Best Travel Online Newsletter Campaign

The San Francisco Travel Association’s monthly email for leisure travelers was created as a means of delivering destination and events news to approximately 70,000 subscribers. The program had seen a decline in click-through rates and an increase in opt-outs during the latter part of 2012. A dedicated effort to redesign the email was undertaken to provide a more visually appealing, content-rich layout that would engage readership and better complement the style of the destination’s website.

The objectives of the email redesign were several-fold:
• Improve design and readability and deliver more content
• Improve reader engagement and CTR
• Improve performance of ad spaces in the email

The results of the redesign exceeded all of the established goals. During A/B testing in February 2012, the new design generated a 27% increase in CTR (3.33% to 4.54%). That success continued after the full-scale deployment as well, netting more than 20% gains consistently in year-over-year comparisons.

May 2012:
Total Delivered: 71,994
Opens: 22,451
Clicks: 3,382
CTR: 4.7%

May 2013:
Total Delivered: 69,344
Opens: 18,919
Clicks: 4,124
CTR: 6.0% (up 22%)

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the successful increase in engagement for ads and special offer units. Despite moving from the right rail, adjacent to content blocks down toward the bottom of the email template, clicks on display ads increased nearly ten-fold (May 2012: 85, May 2013: 826). There was also a 49% increase in clicks on deals and special offers (May 2012: 198, May 2013: 388).

Contributors:

Senior Director, Creative Services:	Cindy Hu, San Francisco Travel
Director, Consumer Marketing:	Lynn Bruni, San Francisco Travel
Manager, Consumer Marketing:	Tyler Gosnell, San Francisco Travel
Manager, Marketing Communications:	Courtney Cvetko Kiser, San Francisco Travel
VP/Account Director:	Karin Mast, Miles
Project Manager:	Carrie Barker, Miles
Content Editor:	Patrick Rodgers, Miles
Graphic Designer:	Carey Seaborg, Miles
ePublications Project Coordinator:	Amanda Steward, Miles
ePublications Developer:	Mitch Veix, Miles

MILES

Website: www.milespartnership.com

Location: USA

About the Agency:

Miles Partnership markets destinations and hospitality businesses by working with state tourism offices, convention & visitors bureaus, hotels and other organizations in the tourism industry to create forward-thinking digital and print content marketing solutions.