Email Swipe File: The Best of The

2014
The Best of the
Email
Swipe
File
Five Key Email Marketing Trends
On their own, the examples on the following pages are inspiring and thought-provoking.
But together, they illustrate five trends that are shaping the future of email design and savvy
marketing strategy.
In the era of email engagement, greater relevancy

Advanced
is critical. Personalization that goes far beyond first-name
Personalization
merges is one way that marketers can make messages
more relevant to individual subscribers.
Triggered emails are among the most effective

Triggered
emails you’ll ever send. Their outsized ROI has driven
The Best of the Sophistication
marketers to explore ways to make triggered emails
Email Swipe File

ever better—with longer campaigns, smarter content,
and better triggers.
Emails must adapt to and thrive in a variety of

A swipe file is a record of your top-performing campaigns that you return to for Smart
environments. Rendering tactics can ensure that your
learnings and ideas. It was this concept that inspired us to create the Email Swipe Rendering
message is optimized for the platform, situation, person,
File on Pinterest, where every week we share the emails and landing pages that
and time of open.
excite and impress us. In this report, we showcase the 20 examples from the
pinboard that we most hope you’ll steal, test, and make your own.
Influenced by content marketing and social media
Unique
2014 engagement, marketing communication is undergoing
Voice
a shift from promotional, corporate, and detached to
helpful, conversational, and timely.
While marketers are constantly gaining shiny, new tools,

Inspired
they shouldn’t forget the fundamental messaging and
Fundamentals
design tactics that have been effective for years—like
Kristina Huffman email content that’s on brand, focused, and sharable.
Practice Manager, Global Creative Services
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
2 salesforce.com/marketingcloud The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 3
Advanced
Personalization Related Pins
OpenTable
Send Date
January 10, 2014
Reliant
Subject Line
Looks like you had a

delicious year, Andrea!
View it on Pinterest
AT&T
“I love this infographic-style email from

OpenTable. It highlights my activity from
the past year with stats and badges, along
with helpful links for each section. It also
shows their value and encourages me to
maximize their offerings and features,
as well as nudging me to actually review
Fitbit
some restaurants.”
Andrea Smith
Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research, US
Advanced
Progressive profiling email Brand alert email
Zulily
Send Date
November 13, 2013
Sears
Subject Line
Toys!
“Progressive profiling is smart, but it’s

Newegg
super smart going into the holiday season
when shopping behaviors change because of
gift-buying. This well-timed email not only
promotes toys but asks subscribers if they’d
like to be notified when any of the listed
brands are available on Zulily. They then
follow up with brand alerts, with this
one arriving on Black Friday Eve.
Lowe’s
Excellent timing!”
Chad White
Lead Research Analyst, US
Advanced
Sephora
Send Date
February 2014
Panera
Subject Line
Your Foundation Matches

Crate and Barrel

“While visiting a Sephora store in the US,
I used their Color IQ technology to figure
out which foundations would match my
specific skin tone number. I was able to
scroll through the foundation options in-
store on their iPad, and send this email
to myself for future reference. A very
clever service email that I’ll surely
open many times.”
Lindsey O’Donnell
Design Consultant, Australia
Triggered
Sophistication Related Pins
rabbit eMarketing
“This multi-stage birthday email program first asks in an eye-
Send Date
catching sidescrolling email how you like to celebrate your birthday:
‘I don’t celebrate,’ ‘I prefer it quietly and discreetly,’ or ‘It’s gonna be January 2014
the party of the year.’ They then follow up with tailored survival tips Donatos Pizza
Subject Line
and then birthday well-wishes.”
Ihr Geburtstag steht vor
Nadine Bär
Senior Regional Marketing Manager, Germany der Tür, liebe Frau Bär!
Sephora
Email
rabbit eMarketing
Landing page for “I don’t celebrate”
Triggered email 1: Survival tips Triggered email 2: Birthday well-wishes
Landing page for “I prefer it quietly and discreetly”
Landing page for “It’s gonna be the party of the year”
The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 13

Triggered
Pinkberry
Send Date
March 2014
QVC
Subject Line
We Miss You!
Banana Republic
“Pinkberry’s mobile app functions as

both a loyalty card and a payment card;
as a result, this frozen yogurt brand pays
close attention to its app usage. After not
visiting for a few months, I received this
mobile app reengagement email giving me
a free reward to get me back in the yogurt-
Moosejaw
buying mood.”
Todd Wilson
Manager, Strategic Services, US
Triggered
Hipmunk
Send Date
July 27, 2013
Boden USA
Subject Line
Fare Alert: $367 for Indianapolis

to Boston, MA on Sep 05, 2013
return Sep 08, 2013
“Recognizing that trip-planning is not an

open-ended process, Hipmunk puts a limit
on the number of fare alerts it will send you
for a particular trip. That helps prevent
email fatigue, and you always have the
option to extend the alert longer.”
Amanda Miller
Marketing Consultant, US

Triggered
ModCloth
Send Date
July 2013
Levi’s
Subject Line
Celebrate 6 months with us -

& enjoy a li’l prezzie!
ASOS
“With this triggered email, ModCloth

recognizes a subscriber’s six-month
anniversary and rewards them with a
sharable coupon. But they also use the
occasion to try to deepen the relationship
by asking for a Facebook social sign-in, with
Zappos
the promise of a triggered birthday email.”
Mike Diekhoff
Senior Design Consultant, US

Triggered
Qualifying email Welcome email 1
Pinterest
Send Date
March 2014
Lowe’s
Subject Line
You qualify for a Pinterest

business account
Zulily
“After converting to a Pinterest business

account through this email, I received a
six-email welcome series over six days.
Each cleanly designed email in the nicely
paced series focuses on one or two activities,
with an image and a call-to-action button
associated with each one, plus a preview
Target
of what to expect in the next email.”
Chad White
Pinterest
Welcome email 2 Welcome email 3 Welcome email 5 Welcome email 6
Welcome email 4
Smart
Rendering Related Pins
Sony PlayStation
New Zealand
Send Date Mothercare
April 20, 2013
Subject Line
Save Cybertron with an

exclusive PS Store offer
Bendon Lingerie
“The images-off version of this PlayStation

email is awesome! Much more special
than the images-on version, in fact.
This clever email design really embodies the
Twitter
Transformers ‘Robots in Disguise’ slogan.”
Christopher Oldfield
Premium Global Support Analyst, Australia
Smart
AT&T
Send Date
June 27, 2013
Marriott
Subject Line
Your tablet. Our network.

Together, they’re better.
Toms
“This is a great responsive email.
The animated hero image is on-topic and
effective, the bullets are clear and helpful,
and the CTAs even adapt to the viewing
environment—that is, the ‘Learn more’
button and ‘or call 855.894.3650’ text on
the wide-screen version become ‘Tap to
learn more’ and ‘Tap to call’ buttons
on the narrow-screen version.”
Chris Studabaker
Regional Director, Strategic Services, US
Smart
Email on day 1 Email on day 2
Best of the Best

Send Date
August 19, 2013
Style Campaign
Email on day 3
Subject Line
Hold onto this email…

Walgreens
Email on day 4
“Using live content, this email’s messaging
changed each day for three days in a row,
and then displayed a ‘sale finished’ message
after that. The tactic spurred 23% of the
subscribers who opened the email on the
first day to open it again on the second day
and 7% to reopen on the third day. That
extended engagement led to strong revenue
Home Depot
increases for the UK competition organizer.”
Abul Kashim Siddique
Senior Design Consultant, UK
Smart
Starbucks
Send Date
November 6, 2013
Helzberg Diamonds
Subject Line
An offer just for you: 50% off

your handcrafted espresso drink
Pizza Express
“Starbucks takes first-name personalization

to the next level in a very on-brand way by
adding the recipient’s name to the image of
the cup in this email. It connects the email
experience directly to the store experience,
where baristas write the customer’s name
on their cup.”
Hannah Downey
Design Consultant, US

Smart
Email Video GIF: Select frames
UGG Australia
Send Date
March 9, 2014
Lego
Subject Line
Tech News: Twinsole offers

twice the comfort
Brookstone
“This email uses a 300-frame video GIF

(a compressed streaming animated GIF)
as the fallback for an embedded video file.
This allows more of the email recipients to
see the video content, which UGG Australia
wisely places above the fold to catch
subscribers’ attention.”
Lindsey O’Donnell
Design Consultant, Australia
Unique
Voice Related Pins
Warby Parker
Send Date
November 27, 2013
Brooks Brothers
Subject Line
Booked solid
J.Crew
“Taking a soft-sell, content marketing

approach in this email, Warby Parker
pairs bookish glasses with book
recommendations. Wonderful! And super-
helpful since they sent this email on one
of the busiest travel days of the year when
people might be looking for a good book
to read on a plane or in the car.”
Kristina Huffman
Practice Manager, Global Creative Services, US
Unique
Voice Related Pins
Jonathan Adler
Send Date
July 22, 2013
Bonobos
Subject Line
We’re Royally Excited

Rent the Runway
“Sent when Catherine, Duchess of

Cambridge, went into labor, this well-
planned and highly topical email plays
off a trio of celebrity births: the royal
birth; Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s
daughter, North; and Jessica Simpson’s
son, Ace. It’s timely, shows depth of
Marks & Spencer
products, and is very fun.”
Ivy Wright
Global Public Relations Specialist, US
Unique
Voice Related Pins
Boden UK
Send Date
December 25, 2013
Icelandic Tourism Board
Subject Line
A note for naughty

email readers…
Etsy
“Plenty of brands send season’s greetings
emails, but this one does something the
others don’t: It commiserates. With some
witty, engaging copywriting, Boden
assumes you’re checking your email because
you’re having a less-than-merry Christmas,
and they want to cheer you up with some
encouraging words and, of course, a free
shipping deal.”
Abul Kashim Siddique
Senior Design Consultant, UK
Inspired
Fundamentals Related Pins
Email Animated GIF: Select frames

The Limited
Send Date
December 15, 2013
Heels.com
Subject Line
Make a List, Check it Twice

(With Great Offers)
Nordstrom
“What a clever approach to promoting

multiple sale offers and types of gifts
for the holidays. The Limited’s use of an
animated GIF to highlight their offers and
percentage-off discounts not only draws the
reader’s eye down through the email, but it
also promotes longer consideration of each
offer through the pacing of the animation.”
Anna Meier
Senior Design Consultant, US
Inspired
Democratic
National
Committee Toms
Send Date
October 1, 2013
Subject Line
This day in history

“While most political emails are text-heavy,

in the wake of the government shutdown,
the DNC started sending mobile-friendly,
mini-poster-esque emails with a single call to
action, like this one. Designing their message
for easy posting to Twitter, Facebook,
and Pinterest spurred social sharing.”
Chad White
Inspired
Uniqlo
Send Date
November 16, 2013
Country Outfitter
Subject Line
Follow UNIQLO on Pinterest!

Saks Fifth Avenue
“During the early weeks of the holiday

season, Uniqlo looks to engage subscribers
on Pinterest, which is a fantastic platform
to fuel product discovery, browsing, and
wish list-building. The email’s design
mimics Pinterest’s design closely to
Lowe’s
strengthen the call to action.”
Midori Kudo
Associate Design Consultant, US
Inspired
Noun Project
Send Date
March 2014
Kickstarter
Subject Line
Please verify your

Noun Project account
Angie’s List
“This simple, responsive email is from the

Noun Project, a company that sells vector-
based icons and symbols. Their sign-up
verification email uses a minimalist, three-
color look that’s very unique and on-brand,
speaking strongly to their audience
of designers.”
Andrea Smith
Design Lead, Content Marketing & Research, US

Want more
inspiration?
Take a look at our previous Swipe File
reports for additional examples and ideas.
2013 Best of the Email Swipe File

Holiday Inspirations from the Email Swipe File
For the very latest, follow our boards on

Pinterest to browse new pins weekly.
The Email Swipe File

The Social Swipe File
The Audience Growth Swipe File
Follow @ETswipefile on Twitter to receive tips and

examples in 140 characters or less.
The Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides

creative services that bring your data, our technology,
and big ideas together. Talk to your Account Executive
or contact our Creative Services team
at [email protected].
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2014

The Best of the

In the era of email engagement, greater relevancy

Triggered emails are among the most effective

Email Swipe File

Emails must adapt to and thrive in a variety of

While marketers are constantly gaining shiny, new tools,

Looks like you had a

“I love this infographic-style email from

“Progressive profiling is smart, but it’s

Your Foundation Matches

Crate and Barrel

Landing page for “I don’t celebrate”

Triggered email 1: Survival tips Triggered email 2: Birthday well-wishes

Landing page for “I prefer it quietly and discreetly”

Landing page for “It’s gonna be the party of the year”

The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 13

“Pinkberry’s mobile app functions as

Fare Alert: $367 for Indianapolis

“Recognizing that trip-planning is not an

The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 17

Celebrate 6 months with us -

“With this triggered email, ModCloth

The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 19

You qualify for a Pinterest

“After converting to a Pinterest business

Welcome email 2 Welcome email 3 Welcome email 5 Welcome email 6

April 20, 2013

Save Cybertron with an

“The images-off version of this PlayStation

Your tablet. Our network.

Best of the Best

Hold onto this email…

An offer just for you: 50% off

“Starbucks takes first-name personalization

The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 31

Tech News: Twinsole offers

“This email uses a 300-frame video GIF

“Taking a soft-sell, content marketing

We’re Royally Excited

Rent the Runway

“Sent when Catherine, Duchess of

A note for naughty

Email Animated GIF: Select frames

Make a List, Check it Twice

“What a clever approach to promoting

This day in history

“While most political emails are text-heavy,

Follow UNIQLO on Pinterest!

Saks Fifth Avenue

“During the early weeks of the holiday

Please verify your

“This simple, responsive email is from the

The Best of the Email Swipe File 2014 salesforce.com/marketingcloud 47

2013 Best of the Email Swipe File

For the very latest, follow our boards on

The Email Swipe File

Follow @ETswipefile on Twitter to receive tips and

The Salesforce Marketing Cloud provides