Learn how the Toy Industry Association executed a three-phase initiative that resulted in a 67% increase in clicks and 56% increase in opens of their monthly enewsletter.
Toy News Tuesday is TIA’s weekly enewsletter, delivering the most up-to-date information regarding toy safety and regulations, association events and happenings and membership news. The enewsletter is delivered to more than 6,400 subscribers, comprised mostly of members, toy industry professionals and individuals who subscribed via their website.
Challenge
The Toy News Tuesday newsletter experienced a steady decline in results in its second and third years. By year three, deliverability had declined by 10%, click-thru rate dropped from 21% to 18% and open rates dipped below 20%.
Solution
A/B Testing
TIA used a consistent subject line, Toy News Tuesday, for each edition of the newsletter. Therefore, the first strategy was to perform A/B testing on the subject line to see if that impacted open rates. The subscriber list was randomly split, one half receiving the current subject line and the other receiving a topic-based subject line based on the lead story for the issue. In the test group, open rates increased from 16% to 25%, a 56% increase and click-thru rates increased from 18% to 30%, a 67% increase. This test was performed for two weeks using the same split and then the winning tactic was tested on the original control group. Since the initial test plan, TIA has tested different types of subject lines and has determined that when using a more serious, regulations-focused subject line versus a softer subject line, engagement is higher.
Re-Engaging the Unengaged
The next step was to focus on the subscribers who had not opened or clicked on the newsletter in more than six months. Unengaged subscribers, meaning recipients that consistently do not open or click your emails, can have a serious impact on deliverability rates since Internet Service Providers (ISPs) look at engagement as a sign of a good sender. Continuing to send to unengaged subscribers could demonstrate that they don’t want your email and therefore, flag you as a spammer.
TIA performed a three-step campaign to alert those subscribers that they would no longer receive Toy News Tuesday unless they took action by clicking a link to indicate they would like to continue their subscription. TIA segmented the list at the end of the third email and removed all individuals who did not respond or those who opted-out. As a result of removing these names, the deliverability rate steadily increased to 98%– an 18% increase and a better deliverability rate than when they initially started their newsletter.
Design
In addition to looking at the subject line and subscriber list, the layout of the enewsletter was also examined. In an effort to make it easier for subscribers to read the abstract’s full story, the title of each article became a link. Also, to encourage readers to open the email, a preheader was inserted complementing the chosen subject line. TIA also incorporated a sidebar into their new layout to highlight key upcoming events instead of listing them in the main body. Social sharing links and a message to view the mobile version of the email, was also added to the new design.
Conclusion
Overall, TIA took careful steps to evaluate their enewsletter and utilized subscriber feedback along the way. Increasing engagement goes beyond just one item and stretches into every part of the email. From subject line to design layout to content, each part works together to deliver a relevant and engaging message. “The Informz tools made it easy for me to split my list in order to test subject lines and evaluate the effectiveness of these tests. In addition, it was a breeze to identify those subscribers who were not engaged and deliver a targeted message to them.” —Isabel Carrion-Lopez, Manager of Digital Assets & Interactive Communications at TIA.
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