Content-driven email campaigns for a luxury home and gift retailer.
Using Mailchimp as the email provider, we developed campaigns sent several times a week based on list engagement and historical metrics. Content emails converted at industry averages, while open and click-through rates ran above average — a sign of a genuinely engaged list.
Unique Gifts Beyond the Typical Bouquet
Valentine's Day email, February 2014
Our faux-floral-focused campaign was the best performer of the month. With above-average open and click-through rates, this became a transactional template adopted for future campaigns with continued conversion success.
Five Star Style... At Home!
Intro to the Portuguese linen product line
This campaign taught us a great deal. Consumers were excited about the new product line — the email had a very long tail on clicks, lasting months — but many appeared overwhelmed by the price point. Traffic clicked through to the site and spent more time on cheaper, similar products. Conversions from this email happened later, with purchase decisions made anywhere from three days to months after delivery. We treated it as a hybrid: part content, part direct purchase path. The high open rate confirmed our audience's interest in luxury goods, paired with a need for more time before a higher-price-point purchase.
Why Soy Candles Are Better
Intro to the soy candle line
The first campaign in our content-based email strategy, highlighting product qualities and benefits rather than leading with a transaction. Non-transactional campaigns like this still drove conversions, and averaged a higher click-through rate than our transactional sends — evidence that our audience wanted deeper product knowledge before buying.
Ready, Set... Entertain!
Super Bowl 2014 email
Performed above the home & garden industry average for open rate. Of recipients who clicked, roughly 10% converted to a sale. Given our primary demographic of middle-aged women, we didn't expect an event-tied email like this to outperform — but it did, with a conversion life far longer than typical, recording its last sale on 10/12/14.
Content and transaction, working the same list two different ways.
Across these campaigns, the pattern held: content-first sends built trust and drove longer-tail conversions on higher-price items, while transactional templates converted faster on lower-friction purchases. Reading that pattern correctly — and designing to it — was the real work.