126: Quince's Valentine's Email: A Masterclass in Structure (With One Fatal Flaw)

This email does 6 things right and 1 thing that undermines all of them.

Hey everyone, Chase here.

We talk a lot about ads in this newsletter.

But most brands lose the sale after the click — in the email, on the landing page, at checkout. The creative that converts isn't always the creative that interrupts.

Sometimes it's the creative that lands in your inbox.

Today we're breaking down a Valentine's Day email from Quince — the "affordable luxury" DTC brand — and why it's one of the best-structured promotional emails I've seen this season.

With one move that nearly wrecks the whole thing.

In this issue:

• How Quince uses a 4-quadrant grid to kill decision fatigue

• Why escalating from "affordable" to "diamonds" is smarter than it looks

• The urgency tactic that's slowly training your customers to ignore you

Take a look:

The hierarchy is textbook.

Most promotional emails try to do one thing. This one does four — and the structure holds.

From top to bottom:

1. Urgency bar + countdown timer — "Order today for V-Day delivery"

2. Hero image — couple, red tones, emotional context

3. Category grid — For Her, For Him, For Staying In, For Going Out

4. Premium upsell — "A Forever Favorite" diamonds section

5. Gift guide — "The Love List" curated products

That's five distinct content blocks, each with its own job. And they're arranged in order of decision complexity — from "buy now" to "browse and discover."

Most brands stack their emails with repetitive CTAs all screaming the same thing. Quince gives you multiple entry points based on where you are in the buying process.

Already know what you want? Hit the top. Still browsing? Scroll down. Want to go big? There's a diamond section waiting.

That's not email design. That's information architecture.

The 4-quadrant grid is the smartest thing in this email.

For Her. For Him. For Staying In. For Going Out.

Four categories. Four images. Zero decision fatigue.

Here's why this works: the hardest part of Valentine's shopping isn't finding a product. It's figuring out what kind of gift you're looking for.

Most brands organize by product category — jewelry, clothing, accessories. That's how you think about your inventory. It's not how your customer thinks about the gift.

Quince organizes by occasion and recipient. That's how real people shop.

"For Staying In" is especially clever. It gives permission to buy something cozy and intimate instead of something expensive and performative. It expands the addressable market without adding a single product.

The escalation from "affordable" to "diamonds" is intentional.

The email opens with: "Order now to get the affordable luxuries they'll love."

Then three sections later: "Thoughtfully crafted diamonds, ready to gift."

That's not a contradiction. That's price anchoring in reverse.

You walk the customer in with "affordable luxuries" — cashmere, leather goods, lingerie. Comfortable price points. Low friction.

Then you introduce diamonds. Not as the main event, but as an option. Not "buy diamonds." Just "A Forever Favorite."

By the time the reader hits the diamond section, they've already mentally committed to buying something. The diamonds aren't the ask — they're the upgrade.

This is the same psychology restaurants use when they put the $60 steak on the menu. It's not there to sell steaks. It's there to make the $35 salmon feel reasonable.

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Now the problem: triple-stacked urgency.

Countdown timer. "LAST CALL." "Order today for V-Day delivery."

That's three urgency signals in the first scroll.

Any one of these works on its own. Together, they scream.

Here's the issue with urgency stacking: it trains your customer to distrust you.

When every email has a countdown timer, the countdown stops meaning anything. When every send is a "last call," no call is the last one. Your most loyal subscribers — the ones who've been on your list for months — have seen this exact format from you a dozen times.

The countdown timer is especially dangerous. It's the most overused tactic in email marketing, and it's rapidly approaching banner blindness territory. Your customer's brain has learned to skip it the same way it skips cookie consent banners.

What I'd test instead: one urgency signal, delivered with specificity.

Not "LAST CALL" — that's generic.

Try: "Estimated delivery by Feb 13th if you order by midnight tonight."

That's specific. That's helpful. That's urgency that serves the customer instead of pressuring them.

The hero image is vibes without product.

The couple at the top is beautiful. The red and burgundy tones set the Valentine's mood instantly.

But there's no product in the hero.

The first product the customer sees is in the 4-quadrant grid — which sits below the fold on most phones.

That means the countdown timer, the "SHOP NOW" button, and the hero image are all asking the customer to take action before showing them what they're buying.

A simple fix: put product on the models. A cashmere sweater. A piece of jewelry. Something the customer can want before they decide to scroll.

The hero should sell a feeling and a product. Right now it's only doing half the job.

What this teaches us about Creative Discipline

This Quince email gets the hard things right. The hierarchy, the information architecture, the category grid, the price escalation — that's sophisticated email strategy.

But it undercuts itself with the easy stuff. Urgency stacking is lazy. A productless hero is a missed opportunity. "LAST CALL" is what you write when you don't have a better idea.

Disciplined email creative means:

Structure for the scroll, not the open. Most email optimization obsesses over subject lines. Quince invested in what happens after the open — and that's where the sale actually lives.

Organize by how customers think, not how you think. "For Her / For Him / For Staying In / For Going Out" beats "Jewelry / Clothing / Accessories" every time.

Earn urgency, don't manufacture it. One specific, helpful deadline beats three generic pressure tactics stacked on top of each other. Every countdown timer that doesn't count down to something real makes the next one less believable.

The bones of this email are excellent.

The clothes it's wearing need work.

Until next time,

Chase