Email Conversion and Lifecycle Messaging: How Marriott Rewards generated 86% more email-driven revenue

How do you use data to personalize the customer experience without alienating customers concerned about privacy? How do you present data in a compelling way? How can you use data as social proof for a desired customer conversion instead of just using a blatant call-to-action?

These questions intrigued us, so to discover how Marriott is tackling these challenges, Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content, MarketingSherpa, interviewed Clark Cummings, Senior Manager of Member Marketing, Marriott International in the Email & Mobile track at MarketingSherpa Summit 2016 in Las Vegas.

And now we’re releasing the full, free HD video replay of this case study session to MarketingSherpa readers. You can watch below to learn how Clark’s team leveraged tools and a manual process to gather the data, how Marriott’s emails looked on mobile devices, and why Clark includes a prominent unsubscribe button in Marriott’s emails.

After conducting a historical analysis of email programs, Marriott discovered December was the one month out of the year that generated the lowest bookings and revenue even though email open rates held steady. This finding prompted Clark Cummings and the team at Marriott Rewards to take a more member-centric approach to email campaigns during the holiday season through relevant, value-added content.

The brand launched a multi-touch email campaign with an overarching "Year-in-Review" storyline that culminated in a personalized video thanking members for their loyalty and inspiring bookings for 2015.
 

Boosting bookings by personalizing its loyalty program

By personalizing its emails, Marriott increased conversion and brought in more revenue. This program tripled the December average of revenue per message delivered, increased click-to-open rate by 20% and grew conversion rate by almost 9.7% year-over-year. And the team built on its success with an enhanced Year-in-Review program at the end of 2015.

“Don’t be scared,” Clark advised other marketers. “Do something fun. Do something interesting. Do something you would enjoy as a customer.”
 

Related Resources

MarketingSherpa Summit 2017 | Aria Las Vegas | April 10-13

Email Marketing: 208% higher conversion rate for targeted emails over batch-and-blast

Email Marketing: 3 overlooked aspects of automated messages

Landing Page Optimization: 5 factors that lead to (and prevent) conversion [from MarketingSherpa’s sister publication, MarketingExperiments]