bmibaby email marketing case study
DESCRIPTION
The budget airline space is a competitive one, but the U.K.s airline bmibaby gets sky high results with its clever and strategic email marketing program. Techniques to be showcased include the following: Cutting through inbox clutter with enticing subject lines, Starting the relationship with a memorable welcome email,l Delivering one to one value through transactional emails, Extending your reach through social sharing. Presentation was given at the Travel Distribution Summit in London, June 17th and 18th, 2010 by Will Schnabel, Silverpop and Marie Clare Dixon, bmibaby.TRANSCRIPT
Email Marketing Best Practices Send Results Soaring
How Are you Engaging with Customers?
Or this?
The real result.
Agenda
• The email marketing landscape• Strategic solutions• Best practices that work• The bmibaby story
The Email Marketing Landscape
Background
• Silverpop Survey of email marketers
– 4 out of 10 marketers reported their email budgets for 2010 would increase
• Biggest challenges included “inbox clutter” and “providing timely and relevant content”
• Irrelevant messaging is the #1 reason for email opt-outs
Inboxes are Crowded
• More marketers embracing email’s effectiveness and high ROI (twice the ROI of any other digital channel)
• Consumers will receive more than 9,000 email marketing messages a year by 2014
Spam accounts for 29% of the inbox
Messages from friends represents 34%
Opt in messages accounts for 25%
Messages from school/work is 8%
Other messages represent 5%
Source: JupiterResearch/NPD Consumer Survey (4/08), n = 2,427; JupiterResearch/Ipsos Insight Consumer Survey (9/07), n = 2,454; (9/06), n = 2,147; JupiterResearch/Ipsos Insight Individual User Survey (6/05), n = 3,944 (e-mail users)
Anatomy of the Inbox
The Consumer is King
Consumers are: • More informed than ever • Taking brands into their own hands• Seeking out relationships• Asserting more control over brands• Expecting companies to participate in
dialogues
Relevancy is Key
• Lack of relevancy the No. 1 reason people unsubscribe
• 20% email marketers cited "providing timely and relevant content" as a challenge
Dolla
rs G
enera
ted p
er
Month
(in t
housa
nds)
NB: Metrics and salary costs are based on a Forrester executive survey. Based on 2.8 million pieces of email per month, CPM ranges grow with program complexity, assuming $39 AOV and 40% product margin.
No TargetingWebsite Analytics Targeted Social Targeting0
200
400
600
800
1000
$159
$540
$664
$840
$40
$185$239
$306
Monthly Revenue
Source: Q1 2009 Global Email Marketing And On-Site Targeting Online Survey
Relevancy Delivers
Strategic Solutions
• Understand individuals
• Achieve anticipation instead of interruption
• Seek consumer feedback
Listen as Much as You Speak
Keep Them Tuned In
• Consumers are indifferent to brands that are indifferent to them
• Creative content alone is no longer enough
• Marketers must participate and nurture an interactive relationship
Keep Them Engaged
Targeting A one-way conversation
Engagement A two-way interaction
Why Engage?
• To increase customer lifetime value (38%)?
• To increase the value the company delivers to the customer (34%)?
• Correct answer: Both
Best Practices that Work
• What types of content do users want?
• And how do they want to receive it?
Let Customers Shape Marketing
Offer Choices During Registration
U.K. North America0
10
20
30
40
50
46%33%
Series 1
• Email address update/password update • Current email subscriptions
– Newsletters, solo offers, company news, third-party offers
• Content or interest preferences– Skiing versus snowboarding, cycling versus running
• Message format– Text, HTML, mobile-optimised HTML
• Frequency (higher and lower)• Update communication channels
– Email, RSS feeds, direct mail, SMS)
• Unsubscribe options (for individual mailings or for all)
• Demographics: gender, locale, birthday, position
Types of Choices
Unsubscribe -> Preference Centre
U.K. North America0
10
20
30
40
50
28%40%
Series 1
• Email subscriber interest begins to disintegrate as soon as two weeks after the opt-in
• Test Frequency– Analyze differences in open and click
rates, spam complaints, and unsubscribes
• Send time optimisation
Send Enough, at the Right Time
Emails Received in 30-Days
>30
21-29
16-20
11-15
5-10
1-4
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
3%
2%
5%
17%
32%
25%
15%
3%
30%
47%
20%
U.K.North America
Go Social
• Understand your brand advocates Who they are What motivates them How they are different
• Deliver content they are most likely to share (‘Sharability’)
• Share-to-Social
Normal email campaign
Share-to-Social helps expands virally
Remember the Brand
• Re-iterate the brand in your subject line
• Personalize where appropriate
Personalised Subject Lines
U.K. North America0
5
10
15
11%
4%
Series 1
“An offer just for you, %%firstname%%”
Analyse, Analyse, Analyse
• Arm yourself with data
• Review data across multiple channels
• Focus on measurements that impact results
Open Rates
Open Rate (Unique) Average Top
Quartile
Overall 22.1% 28.4%
US 20.7% 26.8%UK 22.5% 33.3%
Germany 19.5% 30.7%
Click-Through Rates
Click Through Rate (Unique) Average Top
Quartile
Overall 4.3% 5.3%US 4.1% 5.0%UK 4.6% 6.2%
Germany 4.7% 6.5%
Click-to-Open (Effective Rate)
Click-To-Open Rate Average Top
Quartile
Overall 18.5% 26.5%
US 19.0% 27.5%
UK 18.0% 26.1%
Germany 18.0% 28.6%
The bmibaby story
Who are we, baby?
• Low cost airline launched in 2002
• Fly from four U.K. bases to over 30 UK and European destinations
• Aim to put the fun back in flying!
• Highly competitive market
• In-house email program required significant IT involvement
• Deliverability issues
• Desired more sophisticated email program
Challenges
• Clean up data• Build a preference centre• Send targeted emails• Lifecycle programs• Encourage social sharing• Be consistent with personality and
value reminder
The Solution
Data Cleansing
• Remove undeliverable email addresses
• Consider new approaches for inactive subscribers
• Reward engaged subscribers with unique programs and offers
Data Cleansing- bmibaby
• Removed data that was over 1 year old
• Reactivation and invigoration campaign
• Over time refined list to a group of active recipients
Preference Centres
• Move from marketer-centric to customer-centric approach
• What do subscribers want? Ask them
• Fine line between enough choices and too many
Preference Centres- bmibaby
• bmibaby’s welcome message leads to preference centre
• Choices: Preferred departure airport Favorite destinations Weekly offers Latest price alerts
Targeted, Triggered, Transactional
Consumers say:• Transactional messages are the type
most worth reading• 6 out of 10 consumers say they don’t
mind receiving marketing messages included within transactional emails
Transactional Emails- bmibaby
• bmibaby transactional emails are triggered by recipient action:
Flight booked
Confirmation email Travel Reminders
Lifecycle Campaigns
• Personalised messaging• Target specific segments• Groups to Consider:
New customers Engaged customers Lapsed customers
Welcome email
Promotional emails
Transactional messages
Lifecycle Campaigns- bmibaby
Social Sharing
• Changed the way people interact• Shifted relationship between
companies and customers• Tool for gathering product
information• Increase in reach of over 24
percent through social sharing
Social Sharing- bmibaby
Rise Above the Noise
• 35 percent of email subscribers open messages because of what’s in the subject line
• Including company/brand name in subject line can result in over 30% more opened emails (a 7 point jump in open rates!)
• Silverpop has found that only about half of marketers follow this best practice
Be Yourself, Baby
• It’s good to have you on board, baby
• The offer has landed, baby
• bmibaby sale: Up to 40% off Every Route, Every Flight
• An above-average 35 percent newsletter open rate
• 50 percent increase in social sharing
• Strong commercial results and high ROI
The Results
• Email remains a core digital tool for connecting with customers and driving ROI
• Email that’s targeted, relevant and timely uniquely engages customers
• Test subject line branding and personalisation
• Use social media links, opt-out alternatives and sales or discount incentives
• Remain respectful but attentive
Remember
Thank you!
Will Schnabel• Email: [email protected]• Twitter: @wschnabel
Marie-Clare Dixon• Email: marie-
[email protected]• Find me on LinkedIn