If you happen to’re an e-mail marketer seeking to enhance conversions, you realize that good segmentation and strategic partnerships could make all of the distinction. On this case research, Olga Kovalenko walks you thru how a pet insurance coverage model boosted conversions by 32% by personalizing their e-mail journeys and leveraging a robust partnership with a big retail warehouse chain.
On this case research for our Electronic mail marketer’s code, Olga shares how they revamped their e-mail technique — segmenting by visitors supply, personalizing content material, and dealing via compliance hurdles — to spice up conversions by 32%, scale back unsubscribes by 21%, and double the income. The perfect half? They discovered a option to beat the ban on explicitly indicating reductions within the insurance coverage trade.
Professional
Meet Olga Kovalenko
With over a decade in e-mail advertising and marketing, Olga Kovalenko has seen all of it — from managing campaigns for nearly 20 manufacturers concurrently to fine-tuning e-mail methods for subscriber lists of virtually 2 million. Presently, she leads lifecycle advertising and marketing at Independence Pet Group (IPG), the place her experience in product administration, consumer interviews, and buyer evaluation drives impactful e-mail campaigns.
Curiously, Olga’s journey into e-mail advertising and marketing was something however deliberate. In 2013, when her supervisor unexpectedly stop, she was shortly educated to step into the function. That second sparked a career-long ardour for e-mail advertising and marketing, optimization, and development.
Past advertising and marketing dashboards and marketing campaign efficiency metrics, Olga finds pleasure in karaoke and trampoline exercises — a continuation of her childhood passions as a choir singer and rhythmic gymnast.
Olga Kovalenko shared a case from her apply and defined the technique that helped to rebrand the deserted cart journey and get nice outcomes.
Discovering the suitable system for a pet insurance coverage model’s quote drip journey
Once I joined a pet insurance coverage model in 2022, the corporate was in the course of a significant rebrand — a brand new look, a brand new voice, and a contemporary method to buyer expertise. One of many first issues that caught my consideration was our quote drip journey — the e-mail sequence despatched to customers who started however didn’t full a quote request. Consider it as an deserted cart e-mail, however it’s for pet insurance coverage.
At the moment, it was one-size-fits-all — everybody acquired the identical emails with no dynamic content material or personalization. The rebrand helped make the emails visually interesting, however the conversion fee nonetheless wasn’t the place we wished it to be.
I knew we needed to transcend tweaking colours and messaging. Personalization was the following logical step. Including easy touches like a pet’s title helped, however not sufficient to make a significant influence. We would have liked a a lot larger optimization win to meaningfully drive conversions.
Cracking the code: Visitors sources matter
I started digging into the kinds of leads coming into our funnel. Had been all of them behaving the identical manner? Seems, under no circumstances. After some deep evaluation, I discovered that our leads had been coming from three distinct sources:
- website positioning + advertisements;
- affiliate companions;
- a significant low cost retail warehouse chain.
Right here’s the place it bought attention-grabbing — the time it took for customers to transform diverse dramatically amongst these visitors sources. This implied that treating all of them the identical was a mistake. We would have liked to nurture every section in another way to match their conduct.
The problem: No reductions… aside from one
Working in insurance coverage, we don’t have the posh of utilizing reductions like eCommerce manufacturers do to recuperate deserted carts. That’s simply not how our trade works. However each rule has an exception; in our case, the exception was a big low cost retail warehouse chain.
This chain was a significant associate, bringing in a big share of our gross sales. Not like different visitors sources, their customers had been eligible for a ten% low cost. This meant that whereas we deliberate to separate our quote drip journeys for every visitors supply, optimizing the journey for this associate was the most important alternative.
We had the fitting insights — now, we simply needed to flip them into motion.
Turning insights into motion
As soon as we realized that completely different visitors sources behaved in another way, we knew we needed to divide the quote drip journey into three separate flows. The problem? The unique setup didn’t account for the associate code, which was the primary means to tell apart amongst these visitors sources. A big low cost retail warehouse chain, being the massive associate they’re, wished to trace the engagement ranges of their customers individually.
Thus, as a substitute of managing one quote drip journey, we now had three, and as a substitute of 6 e-mail creatives, we instantly had 18.
That’s after we hit our first large roadblock — maintaining with authorized adjustments. Compliance critiques are a part of life within the insurance coverage trade, however when you’ve 18 completely different e-mail creatives, even a minor replace (like tweaking the authorized textual content within the footer) means lots of guide work.
Then, there was the low cost problem. The low cost for customers from the numerous low cost retail warehouse chain wasn’t obtainable in all states, and we needed to be very cautious about how we talked about it in emails. Furthermore, we wanted approval from our compliance group and the warehouse chain’s compliance group.
That is what an ordinary no-segment firm seems like:
(Supply: Electronic mail marketing campaign by Olga Kovalenko)
The answer: Discovering the fitting fixes
We needed to discover a smarter option to handle content material with triple the workload. As a substitute of constructing edits to 18 completely different emails each time authorized wished a change, we constructed a single modular block that may very well be concurrently up to date throughout all emails. This manner, any compliance request may very well be dealt with shortly, with out repeatedly going via all the artistic course of.
Additional, we made a number of key adjustments to enhance efficiency particularly within the warehouse chain’s journey:
- Added a co-branded emblem: Together with each our pet insurance coverage model’s emblem and the warehouse chain’s emblem helped construct belief and strengthened the partnership.
- Talked about the low cost: Since customers from this supply had been eligible for 10% off, we highlighted this within the e-mail copy. Nonetheless, compliance shortly flagged this, so we added an asterisk and a footnote to make clear that the low cost wasn’t obtainable in all states.
- Dressed up our e-mail heroes: For enjoyable, we put the heroes in our e-mail photos within the warehouse chain’s uniform. This wasn’t simply an inside joke — it helped create a stronger model connection and made the venture extra satisfying for each groups.
- Linked to the warehouse chain’s providers webpage: Whereas they had been pleased with a co-branded journey, they had been somewhat cautious about how their emblem was used. We negotiated a compromise — we will place their emblem on the high (the place we knew it will drive conversions) if we embrace the hyperlink to their providers webpage on the backside. This was not perfect for us because it may lead customers to discover different merchandise as a substitute of specializing in pet insurance coverage, however it was a center floor either side had been comfy with.
In the end, this co-branded journey was a win-win. The warehouse chain was pleased with the visibility and we improved the personalization; most significantly, we had been on observe to extend conversions.
(Supply: Electronic mail marketing campaign by Olga Kovalenko)
The outcomes: Did it work?
After all of the adjustments we made, the massive query was, “Did it truly enhance conversions?”
Completely.
By splitting the quote drip journey into three separate flows and optimizing the emails for every visitors supply, we noticed actual outcomes, quick:
- conversion fee jumped by 32%: Extra individuals who started the quote course of truly went on to finish it;
- deliverability improved by 2%: Even a small improve right here implied hundreds extra emails touchdown in inboxes as a substitute of spam;
- unsubscribes dropped by 21%: Our viewers responded higher to emails that felt extra related to them;
- income doubled — Sure, doubled! This was the final word proof that our customized method was the fitting transfer.
The co-branded journey with the numerous low cost retail warehouse chain was a significant spotlight. Their viewers responded properly to seeing acquainted branding, and the ten% low cost (even with the nice print) gave them an additional cause to transform.
Trying again, the most important win wasn’t simply the numbers, it was proving that small, considerate adjustments (corresponding to tweaking design parts, including personalization, and adjusting messaging primarily based on visitors supply) may have an enormous influence on efficiency.
After all, we discovered one thing necessary alongside the best way: Sometimes, even compliance groups can compromise… for those who’re prepared to barter a bit.
Suggestions for e-mail entrepreneurs
One of many greatest takeaways from this marketing campaign is that attending to know your viewers on a deeper degree makes all of the distinction. Personalization isn’t nearly including a primary title, it’s about understanding the place customers come from, what motivates them, and how you can converse their language.
Listed here are three key classes that may assist any e-mail marketer optimize their campaigns:
1. Buyer insights are your finest good friend
Earlier than sending out any e-mail, take the time to map out your buyer’s journey. The place are they coming from? What do they count on? What limitations preserve them from changing? Understanding that completely different visitors sources had completely different conversion timelines unlocked the potential for higher segmentation. Do not depend on generic finest practices — guarantee your segmentation suits your viewers.
2. Collaboration brings sudden wins
Your colleagues in different departments — gross sales, buyer help, partnerships — know issues about your clients that you simply don’t. Regardless that they aren’t e-mail entrepreneurs, their insights may give you beneficial concepts. Pay attention, ask questions, after which refine these concepts into profitable campaigns.
3. Not each customization is value it
At first, creating separate journeys for various companions appeared like a terrific concept. Nonetheless, including extra partner-specific variations made us understand the workload wasn’t well worth the influence. Now, we use dynamic content material for smaller companions as a substitute of making solely separate flows. It is very important discover the fitting stability between customization and effectivity.
Wrapping up
We thank Olga Kovalenko for sharing her insights and experiences with us. This case proved that the fitting segmentation and personalization technique can remodel the outcomes.
By tailoring e-mail flows to completely different viewers segments, we noticed increased conversions, higher engagement, and even doubled income. On the similar time, we discovered that not each concept scales properly. Over-customizing for smaller visitors sources turned a burden somewhat than a profit.
For e-mail entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their campaigns, the very best recommendation is to be curious, experiment typically, and all the time preserve your viewers on the middle of each determination.
