Every week we send the SoulPancake community a content recap that we call the “Weekly SPoonful.” We comb the site for the best stuff from the previous week and send it out every Friday. The Blue Sky Factory agrees, and dissected why they thought our SPoonful was so effective.
“SP creates thought-provoking content with a well-executed balance of image placement, strong call to actions, and a little soul that is sure to get the blood pumping and the brainwaves flowing,” Nikki Schiavone writes on the company’s blog.
Evaluation: 4.5/5.0 Stars!
A few of the points Big Blue Sky makes about the SoulPancake Weekly SPoonful:
1. SP’s opening line is catchy and interesting, “it’s time to jump in and marinate your brainstem…” You have less than 3 seconds to grab subscribers’ attention. Use that time to be a little creative and fierce to catch the subscriber’s eye.
2. SP’s email has a great balance of content and images. Even with images turned off, their message is clear and jumps out to the subscriber. The content is explicit, interesting, short, and to the point. With images turned on, the subscriber actually begins to relate sensory connotations to the message. The images are descriptive, and combined with the content, this email exudes strong best practices.
3. The content is interesting! With relevant and thought provoking questions and statements like, “How does meditation influence your thought?” and “Google Map Your Soul,” how could a subscriber not be intrigued? Most of us who are directionally-impaired can relate to “Google-Mapping.” The paragraph above that highlights a meaning to life question – another interesting topic. Bottom line: the content is interesting, thought-provoking, and personal. Learn more about Designing for the Inbox in this webinar.
4. SP has two strong call to actions, “Answer This,” and “Give it a Try.” This is the mark of great email marketer – one who understands the importance of converting subscribers into Brand Ambassadors. What do I mean by this? By having subscribers participate in the conversation of your brand, you make them an integral part of your online community. (Note: Careful not to use the phrase “click here” as a call to action.) SP wanted to grab your attention immediately, make the conversion accessible, and do it with a little bit of style and originality. Strong call to actions equal strong conversion rates. SP nails this best practice.
5. SP values the trust that is immediately established with their subscribers. They use permission based opt-ins, giving subscribers the option to receive emails. They also encourage subscriber interaction through a digital dialogue of comments and questions from and to each other. As a nice bonus, SP posts their comments on their website and newsletters! SP values their subscribers and wants them to participate and engage by offering each subscriber to be involved in the SP community. Trust: a key to engaging emails.
6. SP is in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act. They offer opt-out links on their newsletters and website. SP also has an automated message after each opt-in asking new subscribers to add their (SP’s) email address to their contact list (”p.s. be sure to add weeklyspoonful@soulpancake.com to your contacts, so the little spam gnomes won’t try to grab these emails out of your inbox.”).
Thank you to Big Blue Sky for taking the time to go over our work with such detail! We’re passionate about what we do, and we take all feedback to heart. Suggestions are always welcome, and we’re always listening.
filed in Design
Every week we send out a digest showcasing our best content from around the site. The Big Blue Sky Factory wrote up a really in-depth review of the Weekly SPoonful.
