Bronto Blog

Much has been written about the very-quickly-becoming-mainstream preheader.

• I first saw mention of it by Lisa Harmon in her MAKE IT POP!: The Preheader Express post.
• At Bronto, we first blogged about it in February, 2008 - The Underutilized Preheader / Snippet Text.
• Chad White at The Retail Email Blog has a label dedicated to preheaders and recently posted about the postheader.
• Additionally, in June 2008, we dedicated an entire episode of BrontoFire to the famous preheader.

*This post was originally going to be titled “Preheader FAIL” and focus on how TweetBeep misused the preheader space. However, after a lengthy, healthy conversation with Chad White of The Retail Email Blog, I’ve changed my tune.

Take a look at how TweetBeep (mis)used the oh-so-precious preheader space?

1. TweetBeep email in “preview pane” of Gmail
2. TweetBeep email in Gmail with images off
3. TweetBeep email in Gmail with images on

I’d argue - as I did in the preheader episode of BrontoFire - that you need consistency with your subject line, preheader, and call-to-action. In the TweetBeep preheader example, they utilize the space to advertise an unrelated product (Netflix). I’m not sure I agree with this approach.

Chad told me yesterday that as the preheader begins to gain more momentum (as it clearly has over the past 8 months), email marketers will experiment with different uses of the space. Maybe that is what TweetBeep is doing? Maybe they are testing. Maybe not.

What do others think? Please comment below.

DJ Waldow
Director of Best Practices & Deliverability at Bronto

Do you transact online? Is email marketing important to your business? How about SEO? Blogs? Twitter? Social Media? Word of Mouth Marketing?

If you answered yes (or even “kinda”) to any of the above, read on.

In my opinion, two of the absolute best resources for online retailers are The Retail Email Blog and Get Elastic. If you are not already actively reading/following both of them, the time to start is now. A brief description of both:

1. The Retail Email Blog is penned exclusively by Chad White, The Retail Email Blog is the “strategic retail partner of the Email Experience Council.” Chad tracks email marketing campaigns of the top online retailers and writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly with daily frequency. Highlights include, but are certainly not limited to:

• Retail Email Index - a line graph of the promotional email volume generated by 100 of the top online retailers
• AM Inbox - a daily post based on Chad’s morning inbox
• Subjectivity Scanner - select noteworthy subject lines
• Hall of Fame/Shame - annual posts centered around Oopsy, Subject Line, and Design Hall of Fame.

The list goes on and on. Basically, if you can’t find what you are looking for on The Retail Email Blog, it is probably because it does not exist.

*Follow Chad and the The Retail Email Blog on Twitter.

2. Get Elastic is the Ecommerce blog from Elastic Path, a company who “provides ecommerce software and services to help companies optimize their online businesses.” Linda and co-founder Jason are extremely knowledgeable in everything ecommerce-related. They are also both active in the social media world. The Get Elastic blog focuses on SEO, Conversions, Email Marketing, Web Design, Usability, Social Media Marketing, and Shopping Cart Abandonment to name a few. Every single post is well-researched, insightful, and thought-provoking.

*Follow the Get Elastic bloggers on Twitter - Linda and Elastic Path’s co-founder, Jason.

So, what are you waiting for?

DJ Waldow
Director of Best Practices & Deliverability

On Monday, Chad White (one of the leading industry experts in on-line retail email marketing) and I discussed the good, the bad, and the ugly of four email designs by BlueFly, All Recipes, PajamaGram, and American Airlines.

What we uncovered may surprise you.

DJ Waldow
Account Manager at Bronto
(live from the Email Evolution Conference)