Commentary

Response In A Heartbeat: The Art Of Intelligent Content

Barely two hours into Movable Ink’s Think Summit yesterday, designer David Korins compared email marketers to abductors.

As statistics show, a victim’s chances of survival “drop dramatically” if they get into a car, Korins warned the audience. He then implied that the email subject line is the thing that lures people into the car, if you will.  

Gosh, David, that’s very flattering. But it amused the crowd, and Korins shared something he learned when making a subtle change in the “Hamilton” set on Broadway, which might have been noticed by one person per night:

“One person who is passionately evangelizing on behalf of your brand is so much more powerful than the 1,400 people going to the restroom,” he said.

Too true. But how do you reach that one person at scale? It can be done with instant contextual email. 

Take the case of HSN, the home shopping giant. It sends the "Today's Special" email nightly, said Alison Lindland, regional vice president of client experience for Movable Ink. HSN has to precisely match what’s on the air and what’s in the email. 

advertisement

advertisement

These emails, which include terrific products, have not always been the most personalized. 

To solve this, HSN used the core Movable Ink platform for intelligent content, which includes time targeting, web cropping and weather personalization. 

For its "Special Offers" email, HSN used Movable Ink's Signals expansion. 

Here's how: HSN included in the lower right-hand corner of the email, three items the customer had abandoned in a cart or had seen in a category browse. It was in the lowest content module of the email. 

Customers read those, and it’s worth noting that they had to go through the entire email to get to them. That took relevant content. 

Thanks to that tactic, HSN saw an increase in net revenue for these  promotions that varied from 11% to 24%. “That’s just found money,” Lindland said.

In addition, there was a 14% to 28% lift in unique clicks.

The success of these is no  small technical feat, and you might be forgiven for thinking that only an HSN could achieve it. But any brand can, thanks to intelligent content applications like Movable Ink's Signals, which enables marketers to incorporate the consumer's web behavior into email in real time. 
And you can do it without involving IT. Of course, there are other tools out there, too. 

Lindland, by the way, was pinch-hitting for booked speakers from HSN, who were dealing with post-hurricane challenges in St. Petersburg.

Then there’s HotelTonight. It has seen positive results with day-of-arrival emails, which are useful for “getting people excited for their stay,” said Katie Walovich White, CRM manager for HotelTonight. 

These emails often persuade guests to extend their stay. And they offer recommendations on where to eat and what concerts to see.

The result? They generate higher conversions than a regular weekly email, and are “a huge revenue driver,” White said.

Finally, there’s Lenovo, which sends high volumes of email, featuring constant product and pricing changes. Lenovo has achieved a 40% reduction in email build time, thanks to web cropping and Movable Ink’s other capabilities. said Kevin Walker, direct marketing manager for Lenovo.

Not convinced? Do a little more research. Meanwhile, here’s a closing observation from David Korins, who has had to engage some pretty tough crowds: The more you can direct a story to the individual, the better it is. 

Next story loading loading..