How a pet insurance coverage model boosted electronic mail conversions by 32% with good segmentation and strategic partnership — Stripo.electronic mail

In case you’re an electronic mail marketer seeking to enhance conversions, that good segmentation and strategic partnerships could make all of the distinction. On this case examine, Olga Kovalenko walks you thru how a pet insurance coverage model boosted conversions by 32% by personalizing their electronic mail journeys and leveraging a strong partnership with a big retail warehouse chain.

On this case examine for our E mail marketer’s code, Olga shares how they revamped their electronic mail technique — segmenting by site visitors supply, personalizing content material, and dealing by means of compliance hurdles — to spice up conversions by 32%, scale back unsubscribes by 21%, and double the income. The very best half? They discovered a solution to beat the ban on explicitly indicating reductions within the insurance coverage business.

Knowledgeable

Meet Olga Kovalenko

With over a decade in electronic mail advertising, Olga Kovalenko has seen all of it — from managing campaigns for nearly 20 manufacturers concurrently to fine-tuning electronic mail methods for subscriber lists of just about 2 million. At the moment, she leads lifecycle advertising at Independence Pet Group (IPG), the place her experience in product administration, shopper interviews, and buyer evaluation drives impactful electronic mail campaigns.

Curiously, Olga’s journey into electronic mail advertising was something however deliberate. In 2013, when her supervisor unexpectedly stop, she was rapidly educated to step into the function. That second sparked a career-long ardour for electronic mail advertising, optimization, and progress.

Past advertising 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.

Discovering the suitable method for a pet insurance coverage model’s quote drip journey

After 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 electronic 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 price nonetheless wasn’t the place we wished it to be.

I knew we needed to transcend tweaking colours and messaging. Personalization was the subsequent logical step. Including easy touches like a pet’s identify helped, however not sufficient to make a significant impression. We wanted a a lot larger optimization win to meaningfully drive conversions.

Cracking the code: Visitors sources matter

I started digging into the varieties of leads coming into our funnel. Have been all of them behaving the identical approach? Seems, in no way. After some deep evaluation, I discovered that our leads have been coming from three distinct sources:

• website positioning + adverts;
• affiliate companions;
• a significant low cost retail warehouse chain.

Right here’s the place it bought fascinating — the time it took for customers to transform various dramatically amongst these site visitors sources. This implied that treating all of them the identical was a mistake. We wanted to nurture every section in a different way to match their conduct.

The problem: No reductions… aside from one

Working in insurance coverage, we don’t have the luxurious of utilizing reductions like eCommerce manufacturers do to get well deserted carts. That’s simply not how our business 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 companion, bringing in a big share of our gross sales. In contrast to different site visitors sources, their customers have been eligible for a ten% low cost. This meant that whereas we deliberate to separate our quote drip journeys for every site visitors supply, optimizing the journey for this companion was the largest alternative.

We had the appropriate insights — now, we simply needed to flip them into motion.

Turning insights into motion

As soon as we realized that totally different site visitors sources behaved in a different 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 companion code, which was the principle means to differentiate amongst these site visitors sources. A big low cost retail warehouse chain, being the large companion they’re, wished to trace the engagement ranges of their customers individually.

Thus, as an alternative of managing one quote drip journey, we now had three, and as an alternative of 6 electronic mail creatives, we all of a sudden had 18.

That’s after we hit our first large roadblock — maintaining with authorized adjustments. Compliance evaluations are a part of life within the insurance coverage business, however when you’ve got 18 totally different electronic mail creatives, even a minor replace (like tweaking the authorized textual content within the footer) means quite a lot 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 out there in all states, and we needed to be very cautious about how we talked about it in emails. Furthermore, we would have liked approval from our compliance staff and the warehouse chain’s compliance staff.

That is what an ordinary no-segment firm appears like:

(Supply: E mail marketing campaign by Olga Kovalenko)

The answer: Discovering the appropriate fixes

We needed to discover a smarter solution to handle content material with triple the workload. As an alternative of constructing edits to 18 totally different emails each time authorized wished a change, we constructed a single modular block that could possibly be concurrently up to date throughout all emails. This fashion, any compliance request could possibly be dealt with rapidly, with out repeatedly going by means of your entire inventive course of.

Additional, we made just a few key adjustments to enhance efficiency particularly within the warehouse chain’s journey:

1. 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.
2. Talked about the low cost: Since customers from this supply have been eligible for 10% off, we highlighted this within the electronic mail copy. Nonetheless, compliance rapidly flagged this, so we added an asterisk and a footnote to make clear that the low cost wasn’t out there in all states.
3. Dressed up our electronic mail heroes: For enjoyable, we put the heroes in our electronic mail photos within the warehouse chain’s uniform. This wasn’t simply an inner joke — it helped create a stronger model connection and made the mission extra pleasant for each groups.
4. Linked to the warehouse chain’s companies webpage: Whereas they have been proud of a co-branded journey, they have been reasonably cautious about how their emblem was used. We negotiated a compromise — we will place their emblem on the high (the place we knew it might drive conversions) if we embrace the hyperlink to their companies webpage on the backside. This was not ideally suited for us because it could lead on customers to discover different merchandise as an alternative of specializing in pet insurance coverage, however it was a center floor each side have been snug with.

Finally, this co-branded journey was a win-win. The warehouse chain was proud of the visibility and we improved the personalization; most significantly, we have been on observe to extend conversions.

(Supply: E mail marketing campaign by Olga Kovalenko)

The outcomes: Did it work?

After all of the adjustments we made, the large query was, “Did it really enhance conversions?”

Completely.

By splitting the quote drip journey into three separate flows and optimizing the emails for every site visitors supply, we noticed actual outcomes, quick:

• conversion price jumped by 32%: Extra individuals who started the quote course of really went on to finish it;
• deliverability improved by 2%: Even a small enhance right here implied 1000’s extra emails touchdown in inboxes as an alternative 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 last word proof that our personalised method was the appropriate transfer.

The co-branded journey with the numerous low cost retail warehouse chain was a significant spotlight. Their viewers responded effectively to seeing acquainted branding, and the ten% low cost (even with the advantageous print) gave them an additional cause to transform.

Trying again, the largest win wasn’t simply the numbers, it was proving that small, considerate adjustments (equivalent to tweaking design components, including personalization, and adjusting messaging primarily based on site visitors supply) might have an enormous impression on efficiency.

After all, we discovered one thing essential alongside the way in which: Sometimes, even compliance groups can compromise… should you’re keen to barter just a little. 

Suggestions for electronic mail entrepreneurs

One of many largest 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 identify, it’s about understanding the place customers come from, what motivates them, and tips on how to converse their language.

Listed here are three key classes that may assist any electronic mail marketer optimize their campaigns:

1. Buyer insights are your finest buddy

Earlier than sending out any electronic mail, take the time to map out your buyer’s journey. The place are they coming from? What do they count on? What obstacles preserve them from changing? Understanding that totally different site visitors sources had totally different conversion timelines unlocked the potential for higher segmentation. Do not depend on generic finest practices — guarantee your segmentation matches your viewers.

2. Collaboration brings sudden wins

Your colleagues in different departments — gross sales, buyer assist, partnerships — know issues about your clients that you just don’t. Although they aren’t electronic mail entrepreneurs, their insights can provide you worthwhile concepts. Hear, 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 thought. Nonetheless, including extra partner-specific variations made us understand the workload wasn’t well worth the impression. Now, we use dynamic content material for smaller companions as an alternative of making totally separate flows. It is very important discover the appropriate steadiness between customization and effectivity.

Wrapping up

We thank Olga Kovalenko for sharing her insights and experiences with us. This case proved that the appropriate segmentation and personalization technique can remodel the outcomes.

By tailoring electronic mail flows to totally different viewers segments, we noticed larger conversions, higher engagement, and even doubled income. On the identical time, we discovered that not each thought scales effectively. Over-customizing for smaller site visitors sources grew to become a burden reasonably than a profit. 

For electronic mail entrepreneurs seeking to enhance their campaigns, the very best recommendation is to be curious, experiment usually, and all the time preserve your viewers on the heart of each determination.