Improving Effectiveness and Customer Experience with Personalized Email Marketing : Case: Raflaamo Newsletter
Turunen, Laura (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202105128537
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202105128537
Tiivistelmä
An emerging trend in digital marketing, where the tech savvy customers expect personalized customer experience in their dealings with companies and brands, challenges companies to adopt a data-driven marketing approach. Personalization as a part of their digital marketing activities requires robust customer data, a marketing automation system and content that is valuable for customers. One of these activities is personalized email marketing, which is a powerful tool in the digital marketer’s toolbox.
The development project of this thesis aims to improve the customer experience and performance, and the overall effectiveness of Raflaamo newsletter and email marketing in SOK Mara hospitality business using personalization. The scope of the thesis includes the customer experience of email marketing channel, Raflaamo newsletter and website, and focuses on the convert and engagement stages of the digital customer journey. Also, this thesis is limited to giving recommendations for the future state of Raflaamo newsletter and further development of email marketing in SOK Mara.
The design and methods of the thesis includes Gap analysis, which was used to identify the key factors for the experiment on Raflaamo newsletter and its further development, and to formulate hypothesis 1. The experiment on Raflaamo newsletter was conducted as an A/B test, comparing generic email content to personalized email content using marketing automation. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the experiment that were chosen for the metrics of the A/B test were analysed with quantitative methods by calculating the statistical significance to verify the results of the experiment.
Findings of the Gap analysis indicated that customer experience and relevance of email marketing can be enhanced by personalized content from local restaurants, recommendations on products and restaurants based on behavioural and predictive data, and the comprehensive use of customer data and marketing automation. Findings of the experiment indicated that both CTOR (Click-to-Open-Rate) of the email and Conversion Rate to the Raflaamo website were increased by the personalized content. Thus, personalization of content improved the performance of Raflaamo newsletter.
The higher relevance of valuable email content can be achieved by advanced personalization based on combinations of S Group’s customer data and applications of AI, like predictive modelling. Better customer experience helps engage Raflaamo newsletter subscribers and generate more traffic to Raflaamo website, which turns into improved overall effectiveness of email marketing for SOK Mara hospitality business.
The development project of this thesis aims to improve the customer experience and performance, and the overall effectiveness of Raflaamo newsletter and email marketing in SOK Mara hospitality business using personalization. The scope of the thesis includes the customer experience of email marketing channel, Raflaamo newsletter and website, and focuses on the convert and engagement stages of the digital customer journey. Also, this thesis is limited to giving recommendations for the future state of Raflaamo newsletter and further development of email marketing in SOK Mara.
The design and methods of the thesis includes Gap analysis, which was used to identify the key factors for the experiment on Raflaamo newsletter and its further development, and to formulate hypothesis 1. The experiment on Raflaamo newsletter was conducted as an A/B test, comparing generic email content to personalized email content using marketing automation. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the experiment that were chosen for the metrics of the A/B test were analysed with quantitative methods by calculating the statistical significance to verify the results of the experiment.
Findings of the Gap analysis indicated that customer experience and relevance of email marketing can be enhanced by personalized content from local restaurants, recommendations on products and restaurants based on behavioural and predictive data, and the comprehensive use of customer data and marketing automation. Findings of the experiment indicated that both CTOR (Click-to-Open-Rate) of the email and Conversion Rate to the Raflaamo website were increased by the personalized content. Thus, personalization of content improved the performance of Raflaamo newsletter.
The higher relevance of valuable email content can be achieved by advanced personalization based on combinations of S Group’s customer data and applications of AI, like predictive modelling. Better customer experience helps engage Raflaamo newsletter subscribers and generate more traffic to Raflaamo website, which turns into improved overall effectiveness of email marketing for SOK Mara hospitality business.