BANTER

Saturday, May 14, 2022

Nobody may have got it… but we hope you got this email about emails 👋

Rise and shine DTC Fam… It’s Saturday. ☀️

‍

This means it’s time for Part 2 of our Brand Breakdown with the spunky cosmetics brand, ColourPop ! Today we’re analyzing their email strategy.

Grab your (second or third, maybe?) cup of coffee, and let’s dive in!

In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇

📦 Brand Breakdown Part 2: ColourPop (Emails)

📦 How to turn any Shopify store into a mobile app in just a few hours with Tapcart

📦 Know what your consumers are watching, listening to, and scrolling through with Attest

Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎

👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe, so you never miss out.

‍

EMAIL

*The following emails are in chronological order of how we received them after purchasing.

Email opt-in

ColourPop’s email opt-in is pretty dang standard. While they have the basics here, there are a few ways they could optimize their lead capture.

Note: There is a more optimized pop-up for text opt-ins on their homepage, so ColourPop could be trying to focus more of their efforts on capturing SMS contacts as opposed to email.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• The copy here is pretty generic and not that enticing. Shoppers won’t be as willing to enter their personal information to “keep in touch” or “stay in the know.”
• ColourPop actually offers 15% off in their first email, so they should test some language here about entering your email for a discount.
• This opt-in is hidden at the bottom of the homepage, and the black and white colors don’t catch your eye, which could impact lead volume.

👋 Welcome email #1

The first email from ColourPop gets delivered immediately after opt-in. The design is fun, eye-catching, on-brand, and the offer is front and center. However, the font size and color choices could be affecting performance.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• The offer text is a little bit hard to read (thin, white font), which could reduce conversions. Visitors decide to click in a fraction of a second, so making the offer clear, accessible, and legible will win almost every time.
• ColourPop uses a unique code with an expiration date, a smart tactic for prompting immediate action. But again, this text is pretty small and hard to read, so we’d suggest making it stand out more.

🏀 Campaign #1

This email campaign came one day after opting in, and it’s likely a one-time campaign for March Madness (go Knicks... 🏀 But wait, ColourPop, aren’t you based in LA?).

It’s a super visual email with not a lot of copy, which makes sense for a brand that’s focused on aesthetics.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• Again, that white font is pretty hard on the eyes with light color backgrounds. 👀 We’d suggest testing other iterations and focusing more on contrast.
• We love this stacked, mobile-focused bottom menu that scales well on any device. Not everyone will like your offer, so a comprehensive bottom menu on every email will allow more folks to get into a conversion funnel. (And if you count the clicks from this menu at the end of the year, the numbers are usually insane!)

📬 Campaign #2 (Three emails)

This email campaign came next, with three emails delivered in just 48 hours, all with similar messaging. 😮‍💨 If up-front conversions are the goal (and your engagement isn’t super low), this strategy can work… but it’s also email overload.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• We like the use of a top nav banner, but the offer is a little confusing and gets introduced without much context (though 80% off is killer!). Is it the Pop Art Collection that’s on sale, or something else? We also wonder why they left it out in the third email. 🤔
• Much better contrast here! The black text is way easier to read.
• Love the use of “poppy” artwork here to complement the Pop Art makeup. It creates a fun email experience.

‍

SPONSOR

“After launching our app last year, we doubled our retail revenue…”

📱 Apps give you the power of push notifications (which have open rates as high as 90%!) and the ability to drive customers back to your store at no cost.

Intrigued?

With Tapcart,  you can turn any Shopify store into a mobile app in just a few hours.

They make it extremely easy to build, launch, and maintain your app – no coding required. Anyone can do it! 👍

But the real proof is in the pudding. Stores that use Tapcart see some pretty bonkers results:

• +43x return on investment
• +40% conversion rate
• +2.4x lifetime value

All without having to compete with fickle algorithms, rising ad costs, or crowded inboxes.

Receive your first month on the house! Begin building your app with Tapcart today.

👉 Start reaching my customers directly on their phones.

‍

EMAIL

🌈 Campaign #3

The next campaign was for ColourPop’s Creme Gel Liner, complete with uber nostalgic colored pencil vibes. ✨

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• The hero creative image here is awesome. It’s eye-catching, colorful, and does a brilliant job of showing the depth of this product and how many variations are available.
• Good job sneaking in that 80% off deal again, which makes this email valuable for subscribers instead of just being a promo for a product.

✅ Order confirmation email

After placing an order with ColourPop (someone on our team is ‘bout to look so fly 💁), we received this order confirmation email. The design is pretty basic compared to their other colorful emails, but there’s a touch of personalization that goes a long way.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• Love the personalization in this email. It reads like a note from a friend, which is a nice brand touch.
• We also like that they gave a heads up about shipping times to address any issues up-front. Great strategy for customer satisfaction! (And also props for the cryptic hint-dropping about a new launch.)
• ColourPop should try testing an upsell or cross-sell recommendation somewhere in this email. (This is allowed for US oompanies… other countries, do your homework!)

📦 Shipping confirmation email

A few days later, we received a shipping confirmation email with a similar structure.

💡 Pro tips from Pilothouse:

• Same note here: test adding upsells, cross-sells, or recommended products to these emails. And if not in the transactional emails, ColourPop should be sending separate post-purchase upsell emails (which they’re not currently).
• Great use of the bottom menu, but it should be in the Order Confirmation!

🔥 Further observations and suggestions

ColourPop’s emails are eye-catching, concise, and clear. There’s solid alignment between the email design and the brand feel. 🙌

However, our team has a few observations and tips for a more cohesive email strategy in the future:

👉 ColourPop’s email series lacked a defined Welcome Flow to introduce you to the brand. It seemed we just got thrown into their campaigns list and received whatever was on the calendar for that day (sometimes multiple emails).

👉 We’ve included a small percentage of the emails we received, which totalled 17 in 10 days. 🥴 This strategy might work if your only goal is up-front conversions, but if you’re aiming to build brand trust and grow a loyal audience, we’d suggest using a much lighter touch upfront (no more than one email per day) to minimize opt-outs. Gotta respect users’ time and inbox real estate.

👉 The amount of bulk campaigns sent probably means there’s no email segmentation on the back-end, which is an opportunity for improvement.

👉 We also didn’t receive a delivery notification email or a full post-purchase flow, which is a big missed opportunity for upsells, cross-sells, gathering reviews, and building brand loyalty.

Okay, DTC’ers, that’s it from us today. Sayonara until next Saturday. 👋

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our breakdown on ColourPop.

‍

SPONSOR

A well-informed marketer is a successful one…

Looking for a one up over your competitors?

Find out where consumers are actually spending their time.

Attest's U.S. Media Consumption Tracker offers the most valuable insights and up-to-date data to let you know what your consumers are watching, listening to, and scrolling through.

While other brands are investing in dying channels you can be the brand that media plans with confidence.

👉 Click here to access the data you need – so you're not throwing ad dollars down the drain.

‍

BRANDS

🕯 Scandle : Your crush is on their way to your apartment… Unfortunately, it smells like old cheese and fresh chopped onion. Scandle  has got you covered. Strike a match and light a candle that smells great and will help you set the mood with a carefully curated playlist for your next romantic candle-lit gathering.  

🃏 I Am On Edge : Nothing is worse than a party where people aren’t vibing. Kiss those boring conversations and awkward silences goodbye with I Am On Edge —a card game built to bring folks out of their comfort zone.

💐 Something Borrowed Blooms : Weddings can be sooo expensive and wasteful. Who wants to spend thousands of $ on flowers that are going to get tossed out at the end of the day? Something Borrowed Blooms  has you covered with their flower rental service that delivers right to your door. When all is wed and done, you box 'em up and send ‘em right back!

🌊 MinniDip : Pools should not be a luxury item…PERIOD. Summers are getting hotter and hotter, and we’re getting sweatier and sweatier. What you need is an inflatable pool. MinniDip ’s inflatable pools are built for adults that can fit right on a balcony. Or your living room. We don’t make the rules.

‍

‍

‍🔊 HAVE YOU HEARD OUR LATEST PODCASTS?

💬 SMS is No Longer Optional with Sophie Baer, Win Brand Group’s Retention Director (and Automation Overlord).

🧀 Perry Belcher on Ecom Tripwires, Premiums, and Making Sure the Cheese is Worth the Squeeze.

🎯 Ecommerce SEO in Three Simple Steps with Kevin Miller from Gr0.

🍑 Building a 7-Figure Business in Sub-Two Years with Peachy Shapewear's Corey Nicholson.

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast  on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)‍

DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Jordan Gillis, and Kelsey Hess. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

NEED MORE DTC?

🚀 Advertise in DTC Newsletter.

💰Check out our course on Facebook and Instagram ads!

📥 Work for The DTC Newsletter: Send an email to Rebecca, rebecca@directtoconsumer.co, if you’re interested in writing for us!