It’s a great thing to have a large email list and emailing your customers (who’ve signed up of course) is a must to keep your business top of mind. It’s also a good idea when planning your emails to pay attention to what’s going on locally. Even a little thing like the days weather can make an email seem ill timed and fall flat.

Case and point. I received this email from ShopRite today, and I have to say, I LOVE my local ShopRite, but I had to chuckle a little because even though it’s October 2nd and Fall should be in full swing, it’s actually 90 degrees with a real feel of 96!

So while I should be thinking about warm cozy dinners, I’m actually thinking about grilling with cold beer.

The email itself is great and does the job of selling the idea of warming up with a nice brisket. I just wish they would have taken into account the weather and delayed on sending by a day. It’s forecast to be in the 50s tomorrow, but unfortunately, this email will be way down below the fold of my in box and probably out of mind.