Kate Spade Email: Is It a Pinteresting Integration of Email and Social Media?

Preview without Images

Preview with Images

Kate Spade Email Grade: [B]

September 14, 2014 –

Organization Overview

Kate Spade New York is a trendy fashion design house that was founded as Kate Spade Handbags in 1993 by former Mademoiselle magazine editor Kate Brosnahan Spade. The company has since been sold to Liz Claiborne Inc. (now called Fifth & Pacific Inc.) and expanded its line beyond handbags to include clothing, jewelry, shoes, fragrance, bedding, eyewear, gifts, and more. According to the Kate Spade website, “crisp color, graphic prints, and playful sophistication” are hallmarks of Kate Spade New York. The company has grown to include more than 80 retail stores and outlets in the United States, with Kate Spade products sold in over 400 locations worldwide.

For This Email, a “Cutesy” Subject Line Works

“what’s piquing your pinterest?” That was the subject line of this email sent to a Kate Spade New York fan and customer who had signed up to join the company’s email list. Though having a “cutesy” subject line isn’t usually the best way to go, for this email content – and in tandem with the from line katespade.com – it works. The subject line is all in lowercase, too, which is consistent with the company logo (i.e., kate spade) that’s in lowercase.

Highly Effective Eye Path, But Does the Preview Pane Do Enough to Entice Image Download?

The preview pane without images could be stronger. Alternative text positioned in the upper left corner tells recipients that the email is from Kate Spade New York. Plus, thanks to the alternative text in the box below the logo (“top pins, the pieces everybody’s obsesses with on pinterest. take a peek”) recipients get the idea of what this email is about. But it may not provide enough information, or motivation, to encourage recipients to download the images.

This email’s eye path design is highly effective. It takes recipients’ focus from the company’s logo, to the Pinterest-centric headline and subhead that follow through on the subject line, to the “TAKE A PEEK” call-to-action button, to the products displayed in a Pinterest-like layout.

This Email Is Well-Branded, Has High Credibility, and Accomplishes the Primary Goal

The main goal of this email campaign appears to be driving traffic to the company’s Pinterest page, which it does well. If recipients click on the call-to-action button or any of the product shots, they are taken to the Kate Spade Pinterest page. But for recipients who are interested in purchasing one of the featured products in the email, how to go about that is not presented clearly. In this case, it could have been made more apparent that clicking on the products takes recipients to Pinterest. Plus, adding a call-to-action button specifically for recipients interested in purchasing a product not only would improve the message clarity and offer, but also likely increase product sales.

Kate Spade is a popular brand associated with style and creativity. As a result, this well-branded email has very high credibility. Although there’s no sense of urgency, this is a good example of an email in which creating urgency isn’t necessary given its primary goal.

Overall, this email does a great job of integrating email marketing with social media to help boost awareness and interest in Kate Spade on Pinterest.

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.