2013 Gold Best use of Email

Client easyJet

How did the campaign make a difference? Around 40% of customers coming to easyJet.com know they want to travel, but are unsure where to. An inspiring mix of data and relevant content matches travellers with their perfect trip – whether that's cultural, romantic, beach or adventure. The framework for this new approach was produced and tested while delivering a 67:1 ROI.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? In a dramatic shift for easyJet and the airline sector, this strategy moves from the obvious tactic of sales-driven, batch-blasted emails and actually reflects the human truth about travel: Travellers care more about their holiday experience than they do about how they get there. And easyJet travellers are the ultimate trip tailors: carefully piecing together their experiences, saving a little on a flight, to spend more on a boutique hotel or special meal. So 'inspire me' emails can direct travellers to a handy inspiration tool, to search destinations based on the experience they want. Customers' past booking behaviour is used in a personalised and meaningful way to serve up timely and relevant inspiration, from airports they travel from and at a budget that's right for them. Emails are triggered at a time based on what they've done previously, be it a last-minute city break or the next half-term holiday. Dynamic content connects with travellers at the moment when they're dreaming up their next getaway, tempting skiers with adventure, couples with romantic escapes or families with fun-packed beach holidays.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? This campaign talks to people like people, not numbers in a database, not consumers and not customers on a journey but as real, individual people. Marketing speak is replaced with real insights and the most relevant inspiration and information. Imagery reflects the specific journey. All of the targeted suggestions take travellers to the 'inspire me' tool, where the breadth of options available is fully tailored and personalised with destinations from their preferred departure airport, with prices based on what they've paid previously. Booking options are just one click away.

Results It doubled customer engagement with the email (expressed as the click rate) and quadrupled conversion (expressed as unique bookers who received 'Inspire me' vs unique bookers from the newsletter). Including personalised airports doubled engagement and increased conversion by 60%. Having the price present increased engagement by 70%, and conversion by 42%, except for the French market, where not including the price converted 15% more. It achieved an overall campaign ROI of 67 to 1.

Team Tony Miller – Managing Partner, Harriet Grange – Account Manager, Anna Tongue – Planning Director, Lauren McIlroy – Planner, Tania Mag – Head of Data Planning, Sarah Wood – Senior Digital Copywriter, Ingo Auer – Associate Creative Director, John Pain – SQL Data Insight Analyst, Winston Malcolm – Senior Data Engineer, Lis Blair – Head of CRM, Nattalie Hutton – CRM Strategy and Planning Manager, Barbara Cant – CRM Manager, Ben O'Brien – Analyst, Chris Long – Project Manager, Dan Salter – Analyst