American Express Small Business wanted to increase loyalty with their personalized monthly newsletter, Your Business by the Numbers. ERGO, which has supported the program for years, developed three unique design approaches. Small business customers tested the approaches with eye tracking analysis and gave feedback on the updated content, template redesign, and visual direction. The approach used data, updated illustration-based design, and API-driven rewards and offers based on amount card members spend to drive higher engagement rates, time spend in the inbox, and dollars spent.

Credits: Marissa Goba, Senior Manager, Digital Customer Marketing Krystian Tomasiewicz, American Express Thomas Monahan, American Express Sergei Rokachov, American Express John Hendricks, CEO, ERGO Jackie Dunning, VP, Strategy & Content, ERGO Stephen Henke, Senior Content Strategist, ERGO Beth Roche, Senior Designer, ERGO Gina Abbatiello, Designer, ERGO David Stansberry, Content Writer, ERGO Delilah Schwartz, Senior Client Success Manager, ERGO

Scotts Miracle-Gro launched a lawn subscription service personalized to individuals. It asks consumers to take a quiz to determine their lawn needs through the “How to Apply” campaign, which customizes the bundled service based on location and timing. An API triggers a custom email 12 hours after the order ships. In that email are instructions on how and when to apply the products. Within three years, the campaign drove 73% increase in open rates compared with averages, 180% YoY revenue, and 60% seasonal retention rates.

Credits: Sara Main, Sr. CRM Analyst, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Amanda Scarnechia, Manager, CRM & Consumer Data

American Express had increased its incremental revenue by 10X since launching the Your Business By The Numbers newsletter for small businesses in 2017. In a 2019/20 upgrade, the company improved the graphics and personalization, deploying over 350 modules so each customer gets a unique version. Now featured are a notification bar displaying pressing news like account servicing, and an API tying points to a dollar amount, not just a point balance. The result: $1.5 billion in incremental spend. Openers spend over 48% more than non-openers.

Credits: Marissa Goba, Senior Manager, Digital Customer Marketing Krystian Tomasiewicz, American Express Thomas Monahan, American Express Sergei Rokachov, American Express John Hendricks, CEO, ERGO Jackie Dunning, VP, Strategy & Content, ERGO Stephen Henke, Senior Content Strategist, ERGO Beth Roche, Senior Designer, ERGO Gina Abbatiello, Designer, ERGO David Stansberry, Content Writer, ERGO Delilah Schwartz, Senior Client Success Manager, ERGO

Dell wanted to drive personalized communications for warranty renewal to its customers, so it tuned to MODintelechy to build a content strategy with a mix of email, direct mail, and online marketing. The approach used in 47 countries and 28 languages improved sales activities, and generated inbound contract renewal through email and postal mail notifications. Results drove a 5,275% increase in phone call volume, 840% YTD revenue increase, and more than 39,000 responses via RFI forms.

Credits: Pam Perez, Vice President of Data Services, MODintelechy Phani Virupakshi, BI/SQL Developer, MODintelechy Cal Cavness, Sr. Analyst, MODintelechy Rob Bryson, Account Director, MODintelechy Adam Dudd, Director of Creative Services Meg Redinger, Sr. Marketing Program Manager, Dell Technologies

Nurses and other medical professionals serving during the pandemic were sent “thank-you “ emails by Ryka, offering each a free pair of sneakers. The campaign was conceived, designed and built within 36 hours by an all-female email team. This team also built a landing page and CRM connection and created triggered confirmation emails. Over 6,000 applications came in within 36 hours—so many that the firm ran out of product and had to issue coupons for a different pair at a discount with free shipping.

Credits:

Hot Topic worked with Liveclicker to create an interactive email that would drive people to the site, increasing engagement. A click led to a personalized, integrated offer based on historical purchases. Emails showcased seasonally themed animation with a random discount. The campaigns on average saw a 30% increase in click to opens, 25% increase in click through rate, and because they drove more site traffic, a 14% increase in conversion rate over equivalent campaigns without the new feature.

Credits: Brooke Schommer, Account Development Manager, Liveclicker Camila de la Torre, Head of Support, Liveclicker Mérida Mateo, Email Developer, Liveclicker Faith Bukauskas, Sr. Email Analyst, Hot Topic Alan Ho, Email Coordinator, Hot Topic

Some might think American Express is synonymous with loyalty. The American Express Small Business monthly email newsletter program, “Your Business by the Numbers,” has always been successful, but AMEX wanted to build on its strength. The new program included three unique design approaches, testing it through eye tracking analysis with small business customers. The final approach incorporated data, updated illustration design, and API-driven rewards and offers based on a card member spend habits. It increased click rates, reward redemption, spend, and open rates.

Credits: Marissa Goba, Senior Manager, Digital Customer Marketing Krystian Tomasiewicz, American Express Thomas Monahan, American Express Sergei Rokachov, American Express John Hendricks, CEO, ERGO Jackie Dunning, VP, Strategy & Content, ERGO Stephen Henke, Senior Content Strategist, ERGO Beth Roche, Senior Designer, ERGO Gina Abbatiello, Designer, ERGO David Stansberry, Content Writer, ERGO Delilah Schwartz, Senior Client Success Manager, ERGO

Raise, a mobile payments and gift card marketer, is using lifecycle insights to engage members via email, web site and mobile app, starting with a rich multichannel welcome series. Supported by algorithm-based testing, the campaign succeeds in driving both current and future purchases. Working with Sailthru, Raise uncovered several lifecycle insights that have enabled it to increase purchases at all stages. For example, it found that “Buy Now, Save Later” messages helped move customers halfway to five purchases, the magic number that means continued loyalty.

Credits: Kelly Hickey, Senior Marketing Manager, Raise Tyler Sutton, Customer Success Manager, Sailthru

SCENE, Canada’s entertainment loyalty program, realized it had to do a better job of onboarding members. It faced low initial activation and understanding of the program. The solution was a two-phase campaign, consisting of an introductory effort focused on benefits discovery and hyper-personalized messages encouraging members to redeem opportunities with SCENE partners. In onboarding 10,000 new members, Scene doubled open rates, and drove click activity that was four times that of its prior rate. In addition, it achieved a 20% lift in early card activity.

Credits: Greg Elliott, Managing Director, William Thomas Digital Scott Vickery, Entertainment Practice Lead, William Thomas Digital Alice Keogh, Senior Director, Client Delivery, William Thomas Digital Anne Chudy, Director, Strategy, William Thomas Digital Tim Cormick, Director, Strategy, William Thomas Digital Ron Ramos, Director, Marketing Technology, William Thomas Digital Ian Hoar, Director, Development, William Thomas Digital Kailey Borg, Account Manager, William Thomas Digital Ryan Giff, Executive Director Partnerships, SCENE Susan LeBlanc, Senior Manager, Acquisition & Brand Marketing, SCENE Matthew Seagrim, Managing Director, SCENE Aryana Heit, Marketing Manager, SCENE Sydney Strimas-Pollack, Marketing Coordinator, SCENE

SCENE, Canada’s entertainment loyalty program, wanted to drive various forms of fun during the Canadian winter, so it launched the Winter Show-Off campaign. This effort had multiple goals: To increase black card activity, encourage email sign-ups and create business for Cineplex and Recipe partners. The elements included triggered emails, a contest featuring tickets to the NBA All-Star game and targeted offers. The campaign generated a 125% hike in card activity, a 23% lift over the registration target, reactivation of 284,000 members and 132,000 new customers.

Credits: Greg Elliott, Managing Director, William Thomas Digital Scott Vickery, Entertainment Practice Lead, William Thomas Digital Alice Keogh, Senior Director, Client Delivery, William Thomas Digital Ron Ramos, Director, Marketing Technology, William Thomas Digital Ian Hoar, Director, Development, William Thomas Digital Kailey Borg, Account Manager, William Thomas Digital Matthew Seagrim, Managing Director, SCENE Ryan Giff, Executive Director Partnerships, SCENE Susan LeBlanc, Senior Manager, Acquisition & Brand Marketing, SCENE Jessica Drozd, Marketing Manager, Acquisition & Brand, SCENE

RevZilla, an after-market retailer serving motorcycle enthusiasts, moved from blasting generic emails to sending deeply personalized messages based on preferred bike brand, riding style, gender, past purchases and browsing behavior. Using Sailthru’s Lifestyle Optimizer, It started with a personalized welcome series, and proceeded to automated triggered messaging. RevZilla now has 20 triggered browse-based programs. In one campaign to sell helmets, the brand sent over 100 versions of the same message. The result: RevZilla has generated higher conversions and 100% more revenue with its personalized emails.

Credits: Andrew Lim, Director of Retention Marketing, RevZilla Sarah Roman, Senior Customer Success Manager, Sailthru

Canada’s largest entertainment loyalty program SCENE had low activation, early usage and understanding of its program for new members. With William Thomas Digital, SCENE introduced a two-phase onboarding program that leveraged member data, delivering personalized, timely communications across multiple channels, including landing pages, push notifications, SMS and social media ads. In the first few weeks, SCENE onboarded 10,000 new members. SCENE saw a 20% lift in early card activity. Open rates on key communications were up to 2x higher than before.

Credits: Greg Elliott, Managing Director, William Thomas Digital Scott Vickery, Entertainment Practice Lead, William Thomas Digital Alice Keogh, Senior Director, Client Delivery, William Thomas Digital Anne Chudy, Director, Strategy, William Thomas Digital Tim Cormick, Director, Strategy, William Thomas Digital Ron Ramos, Director, Marketing Technology, William Thomas Digital Ian Hoar, Director, Development, William Thomas Digital Kaily Borg, Account Manager, William Thomas Digital Ryan Giff, Executive Director Partnerships, SCENE Susan LeBlanc, Senior Manager, Acquisition & Brand Marketing, SCENE Matthew Seagrim, Managing Director, SCENE Aryana Heit, Marketing Manager, SCENE Sydney Strimas-Pollack, Marketing Coordinator, SCENE

Visa created an email campaign highlighting its Infinite Dining Series for Canadian cardholders. Members were provided with access to unique menus and wine-pairings at restaurants across the country. And they were offered the chance to dine with two of Canada’s renowned chefs in spots from Vancouver to Montreal. The email says, “Book your seat at the table” an includes a call-to-action inviting recipients to “see all events.” Featuring succinct copy and eye-catching photos, the email pulled an open rate that was over twice the industry average.

Credits: Thilini Indraratne, Manager, Affluent Marketing, VISA Canada Jen Tabbal, Senior Content Director, Yes Marketing Sterling Crain, Art Director, Yes Marketing Jocelyn Zobitz, Sr. Account Manager, Yes Marketing Meghan Monahan, Account Manager, Yes Marketing Kris Mansour, Email Manager, Yes Marketing