A brief case study illustrates how event- and action-triggered email campaigns can benefit a business.

The challenge
A regional health club chain wanted to reduce membership churn and increase customer loyalty, a challenge for any fitness organization that sees memberships ebb and flow throughout the year. The marketing team decided that an email marketing campaign would be the best way to reach members in every club with an attractive promotion or offer.

The solution
The health club marketing team crafted a promotion that would help it improve the quality of the email database while simultaneously engaging members with an attractive fitness program through a series of highly targeted automated trigger email campaigns tailored to individual member interests and preferences. The promotion began with club managers and directors informing existing members across all of the clubs in the chain about a new eight-week, in-club weight-loss initiative. Interested club members filled out a sign-up form that encouraged them to provide their email addresses along with additional information regarding individual health and fitness preferences and interests.

Members interested in participating in the promotion benefited from giving information because they then could be sent additional support information for the weight-loss program — further strengthening the relationship between club and member. Once the eight-week weight-loss program began, the health club was able to stay in close contact with individual members, not only about the program, but also with other messages and promotions that suited their stated preferences. With targeted follow-up trigger campaigns based on member profile data, the health club provided members with value.

Follow-up campaigns consisted of seven emails developed with highly relevant content tailored to the weekly experience of each member as he or she progressed through the weight-loss program. This meant that at the midpoint in the campaign there could be seven different groups receiving seven different messages. The campaigns also used dynamic segments, which meant a weekly email could be created that had different logos, different club locations and different messaging based on the member’s club location and join date.

All of this could only have been accomplished through an advanced email automation solution, which not only eliminated the physical management of the follow-up campaign processing and execution, but also assured that the emails would go out with the right message at the right time to the right club member.