5 Real-time Marketing Success Stories

3 minute read

Upland Admin

Learn how B2C brands used real-time email marketing to boost revenue.

Consumer brands have fierce competition when it comes to their customers’ attention. But they’re learning that if they offer more than just products, if they’re a source of information and they understand their customers’ interests, then they might still get in the loop… and the inbox.

Being part of your customers’ conversations without being invasive can be done with a bit of help from real-time email marketing. We looked at 5 brands that took advantage of the summer sports events and the sunny weather.

Evans Cycles – Tour de France

They sent an email to their subscribers before the Tour de France started, encouraging them to show their support for the British Sky Team. The connection between the two is obvious and Evans Cycles managed to capitalize on it by being part of the conversation around this famous event.

The content of the email focused on discounts for the Team Sky clothing range, an invitation to a bike launch event and a Twitter competition.

Eve Lom – Sunscreen protection

Back at the beginning of June, when the sun was just popping out and people started spending increasingly more time outdoors, Eve Lom stepped in to remind them to protect their skin. This cosmetics company focuses exclusively on skin products therefore the connection was again justified. The timing and simplicity of the email is what made it a success. It only promoted one product so the CTA was crystal clear.

Links London – Wimbledon

24 hours before the event started, Links took part in the conversation surrounding one of the most beloved British events: Wimbledon. As the company sells jewellery, they had a special collection designed to represent the traditions and symbols of this tennis competition: strawberries, champagne bottles, umbrellas, tennis rackets and balls.

Every decision behind the design of the email supported the Wimbledon tie up:

  • Split tested subject line: ‘Ready to serve?’ versus ‘All quiet please! Shop Wimbledon + Sale Continues’
  • Pre-header text: ‘Game, set, match. Get Wimbledon ready!’
  • Overall colors used were the green and purple specific to the event

Tag Heuer – Formula One

Having a long-standing tradition of being associated with Formula One, Tag Heuer created a special watch to celebrate the partnership, with its straps resembling car tyre marks. They announced the launch of the watch in an email just before the Monaco Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious Formula One circuits.

Costa Coffee – Ice-cool drinks

Similarly to Eve Lom, Costa timed their newsletter to coincide with the sun replacing the wet weather at the beginning of June. They designed the email to have a dramatic header with an animated GIF of ice cubes falling, thus immediately appealing to the receivers in need of cooling down.

Costa also presented their new range of cooled drinks, included a video to show how these are made and two competitions around summer photos and free cool drinks. They demonstrated customer knowledge and had a consistent call-to-action and theme throughout of the email.

Key takeaways

These companies make it look easy to achieve great results. Here are the key real-time email marketing tips you should take away from them:

  1. Know your customers and be relevant. Even if your customers love wall-climbing, it’s not going to help you sell more stationery.
  2. Get the timing right. There’s no point in talking about Wimbledon after it’s gone.
  3. Have a simple design and provide something of value to your audience whether it’s a discount, a product launch or just information.

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