Those bright and cheery Credit Karma emails get us pumped to check our credit scores. Good or bad, that mint green logo is recognizable in any inbox.
We’ve reviewed one of Credit Karma’s latest holiday email designs. Let’s jump right in to see what they did right and what we recommend tweaking.
What We’re Starting With:
The Good:
- Personalization AND anticipation. These are both right there in the subject line. Credit Karma knows who I am, they used my information to personalize the very first word of the subject line. I’m already interested and I haven’t even moved past the first word!
- “Whew…That score!” is encouraging. Credit Karma is known for its upbeat branding, so they remain on-brand while delivering some good news.
- The animated GIF is easy on the eyes, it ties in with the winter season, and it’s a call to action with the “Check My Scores” sign.
- Credit Karma guides us through the next steps. There are a few call to action items here, all benefiting us while leading us back to visit the Credit Karma website.
- Themed closing. Instead of a simple “Regards” or any other sort of goodbye, Credit Karma goes the extra mile with the winter theme by sending wishes of “Warm cookies and hot cocoa.”
The Bad:
- Two images and an animated GIF are missing alternative text. A lack of alt text is bad for email accessibility and for folks with email images disabled. We need a hint to know there’s something in the email other than some added space.
- The From Email Address isn’t very attractive. notifications@mail17.creditkarma.com tells us exactly what the email is – it’s a notification from Credit Karma. But why are they using mail17 as the subdomain? Something such as notifications@updates.creditkarma.com might be more suitable.
- This late-night email sent at 10:05 p.m. might be good for the West Coast folks, but not so much for us on the East Coast. A better send time would be first thing in the morning – between 5 and 6 a.m. EST– and just before lunch, around 11 a.m. or 12 p.m.
Credit Karma Email Verdict:
Overall, Credit Karma does a good job in getting their point across and keeping the customer involved. The personalization in the subject line and the first line of the email really goes a long way. Be sure to engage your audience for better email deliverability (link once DKIM and SPF post is published) and greater customer satisfaction.
Do you want us to overhaul your email designs? Drop us a line, and let’s chat.