Email Success Stories

Sometimes a small design change can lead to a big boost in results. That's what Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Personal Systems Group, which sells PCs and accessories to business, consumer and public sector clients, learned when it recently revamped its email newsletter template. Working with marketing agency Oliver Russell, Boise, Idaho, HP set out to improve the lackluster response rates of its newsletters, whose click-through rates had been hovering around 0.8%. Before the redesign, HP packed a lot of information into its email newsletters, said Andrew Klein, account supervisor at Oliver Russell. So the agency recommended that the company cut down the amount of copy in the body of its email, increase the size of graphics and let the landing page do more of the “heavy lifting” in terms of messaging, Klein said. “You only have a couple of seconds to capture someone's attention with email,” he said. “Inboxes have become so cluttered.” The agency tested the redesign on a campaign targeting decision-makers in the U.S. Army. Response rates jumped dramatically to a 3.4% click-through rate. As a result, HP has been using the new template for newsletters targeting other segments as well, and performance continues to outpace previous email efforts.

CSP Information Group, a trade organization for convenience stores and petroleum products retailers, has learned that the more targeted email content is, the more successful it's likely to be. The association's email newsletters, which include a daily blast to convenience store owners, provide content about legislative issues, fuel prices and new products—in the form of articles, videos, polls and event calendars. Video content is proving to be very effective for CSP, said Craig Fitzgerald, editorial director at IMN, a provider of email marketing newsletters and services that works with CSP on its email program. For example, the newsletter might include a five-minute video interview recorded on a Flip camera at an industry event or conference. “That's content that you wouldn't be able to share if you send a paper newsletter,” he said.