Jan 27, 2016

Steam - Not So Good Email

I'm using Steam as a platform to install and play PC games. Today I've got an email about a huge discount on a game I was up to buying.

Of course I used a chance to get it with a reduced price, but it took me a while how to use actually move from email to the buying process. Take a look at the screenshot and try to tell what you're expected to click on if... there's no any big visible button or a link (no, the price tag isn't clickable!).


Correct answer is the big image. Yes, I had to click on it on order to get a web site. This email definitely can have a better conversion if there is but CTA.

Jan 7, 2016

Skype Has Failed To Keep Its Word In An Email

Back in November I've got an email from Skype saying there was a failure of their service and they're going to provide me with free calls in a few days after the email.

There were no details on when exactly to expect this, so I though I'm gonna get another email or in-Skype notification about it. It never arrived. I also checked Skype manually but never seen any evidence I've been given those free calls.

As a result I feel that Skype failed to keep its word given in an email. What an example to learn from!

Email Experience Is Not Only About Email Itself

Each email marketer has to remember overall email campaign experience is based not only on timing and content of emails themselves, but also landing experience.

Recently I've got a promotional email from an airline company saying they're opening a new destination with an extra cheap flight for a first few weeks. When I landed into their website I wasn't able to find this new destination in a destination field on a booking page. Basically they have failed to sync promotional email campaign with a website update.

Email marketers have to avoid such situations at any cost as they're ruining the rest of the efforts - all the timing, design, copywriting and management work.

A Well Known Mistake In An Email From FC Barcelona

I was expecting a flawless emails when subscribing to this media giant having its own TV channel and very useful online website.

But that's how the very first email from them looked like:


It's a pity to see such a 'classical' issue of email looking empty. Not showing images by default is very common on smartphones, but this happened to me on desktop - something went wrong, probably because of a weak WiFi signal. The issue might be fixed with easy by splitting the design into few images and providing useful alt texts for each of them.

Delivered vs Accepted

Again and again I hear '...but our ESP says over 95% of emails were successfully delivered!' when asking about deliverability situation. To be honest - this makes me sad. No, your ESP has no idea what has happened with an email since it was accepted by a mailbox provider. And it's really looking like scam - ESPs saying 'delivered' while it's really 'accepted'.

And there's a huge difference between delivered and accepted. Since an email has been accepted by MBP it might end up in Inbox or Spam. Or it might be discarded so a receiver will never see it. At the same time there might be a time lag between acceptance and show up in an inbox.