SkyeSterling Silver Jewelry Blog

9 Lessons Learned and 1 BIG Question Remains 

Creating HTML Emails SUCKS! I'm just saying...

HTML Email marketing has become a crucial component of maintaining customer contact in ecommerce and never ceases to test my sanity.

A little over a year ago I began my confusing adventure with HTML email marketing. I quickly learned Lesson #1: One big image...No! 

About two seconds later I learned Lesson #2: If you have an old list and had been emailing people text only messages and suddenly switch to HTML emails, they will hit that SPAM button - a lot.

The lesson I never seemed to successfully express to our print based designer who wound up with the task of converting print ads into HTML emails was Lesson #3: Text is good and without a bunch of it, your email will never see an inbox.

The other email lesson I never was able to convey that we learned as soon as our IT Manager upgraded to Outlook 2007 was Lesson #4: No important stuff in background images, some people will never see them, even if they download images. Better yet, no information in any images, unless you also have it repeated somewhere as text also.

Although management might think its a great idea to email everyone on your list, not so much. Lesson #5: Segment your list and only email people what they want or your name and SPAM will be synonymous and no one will ever see your email.

To torture myself more, I subscribe to a bunch of newsletters from MediaPost  including some on email marketing. From these the following has been forced down my throat: Lesson #6: There's a whole bunch of stuff to look at and analyze and you need to figure out what's best for your own email campaigns. Those things include: Day and Time the email is sent, Email Title, Content/Relevance. This gets so crazy there's been studies on open rates and click through rates based on number of characters in an Email Title! FYI one of the studies showed less characters is good, more characters is good, middle is bad.

Also discussed regularly in the MediaPost newsletters is the Preview Pane. That brings me to Lesson#7: Look at your email in the preview pane. Let your customers know what the email is about when they preview it or it will probably never be opened/read/images downloaded... you get the idea. I've found putting one or two lines on the top of the email before any table works best for me.

Lesson #8: Test your email in as many email readers as possible. This is one of the big reason why creating HTML emails sucks. Everyone looks different. On the bright side, I just found MailChimp's Inbox Inspector and although it does have a per email test charge, it will show me what my email looks like in a bunch of email readers without having to create accounts and own different software and operating systems. As soon as I can get it added into the budget, I can't wait to give it a try.

Probably the simplest and most important thing I've learned is Lesson #9: Make sure someone else proof reads and tests the email before you send it! It doesn't matter if your email should have gone out a week ago and its 8PM and you're the only one in the office, wait for someone else to proof read and test it before it goes out! Yeah, learned that one the hard way... more than once. If you do not heed this warning, you will end up with broken images, broken links, links to the wrong place, wrong dates and times listed, misspellings, misspellings that spell a different word... the joys.

The part I'm still losing sleep over: Unanswered Question #1: Text Formatting - CSS or <font>? Maybe its because I first started with web design and HTML in the late 90's, led an HTML free life from around 2002 - 2005 and am still trying to break from font tags and tables ... except for emails? What? The more I try to get it and find out more, the more I learn this crap is hard... and insanely confusing... and maybe no one knows. Tables seem generally accepted as a necessary evil of HTML email layout. Fonts... I don't know. I'm just not seeing the benefit to using CSS. The CSS needs to be inline anyway, so why not just use the font tag? Maybe it was me, but a font tag was the only way I could style a text link on our email that went out today.

So as I was saying, creating HTML emails SUCKS!

Posted by JewelryFashionista at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I confess. I am a Bangleaholic and I see no need to go to rehab with Lindsay, Ms. Winehouse, and the rest of the -aholics.

I've been reworking SkyeSterling.com's checkout (feel free to let us know if its a thumbs up change or a hell no, please change it back) and I needed to test it so... I keep buying bangles.

I had never thought much of bangles until a few months ago when they kept popping up everywhere as one of the up and coming trends. Now stackable bangles are in full trend mode and everywhere you look. I bought a bunch this past winter. And more this spring. And more on Tuesday. And more on Wednesday. And more today... You see where this is going.

The part that's starting to make me nervous...some of our best bangles have been selling out!

Anyway, the one's I just ordered this week are:

• This cute Satin Finish Bangle Bracelet
  
• One of my favorite bangle designs - the interlocking bangles, which we are down to 2 designs left, which is ridiculous, especially considering including this one, I will now own something like 6 or 7.
  
• And this a little different than just the basic, great for stacking with some plain bangles, twist bangle bracelet
  

The checkout is redone, at least for now, so maybe my buying spree will cease for a day or two.

Posted by JewelryFashionista at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So the time is upon us again. Spring wants to give way to summer. Kids are getting restless in the final days of the school year. And kindergarten to college, students are graduating and preparing to enter a new chapter of their lives. What better excuse do you need to adorn your favorite student with sterling silver jewelry?

We know picking the right gift can be a little tricky, so we've put together a Graduation Gift Guide to help you out. My Top Pick for a Graduation Gift is under $25 and features a quote so inspirational that you may end up picking one up for yourself as well as your graduate to help inspire you each day as well. SkyeSterling Customer Favorites, Classic Sterling Silver Jewelry, and Inspirational Message Jewelry round out my general gifts for graduates. For the trendy fashionistas in training, I'm pointing you towards some of the top trends in sterling silver jewelry right now, hoop earrings, stackable bangle bracelets, bold cuff bracelets, and stackable rings. For the officially grown up, start them on their way with an amazing jewelry statement piece or a selection from our Designer Cushion Collection. For the little cuties, we suggest the Stencil Collection of initials and symbols or some Star Jewelry for your little shining star.

How ever old or young your grad may be, make sure they sparkle and shine in their big moment of glory.

Big Congratulations Class of 2008!

Posted by JewelryFashionista at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So we recently added almost 300 new jewelry designs to SkyeSterling.com and are launching them with introductory pricing. For the first two weeks of their life on SkyeSterling, all these new looks will be on sale for 20% off. It looks like many of you have already began jumping on this opportunity and my guess is that several of these new styles will sell out before they even have a chance to go full price. FYI - the current set of new arrivals is scheduled to have intro sale pricing disappear on May 22, 2008.
Our New Sterling Silver Earrings include a wider range than usual. We have a few sterling silver marcasite and cubic zirconia looks like the one seen here. Several dyed freshwater pearl studs in a range of sizes were added. A ton of hard-to-find clip on earrings in sterling silver, 18kt yellow gold plated, and rose gold plated sterling silver are new as well. Not to be forgotten are several new sterling silver drop earrings, SkyeSterling Designer Line earrings, and a bunch of new briolettes in cubic zirconia and glass.

Our New Toe Rings are flying out the door. I know its been a while...a long while...Maybe since last summer? (Wow that is a long time!) And it is getting really nice out, but I'm still surprised how quickly our new toe rings have been selling. Our toe rings have always been one of our most popular categories and they seem to have some fans. I'll see what I can do to get some more designs in stock... hopefully before summer 2009.

Not to be forgotten are gorgeous new bracelets - from bold silver cuffs to designer links and stunning new necklaces - some absolute showstoppers in cubic zirconia that will make some little hotty a shoo-in for Prom Queen.

No matter what you're looking for - for yourself - for graduation gifts - bridal jewelry - prom jewelry - do yourself a favor and take a quick peek at our new arrivals, there's a good chance what you've been seeking has just showed up (and is on sale).

Posted by JewelryFashionista at 08:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, it looks like a lot of you, like me, have been creating and adding to your wish lists over the past few weeks, probably in anticipation that someone else may be interested in knowing what you actually want for Mother's Day. Since Mother's Day has come and gone, if your Wish List is still completely unpurchased, we have a little secret savings hidden there. Find your SkyeSterling Jewelry Wish List and start using your secret savings to make all your wishes come true!

Posted by JewelryFashionista at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)