Full Circle

Clothing retailer Full Circle send out a regular email aiming to drive sales of their latest collections. However, the email currently resembles a clipping from a style magazine and lacks many of the basic elements needed to achieve their objective of generating click-throughs and conversions.

Analysis

Before moving on to the content of the email, it's worth mentioning the 'reply to' address. Rather than being something descriptive like 'enquiries' or 'feedback', this is: 'support-b0c146uav6fprwajhsbhyb7f5a021r'.

This immediately makes a reader suspect it's an untargeted, mass mailout. And would you feel confident that a real person was going to respond to you with any great urgency?

1. While I can see the Full Circle logo, there's no indication of what the email is about or why I'm receiving it - the headline is tiny and doesn't seem to have much to do with fashion or the content of the email.
   
2. The large blank space at the top of the page around looks odd, especially in contrast to the cramped feel of the rest of the message. The Full Circle website has other navigation links that still could be of use to customers, such as 'Storefinder'. Not all of your customers will want to buy online – why exclude them from making a purchase?
   
3. Why is the headline underlined? Web-savvy users would expect this to be a link; underlining headlines is only done if you're writing an essay at school.
   
4. The body of the message is long unbroken tracts of text, in a font so small it's painful to read. Without any sub-headings or other visual clues I'm forced to either read the whole message to find something of interest or dismiss it altogether. Most people will do the latter.
   
5. The copy mentions various products, barely describes any of them and only one is pictured or linked to. Recipients won't know if they want to buy the product if they don't know what it's like and can't see it.
   
6. 'Click to buy' is hidden in the copy. For an acquisitional email this doesn't make any sense – it needs be much more obvious and every product should have a call to action.
   
7. There are no prices. If you'd like recipients to buy something from your email marketing, they need enough information to make a decision.
   
8. Who is the email talking to? The image is of women's clothing, the email talks directly to 'ladies' but half way through it attempts to address men. No male recipient will have any idea this message contains anything for them and dismiss it immediately.
   
9. Company registration information isn't included at the bottom of the email, breaking legislation that governs digital marketing and risking a hefty fine.
   

Click on 'next ' to see what changes Andrew recommended ...