Sony PlayStation4 Email Review: Can You Find the Missed Opportunities to Take It to the Next Level?
Preview without Images
Preview with Images
Sony Email Newsletter Grade: [C+]
Subject Line | 4 |
Preview Pane | 5 |
Eye Path | 4 |
Clarity of Message | 3 |
Call to Action | 4 |
Offer | 3 |
Credibility | 3 |
Sense of Urgency | 1 |
September 12, 2013—
Company Overview
Located in New York, NY, Sony Corporation of America is the U.S. headquarters of the Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. Sony Electronics Inc. is one of Sony’s several principal U.S. businesses. There are about 900 million Sony devices in hands and homes worldwide today, numerous Sony movies, music and television shows, as well as the PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network. According to the company’s website, “Sony creates and delivers more entertainment experiences to more people than anyone else on earth.”
Is the Subject Line Too Long?
“Reserve the All-new PlayStation4 System Today + Join the #PS4 Conversation” is the subject line for this promotional email sent to someone who had bought a Sony computer. With “Sony Electronics” in the from line, the first part of the subject line clearly tells recipients to reserve a new PlayStation4 System. The second half of the subject line, however, is not as clear and also makes this subject line very long. People who are familiar with the online social network Twitter and the use of hashtags would know how to find out more about this product. But would a shorter subject line increase open rates? Subject line testing would help accurately answer that question.
Preview Pane and Eye Path Are Strong and Effective
The preview pane without images is strong, effectively using alternative text to give recipients enough information about the content of the email to pique interest and encourage them to download the images.
Except for the “Pin it” button, which is in a rather distracting location, the eye path is effective. The eye path leads recipients from the Sony logo in the upper left corner, to the great headline “Let the games begin,” to the striking photo of the new PlayStation system, to the call to action. And, the tie-in to the Twitter reference in the subject line is positioned right below the call to action. Did this promotion help boost social media buzz for the PlayStation4 on Twitter and Pinterest? Those would be interesting metrics to track in measuring the success of this campaign.
Call to Action — Could It Have More “Pop”?
Although the wording of the call to action is concise and clear — “Reserve yours today” — it could be more prominent. Testing such elements as the size, color, design, and wording of a call to action is an effective way to help optimize the click-through rate.
Opportunities for Improvement in Offer, Clarity, Urgency, and Customization
In this email, both the offer and message are a bit confusing. Recipients are told to reserve the new PlayStation4; however, in the secondary calls to action, they are given the opportunity to purchase gear for the system, such as a controller, camera, and games. There is also no sense of urgency. When will the PlayStation4 be released? Why should recipients reserve one or purchase any of the accessories now? In this promotional email, creating urgency likely would have driven more conversions.
As far as credibility, the Sony brand is strong. In this case, however, the recipient is not interested in purchasing such game systems as the PlayStation4. This promotional email appears to have been a mass email sent to customers who had purchased other categories of Sony products. By segmenting their email list based on previous customer purchases as well as information gathered from customer preference surveys, Sony could customize their messages to send more relevant marketing emails to their prospects and customers.
Disclaimer: FulcrumTech does not have access to the performance data relating to this promotional email, so any tests performed on this email can’t be reflected in FulcrumTech’s commentary.