Case Study: 55% email open rate: New Campaign Grabs the Attention of Readers
Case Study: New Campaign Grabs the Attention of Readers:
55% Average Email Open Rate across over 185,000 recipients.
How did we do it? Read on:
Background: Stepping into the shoes of our sales qualified leads
Primary emotion: anxiety. Our GMAT candidates are thinking, “Will I have an option to take the GMAT exam? If not, will I have to delay my education plans?”
We released the GMAT online exam in record time when COVID-19 unfolded. The online exam was initially positioned as an interim exam. However, as we have all discovered, COVID-19 stuck around and around. (And, as of this post, still here.)
As the year progressed, the initial interim exam positioning drove anxiety in students. With a majority of the physical testing centers closed, GMAT candidates needed assurance that the GMAT online exam would be available to prepare graduate business school applications.
Goal of the campaign: Reassure MBA candidates that the GMAT online exam was here to stay
GMAC changed its positioning of the GMAT online exam. The online exam was here to stay and we needed to get the word out. This would provide MBA candidates the confidence and assurance they needed to plan their GMAT exam strategy and business school applications.
Determining the Message: Why should MBA candidates care?
We wanted to reach beyond the message that the “online exam is here to stay.”
Stating that the “online exam is here to stay” is all about GMAC. It doesn’t place the candidates in the message.
In other words, why would they care?
Enter: The Choice is Yours. We turned this messaging concept into choice. Candidates now had the choice to take the exam at a test center (if open) or online.
This messaging provided:
1. A sense of control to candidates. Based on our ongoing research, we knew candidates want to feel empowered to make their decisions.
2. Benefits of choice that the candidates may not have realized. For example, one may prefer a more structure environment and want to test in a test center. We provided benefits for each exam delivery method that may not have considered by students to perform their best.
My Role: Planner, Action-Taker, Creator, Writer, Project Manager, Negotiator
A targeted campaign like this takes a village. Our small team of four managed the planning and communications with the product team, and worked closely with our web team. communications planning was outlined with our central marketing team for social media. Not to mention, working closely with our data team to pull email lists. Let’s not forget the designs to visually communicate our message quickly and clearly. Plus, editing previous articles with our content team to ensure content is accurate and reflects the current positioning of the GMAT online exam.
My specific role touched on all the above to ensure the campaign launched on time and with accurate messaging.
Specifically, I led the:
· Go to Market Plan and positioning
· Messaging creation
· Project management of all the pieces: ensuring the emails and social deployed on time, communicating with data team to provide email lists by x date, daily contact with the product team to ensure no changes and provide any updates on the plan.
· Writing copy for 9 email segments and newsletter copy
Audiences: Segmentation for the Win!
We delivered our email communications to nine emails segments, all in various stages of the buyer’s journey. I specifically tailored the content each email to the audience segment. We met the candidates where they were in their GMAT planning process.
Scope and Constraints: “Three weeks to do what?”
Planning had to be concise. Quick. And on-point. The campaign initiative was proposed late December—yes, just before everyone left for winter break. That allowed us less than three weeks upon our return in January to plan, write, edit and gain approvals.
In addition, we had to negotiate with other teams who were also planning emails, lest we overburden our audiences with communications with no one reading anything.
Outcomes: Email tops 67% open rate!
Emails
This was one of our most successful, non-product enhancement related campaigns to-date!
Together our email open rates averaged 55% and click-through-rates average 7%. Our highest performing segment topped the charts with an open rate of 67% and click-through-rate of 16%
Note: The company average open rate is 17% and industry benchmark is ~24%.
Social Results: Unexpected engagement
Students began organically commenting and voting for their delivery method (online won!).
Media Coverage: News catching on
The campaign also sparked proactive media coverage from Poets & Quants, Yahoo Finance, Kaplan, Study International, and a growing number of other outlets reinforcing our message and broadening our reach.
Results: GMAT Registrations increased dramatically
The campaign awareness was a success.
But what actions did the students take?
In less than 48 hours, our campaign generated 844 new GMAT registrations. 32% of those registrations came within 6 hours of the campaign deployment, and 70% within 24 hours.
Lessons Learned:
This was our first campaign in one year that was not a product enhancement. This provided insight that our MBA candidates were interested in learning more about their options and control over their testing experience.
From a messaging perspective, we presented our big idea “the online exam is here to stay” in an unexpected style with “The Choice is yours.” The messaging became more than the GMAT delivery method. The messaging became which preference (online or test center) would help my performance.