My Eyes Hurt
I received this sales email from Urban Outfitters today, and I must say… this is the LOUDEST email I’ve ever received. Which basically means it makes for great use of an animated gif with the alternating background colors. And if by “great use” you mean attention-grabbing, then yes, it was used well. But the email is hard to look at for more than two seconds. After a couple seconds, my eyes literally started to get sore. So what do you think is better? Grabbing someone’s attention to look and scan your email only to have them shy away? Or is is better for someone to casually glance at your message in hopes that they may click through?
See the Urban Outfitters email below:
Posted by Bryan Quilty on Jun. 08, 2009
Comments
@richard :: i’d like to know as well! I’ll keep my eyes peeled in the trades for email-related epilepsy seizures in the coming days.
@grace :: I do too! I wish I get the chance to do something this obnoxious with email design in the future.
thanks for posting, y’all!
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 06/08/2009 03:15 PM
Ouch! My eyes really hurt. I can’t even stare at it for 2 seconds without getting dizzy.
Posted by Restoration Media on 06/08/2009 07:48 PM
Zoltan says: BUY!
Where’s the brand? Where’s the offer?
I would, however, like to see their stats - CTR and conversions. Urban Outfitters, hook us up, please!
Posted by Alec on 06/09/2009 02:19 AM
Alec, there actually is an offer with this email; it’s way below the fold underneath this epilepsy-enducing call to action. See the whole email below:
http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBKLS$6AwP—EB7uGMyBQmP3S.AwP—EfW/doc.html
I would love to see how this email performed as well. It’d be good insight on how obnoxious sales emails are received.
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 06/09/2009 09:47 AM
Yes, would be interesting to see the stats on this one.
Stranger things have happened…
And while I’m waiting, why not hit me over the head again with another buy me now email. I’m just a-itching to press that email spam-button six-shooter again.
Now, if they’d just written a somewhere over the rainbow type story, I might’ve clicked through to see their land of oz fashions. Oh well…
Posted by Mark McClure on 06/20/2009 10:21 PM
I sent this email to everyone in the office when I got it—with the subject “most obnoxious email newsletter EVER”... have you seen the latest one with the blocked patterned text with neon shadows?
Posted by Sarah Jean on 06/22/2009 03:42 PM
I did see the blocked / neon one you’re talking about… it’s not nearly as obnoxious as this, but if you look at it long enough, your eyes will get sore. *shakes head*
Posted by Bryan Quilty on 06/23/2009 12:55 PM
This was unecessary. They would have done better with basic product and pricing creative. I am so distracted by how loud the email is, I don’t even want to look at anything else.
Posted by April on 07/27/2009 09:57 AM
So how many cases of epilepsy did this cause?
Posted by Richard on 06/08/2009 02:13 PM