• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, December 10, 2019

Lexi Sigesmund, Senior Manager, Digital and Content Strategy, Chobani, blew 'em away on Tuesday at our Email Insider Summit. But, hey, with results that include open rates at more than 200% above benchmark, are you surprised?

It all began, she said, when the brand wanted to launch a new product last year called Chobani Gimmies with 13 SKUs. The challenge was to increase awareness and get a qualified audience within its existing community to extend its reach.

What it came up with after two to three months was a first-ever, 14-day swag drop with custom, limited-edition Gimmies. Each day at noon, it gave away over 1,700 items created in house. Stuff like skateboards, onesies, denim jackets, fanny packs.

To alert its audience to the drop, it send an email (now that it was thinking email first) the day before the effort began and then each day at 11:45 ET another email with each day's drop and a teaser about the next day's drop. The landing page featured a count-down clock until the next drop and a chance for fans to enter their email to be the first to know about the next day’s drop. On the landing page at 12:05, they would see the next day's drop, which Sigesmund said was "critically important" at keeping them engaged.

Chobani's email subscriber base went up 3.5% in the 14 days, hitting its acquisition goal. They saw a 53% increase in retail subscribers sharing where they shop.

The CTO was 170% over benchmark. The number of site visitors increased by 52%. They averaged 64 seconds until all 1,700 items had been claimed on the site.

Chobani had 120,000 site visitors sitting on the site at noon each day. There were 20 swag items offered for sale on eBay, and the brand enjoyed six press articles about the campaign.

And what did the brand learn? Sigesmund listed three things:

1. Relevance is key. The email opera rate and CTO were high because of it.

1. Had they the chance to do it over again, she said personalization and extensions could have increased engagement and reach. "We had an opportunity to personalize emails, and an opportunity to test Ad Studio. We maybe could have reached them on Facebook."

1. She also would have optimized for shorter campaign duration. "Fourteen days feels a little long," with diminishing returns over time. "Weekends were quiet."

And that's how you leverage your email strategy!