Ugh. Yuck. Heavens to Megatroid. Mercy, even!
That's the feeling I get when I see various sports teams and organizations all using the exact same email template. It shows no imagination, no creativity and no real understanding of what each group is all about. From a marketer's standpoint, it may seem like an easy, no-brains-needed approach to do what everyone else is doing. But as those in the email marketing industry, isn't it our responsiblity to combat against that very idea and to challenge our clients and prospects to be better?
What raised my ire today is my alma mater, the University of Maine. I've been a subscriber/cringer of their athletics email marketing efforts for quite some time now. Their site and email are provided by CSTV. A CBS subsidiary, CSTV functions as an information source, network, web provider and everything else that has to do with collegiate athletics. So when you're that big, it seems like it would be hard to be really great at all those areas and judging from the approach they take to email, I might be right. Unfortunately, college sports marketers are not demanding more from CSTV when they should be.
Here is an example of a recent UMaine marketing email. Feel free to click the image and scroll along as i delve a bit deeper:
Some thoughts:
-The subject line. In past emails, they always use 'This Week @ Maine', so clearly someone dropped the ball. But this goes a bit deeper than that a simple mistake: why are these subject lines so basic? If they're so simple and programmed that you forget to leave the school name out, shouldn't that be a red flag?
Also, the 'From' address is a bit decieving. A marketing newsletter is coming from an online store? This was another gaffe by the sender, but still inexcusable. I'm also befuddled as to why CSTV didn't provide UMaine with their own address. What if I want to respond? I'm sending an email to 'newsletters@cstv.com'? That seems very robotic and disconnected to me.
Too much information: While the top story is a quick paragraph, the rest of the blurbs are too long. Email is a conduit to a larger information source like a web site. Marketers are TERRIFIED that people won't go back to the site and so they cram everything they can into an email. It's like being on a sinking ship and telling the world everything you think they should know...when there's a lifeboat right beside you waiting to take you to shore. You have a web site for a reason and an email marketing approach for a reason. Don't recreate the wheel and use each for what they were intended for.
The lineup: The formatting here leaves a lot to be desired as the stories and pictures aren't lining up. It looks sloppy at best, but the template probably isn't helping things.
How much do I need to know?: I look at this piece and immediately am overwhelmed. What's the selling point? There are 12 different clickable stories within this email, obviously an attempt to make sure all bases are covered. If that is absolutely necessary, then a new template would help greatly. I would make separate sections for the various sports covered here (football, men's hockey, field hockey, women's hockey). I can't imagine anyone reading this and spending more than 30 seconds with it. It's too crammed.
Wasted real estate: A big blue sky without a cloud in it is a sight to behold. A big blue box without anything in it is confusing. Look at all this wasted space! Again, the way this template is set up is a formatting nightmare. Too many ad spaces will cause even more of a cram'n'jam effect, but leaving it open looks silly.
My guess is that viewing the email marketing attempts with other CSTV clients will yield the same issues. The moral of the story is that templates for the masses are ugly, non-refined and a lost opportunity to cater to each individual client. Templates are important, not an afterthought. If you're offering email marketing to your clients, you have a responsiblity to make that point.
Go Maine!
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