Email Marketing Case Studies To Get Inspired and Ensure Your Campaign’s Success

The importance of email marketing case studies

Sometimes, you exhaust all common strategies striving toward your next email marketing goal, and there are only so many experiments you can do on your own. So, learning from the experience of another marketer can be just the perspective shift you need.

Case studies are real-world marketing examples that describe how different companies achieved their email marketing goals. They offer practical advice and proven strategies you can use for your own campaigns. Here are other benefits you can get out of reading email marketing case studies:

• Learn from real-world challenges: Case studies show how email marketing strategies work in action, with all the real-life obstacles and distractions. With this information, you can learn what to account for when using this or that technique. 
• Stay updated on the latest marketing trends: Case studies are often created to demonstrate the use of cutting-edge technology and the latest marketing trends. You can learn about the newest best practices in the field and keep your email marketing management competitive and effective.
• Gain inspiration: Sometimes, case studies can spark your creativity and inspire you to try new techniques or adapt successful strategies for your own email marketing campaigns. 

All in all, by examining the successes (and stumbles) of others, we can not only learn what works but why it works. And that’s the first step to making your own campaigns a hit. 

Eleven must-read email marketing case studies

We are not going to talk about big brands and well-known cases, published by numerous email marketing blogs over and over again. Forget the usual suspects with their sky-high budgets and household names you can find in any other article with a similar title. In our research, we are dialing into the small and medium-sized businesses that have quietly but effectively revolutionized their email strategies. Prepare to be inspired by stories filled with actionable advice, proving you don’t need a blockbuster budget to make a blockbuster impact.

Neurogan

About the company: Neurogan creates high-quality and safe CBD products.

Challenge: The company had many problems: they needed better targeting to get noticed in a crowded market. They had to keep their reputation safe. They wanted to improve their engagement metrics. 

Solution: They decided to start with list segmentation. And then experiment with different types of promotional emails to see which one gets the better response. If emails were left unopened, they set up an automation to deal with that as well. They made sure the design of their email campaigns was appealing to their customers. 

Results: The results were pretty impressive — a 76% growth in year-over-year revenue, a 20% increase in open rates. They had 37% more clicks coming from their campaigns. And got a nice increase in revenue for cart abandonment automation. 

Key takeaway: Neurogan’s case proves that when email marketing is done right, it remains a very powerful marketing tool. Personalization, knowing your audience, and continuous testing can increase engagement, retention, and revenue, even in the most competitive industries.

Check out the full Neurogan case study. 

Vitrazza

About the company: Vitrazza is a brand making luxurious glass chair mats.

Challenge: Vitrazza had trouble with their first email campaigns because they didn’t get many responses or sales. There wasn’t enough of the brand’s personality in the basic welcome flow and email content to keep customers coming back.

Solution: The welcome flow was completely redesigned to include customized messages that showed off Vitrazza’s unique selling point. The promotion was more compelling because it was based on customer segmentation and targeted content that included customer reviews and personal messages from the CEO.

Results: Email sales went up by 55%, click-through rates went up by 20%, and open rates for usual campaigns and the welcome flow went over 30% and 50%, respectively. The welcome email series made $564,200 in sales in less than four months. The Memorial Day effort stood out from the rest of the emails and brought in over $90,000.

Key takeaway: Vitrazza’s story shows how small changes to important flows can completely change a business’s email marketing results. Customized, data-driven strategies mixed with real brand stories and smart campaigns can greatly increase online sales and keep customers interested.

Check out the full Vitrazza case study. 

Draper James

About the company: Draper James is a clothing line launched in 2015 by actress Reese Witherspoon. The brand incorporates classic designs into the wardrobes of modern women. 

Challenge: As a luxury brand, Draper James couldn’t figure out a way to use incentives and not appear too pushy. Without motivation, the brand’s subscribers didn’t rush to become paying customers.

Solution: Draper James zeroed in on the messaging and used real-time AI to improve the email campaigns’ copy. This helped to create messages that compelled the subscribers to become first-time buyers. Another clever strategy was to use customer data not only to increase first conversions but to also stimulate repeat purchases. 

Results: First-time purchases increased by ten times. Plus, Draper James got a 30% boost in repeat purchases and significant time saved on routine tasks that were automated.

Key takeaway: This case is a reminder for small and medium business owners that the secret to converting leads lies in understanding and addressing the unique needs and desires of their audience.

Check out the full Draper James case study. 

Amanda Perry

About the company: An e-commerce fashion brand. 

Challenge: Amanda Perry’s client used to generate sales through a private community in their Facebook group. But when the unpredictable changes in Facebook’s algorithm hit, converting leads into sales became impossible. So the brand decided to look into email marketing. 

Solution: Seemingly generic email welcomes were turned into personalized style narratives, complete with brand-centric animations that complemented their marketing campaigns. All of the emails were sent on days and at times the brand’s audience loved to engage.

Results: Over three months, the company gained £25,000 (about $31,000 at the moment of writing) in revenue. The brand’s subscriber base grew by 50%. All of these results were supported by the engagement rates. Open rates increased to 26% while the click-through rate (CTR) made it to 3%.

Key takeaway: This case proves that it’s worthwhile to invest in email marketing even for businesses focused on social media presence. When other channels face turbulence (be it due to the changes in the algorithms or policies), email marketing consistently engages customers and brings sales. 

Check out the full Amanda Perry case study. 

PetLab Co

About the company: PetLab Co. is a pet wellness firm that makes premium dog supplements and care items.

Challenge: The company offers a wide variety of products and an audience at every stage of the customer journey, from loyal subscribers to one-time browsers. So, they needed to be sure that their email campaigns were aimed at the right segment and that they were not wasting their efforts. 

Solution: Through precise email segmentation, the company changed advertising so that every pet owner felt like the best of the bunch. They ran comprehensive A/B testing, experimenting with CTAs, send timing, and even how removing PetLab Co’s name from subject lines affected open rates.

Results: Increased click rates by 53% and open rates by 24%. Not to mention, total clicks increased while bounce rates decreased. 

Key takeaway: Segmentation is your best friend. It guarantees your message reaches the right people at the right time and turns a random visit into a sale.

Check out the full PetLab Co case study. 

Turn Me Royal

About the company: Turn Me Royal is a unique service that turns pictures of their customers into bespoke Renaissance-style portraits.

Challenge: The business needed to create an all-encompassing email marketing plan, but first, it had to build an email list and earn customers’ trust. After this, the main challenge was segmentation and making the content relevant to different groups of clients. 

Solution: Email marketing experts created a full welcome flow for the brand. The efforts were mostly focused on big sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Email campaigns were designed to target specific groups, such as VIP customers. The brand also started dynamic email campaigns to show how fun it is to give personalized portraits as gifts.

Results: Before the changes, email marketing brought nothing but a mere 5% of total income. Within the first month, this metric jumped to 15% and then settled at an average of 30% per month. The email list grew to over 25,000 people.

Key takeaway: Strategic, creative, and focused email marketing management can make the customer experience much better. This proves that email campaigns can be a strong foundation for e-commerce success. At the same time, standard strategies like promotional emails or segmentation stay the golden standard for businesses at the start of their email marketing outreach.

Check out the full Turn Me Royal case study. 

Eternity Modern

About the company: Eternity Modern is a furniture shop customers love for its mid-century modern sofas, high-end lighting, and wooden items. 

Challenge: Previously, the company didn’t invest in email marketing and now needed to build the strategy from the ground up. Eternity Modern also had to make this new sales channel profitable.

Solution: The company made a welcome series, a cart abandonment sequence, and an upsell/cross-sell sequence, as well as 6 other email flows. Next, Eternity Modern separated the subscriber base into groups and amped up the email frequency. Moreover, the company cleaned the email list saying goodbye to uninterested and disengaged customers with a sunset campaign. All of these strategies combined decreased the spam rates and made deliverability more consistent.

Results: From zero revenue, email marketing results came out of the woodwork to $80K/month in three months, hitting $289K/month by the 11th month. 

Key takeaway: The company was dedicated to a thorough email strategy with segmentation and dynamic flows, balanced content. It also accepted continuous testing. These steps helped the furniture shop use email marketing to the fullest and turn it into a sound sales channel.

Check out the full Eternity Modern case study. 

Nadaré Co.

About the company: The brand creates inexpensive yet high-quality jewelry that would not tarnish or get ruined by water.

Challenge: The company didn’t have many employees and had to handle a lot of different email and pop-up systems. It wasn’t working.

Solution: The brand used TikTok to build a big email list before the launch and kept adding to it with pop-ups. Then, they made targeted email ads and automated flows that worked well with the people they had just found.

Results: After the changes, Nadaré Co was getting 29% of its revenue from automated email marketing efforts. One email sent after purchasing, for example, has brought in over $10,000 more in sales.

Key takeaway: A well-thought-out plan that includes important email marketing flows, such as welcome emails and emails to customers who abandoned their carts, can engage clients more and help you make more money.

Check out the full Nadaré Co case study.  

DSLRPros

About the company: DSLRPros is a marketplace for drones and related accessories.

Challenge: Their emails were not engaging enough and there was no consistency in the sending schedule. The content of the messages was quite redundant. Also, their approach lacked personalization and segmentation.

Solution: The business changed the way it does email marketing totally. This included a big increase in emails sent and the creation of fully automated email flows for different stages of the customer journey. Their strategy included better content (including webinar promotions). This helped to establish DSLRPros as even more of an expert in the aerial business.

Results: More than a million emails were sent in less than six months, the click rates went up by 115%, and the number of new clicks increased by 445%. Orders increased by 4.4 times, and the order rate tripled. This caused average revenue per recipient to rise by 227%, and total revenue rose by an amazing ninefold. Notably, the browse abandon flow had a click rate of over 7%, which brought in a lot of money.

Key takeaway: DSLRPros greatly increased their return on investment (ROI) through personalized communication, sending more emails, and dividing their audience into segments. And so can you.

Check out the full DSLRPros case study. 

Shiree Odiz

About the company: Shiree Odiz is a small diamond jewelry store. Their goal is to make classic, fine diamond jewelry that is made in an ethical way and has classic patterns that have been updated for comfort, durability, and high-end looks.

Challenge: The brand had a hard time with high cart abandonment rates, even though their first email flow for people who had abandoned their shopping carts got some responses, it wasn’t enough to bring back a lot of lost income.

Solution: Shiree Odiz set up an automated email with an easy checkout link that was sent an hour after a shopping cart was abandoned. The next day, another follow-up email was sent. It had a minimalist email design (text-only) and included a personal note and a small discount.

Results: The first email has a 41.4% open rate and a 1.4% click rate, bringing in $15,300 in a quarter. The following email has a 30.6% open rate and added $69,400 in revenue.

Key takeaway: Simple, bottom-of-the-funnel methods like sending follow-up emails at the right time can help you make more money with little work. Follow-up emails that include personalized deals can be a great way to get people who have left items in their carts to return. 

Check out the full Shiree Odiz case study. 

Astana Hub

About the company: Astana Hub is the biggest global tech park and IT startup hub in Central Asia. It was created in 2018 to help innovative IT companies grow and bring in talented IT workers from all over the world. Astana Hub is home to over 1,300 people and works with companies like Draper University, Binance, Google for Startups, and EPAM. 

Challenge: The company was looking for the right tool to start its email marketing efforts to onboard users to its mobile app, announce and promote events, and attract participants and partners. 

Solution: They pulled and segmented the contact list from their CRM into groups based on industries, events, and lead status. The marketing team at Astana Hub used Selzy to design newsletters and change their emailing schedule. They now send newsletters twice weekly and combine daily emails into a single weekly digest as one bulk email.

Results: Astana Hub got 28,000 people to download its brand-new mobile app, with a 63% email open rate and a 26% click-through rate. Email marketing was a cheap way to stay in touch with its subscribers, and Selzy’s ability to divide its customers into groups made them more engaged and raised awareness about the company.

Key takeaway: Good segmentation and proper email frequency can boost user engagement, open rates, and click-through rates. It can contribute not only to revenue but also to other marketing goals like user onboarding and increasing brand awareness.

Check out the full Astana Hub case study.

Final thoughts

All of these email marketing cases prove that the road to each company’s success is unique. But if you want to make yours less winding, explore these tried and true ideas:

• Make your emails feel personal. Customize your messages and make them unique to your brand. Just like everyone likes a thought-after birthday gift, people prefer emails that feel personal. If your audience likes what you send, your open rates will improve and your relationships will be better.
• Try basic strategies first. Cart abandonment or subscriber engagement problems can often be solved with a simple, well-timed email. So before doing a one-eighty, try the basic strategies.
• Use dedicated software. Email-sending services like Selzy simplify your process while also providing data reports and automation. Overall, they greatly help you optimize your strategy for more engagement and conversion.
• Tell your brand’s story. Your brand’s story is a powerful strategy on its own. Engage your audience with stories that match their own experiences and goals, turning casual browsers into devoted consumers. For example, start by introducing your company’s founder, and try this in the welcome series to make a positive first impression.
• Test, learn, adapt. The digital world is always changing. Stay flexible: test different methods, learn from your analytics, and be ready to adapt your plan. Keep up with the trends and expectations but also evaluate the tendencies before committing to them in full.