Case Study
OzParty Events
The Growth Genies & OzParty Events
Case Study Summary
The OzParty Events Student School Formal emailing list segment was successfully re-engaged through a 3-part EDM (electronic direct mail) sequence; the first email achieving 6.19% above industry averages.
Tone of voice and design elements of each of OzParty Events EDM campaigns were likewise revitalised to achieve enhanced engagement and resonance with the target demographic.
Key Comments
Split-testing EDM design and content was imperative, to fully discern which strategies connect most effectively with the intended audience.
Consideration should likewise always be afforded to the context in which EDM campaigns will be received. For instance, whether regional or global events alter the relevance and suitability of the campaign’s purpose.
The Client
OzParty Events are the highly-esteemed, award-winning event organisation experts, providing engaging and inspiring activities and entertainment ideas to clients throughout the Australian eastern seaboard.
Since 2009, OzParty Events have delivered thousands of customisable event packages and one-of-a-kind celebrations, organising everything from Christmas parties, school formals, birthday parties, Hens and Bucks weekend packages, tourism events, transport experiences, team building activities and corporate conferences. They have previously worked with renowned companies such as ANZ, Hostelworld, CGI and BOA NSW, to name but a few.
In 2020, OzParty Events launched the exciting and innovative virtual events experience platform: Eco Events Agency, evolving to meet the rising need for connection and community during the coronavirus pandemic, which had a massive negative effect on the live events and hospitality industry.
The Motivation
OzParty Events primarily wished to outsource their EDM production, looking to partner with a Creative Agency which would help them to identify ways in which they could engage more frequently and more effectively with their audience.
As segments of their mailing list had not received regular information specifically addressing their needs for anywhere up to six months, they were eager to implement a strategy to re-establish relationships with their dormant audiences and then keep the engagement high with regular and relevant communication to their community.
The Challenge
When OzParty Events first contacted The Growth Genies, they had one main challenge: creating EDMs crafted to appeal to multiple demographics.
As they had a number of segments to their mailing list, including a variety of age groups, backgrounds and interests and this meant each campaign would need to be constructed with multiple factors shaping all creative and content elements. To produce even one regular monthly EDM for each segment would have been hugely time consuming for the OzParty Events team, especially as they are a rapidly growing and constantly bustling business. Deciding to focus their energy on what they do best – delivering phenomenal live and virtual events – OzParty Events chose to outsource the concept, design, copywriting and production of their regular EDMs to our expert team instead.
The Process
After an initial strategy and on-boarding call, The Growth Genies advised OzParty Events on developing the project scope from a ‘one-off’ email broadcast to a 3 email re-engagement sequence. The brief was to then produce this 3 EDM re-engagement sequence for the Student School Formals segment, in addition to any further EDMs required for the OzParty Events Corporate and Bucks/Hens segments.
With some contacts experiencing a lengthy break in communication from OzParty Events that was specific to their particular segments needs, these campaigns would work to re-establish that relationship and reinforce brand exposure. Following from the initial re-engagement sequences, we would then introduce monthly individual EDMs to maintain that relationship throughout the year, in addition to communicating any new announcements and event packages.
The Plan of Action
Following our briefing, our first step was to reflect on OzParty’s previous EDM campaigns to identify what they had achieved and executed effectively, whilst understanding what communication style and design structure they’d previously utilised.
Our team understood that diverging from the established design style and copywriting tone of voice – if suggested by The Growth Genies – would need to be executed in a purposeful and strategic manner. Our intention was not to change established strategies for the sake of shaking them up. Rather, we wanted to understand what style of communication and relationship had already been established with OzParty Events’ target audience and appreciate the context of their established history.
As a result, The Growth Genies generated various ideas and approaches to the respective campaigns, highlighting what brand storytelling structures would best resonate with each target audience.
For instance, with OzParty’s Student School Formal campaign, our team wanted to capture the younger demographic’s interest and engagement through sensory language and design elements, which would act to immerse the reader in the OzParty Events atmosphere of fun, connection and creativity.
For the Bucks/Hens target audience, The Growth Genies team established the need to create greater depth and texture to each EDM. Through developing the content and presentation, our purpose was to more accurately reflect the professionalism and potential of the activities and experiences OzParty Events offered, whilst again evoking a sense of inclusiveness and excitement.
The Research
For our research, we began by establishing an in-depth understanding of OzParty Events’ target audiences. Our team investigated the key trends, interests, behaviours and socio-psycho-economic factors related to each demographic; analysing the most popular apps/TV shows/music styles for the 15 to 18-year-old age range and researching relevant trends for bucks and hens, whilst outlining key digital behaviours for those aged 25+.
Our team then sourced multiple EDM design options for client approval, selecting a range of style examples across multiple industries to showcase the myriad possibilities, if we were to pursue an alternative EDM style strategy. Our intention was not to simply replicate what every other company in the events and hospitality industry was producing, but to instead carve out a unique and fresh approach for OzParty Events, supporting their email campaign to powerfully engage their target audience. We understood that each EDM campaign would be competing with full-to-the-brim-bursting email inboxes, making it imperative that our strategies be both distinctive and compelling.
The Growth Genies team concluded this initial research and planning period by investigating OzParty Events’ primary competitors, examining their competitors’ websites, existing copy and collateral, social media content, blogs and so on. Our aim was to highlight exactly how OzParty Events’ competitors were striving to engage this same target market, pinpointing what strategies we considered to be effective in producing a high level of engagement, and what elements were underperforming or failing to resonate with these audiences.
The Strategy
The Growth Genies team then produced a strategy that focused on testing different communication styles for both the student and bucks/hens target audiences: cultivating a fresh TOV (Tone Of Voice) through the copy, whilst incorporating more colloquialisms and a relaxed, conversational language. As an agency which champions brand storytelling, our goal was to make the reader the focus of the emails; as our heroes they were placed at the centre of the narrative, with all content structured around their journey towards securing an amazing, unforgettable event.
Our team also outlined a new design approach for all EDM campaigns, as although previous campaigns had performed well for OzParty Events, we wanted to test whether another style could elicit more engagement and interaction with increased open rates, whilst driving more traffic to the website with strategically placed CTAs. For example, for the Student School Formal EDM designs, our aim was to develop more relaxed styling with responsive graphics and culturally relevant content. Whilst for the Bucks/Hens audience, our goal was to test a developed depth of copy versus the amount of white space and ‘crispness’ to the overall design.
Ultimately, The Growth Genies’ strategy was to introduce revitalised variations of the existing EDM approaches to split-test, so we could discern whether more experimental, ‘out the box’ styles could resonate more with the established OzParty Events emailing list.
School Formal EDM:
New Approach
School Formal EDM:
Traditional Approach
The Delivery
The Growth Genies then experimented with updating and refreshing the EDM designs of all the aforementioned campaigns, split-testing the established, traditional OzParty Events style with more interactive and responsive email designs. Utilising Infusionsoft by Keap to broadcast the email campaigns, our objective was to measure the engagement produced with the various dormant and unengaged segments, reestablishing connection and nurturing brand relatability with their student and bucks and hens audiences.
The Student School Formal Campaign included a 50/50 split-test, trialling the engagement elicited by the traditional design in contrast to The Growth Genies’ revised responsive email design (which incorporated gifs, emojis, more colloquial language and various design elements.)
The Bucks/Hens Campaign followed a design and content format which was structured for both visual appeal and to effectively engage the target audience. However, due to a sudden change in cultural circumstances and the rapid escalation of COVID-19 enforced social distancing measures, the EDM campaign graphics and copy were revised to establish a more empathetic tone and introduce solution-focused content instead.
The Results
From our EDM split-tests, whilst the traditional approach to the EDM design performed sufficiently with a click-to-open rate of 16%, it was clear that The Growth Genies’ responsive email design performed best with the Student School Formal target audience. This emphasised that the introduction of versatile graphic and design elements – in addition to the relaxed, relatable tone of voice – was effective in engaging this demographic, reflected with a click-to-open rate 7.26% above industry average rates.
The revised Bucks/Hens EDM campaign, updated to reflect the changing environment as a consequence of the COVID-19 escalation, produced a positive response from the target audience. This EDM achieved a click-to-open rate 6.19% above the industry standard.
The Discoveries
As a result of The Growth Genies’ partnership with OzParty Events, analytics indicated that younger audiences were more responsive to fun, dynamic and personality-driven designs, with varied content and a relaxed and approachable tone of voice, relatable gifs/social and pop culture references and dynamic video content. We also observed from our split-testing that broadcasting the email at 4 pm was ultimately more effective, as we understood that during this time students would be leaving school and more likely to check their phones, therefore producing greater engagement with this demographic.
One element which underperformed in this campaign, however, was the volume of survey responses generated in the second email of the campaign sequence. As this data was notably insufficient, our future strategy was revised to outline the need to incorporate more effective motivation for this audience, for instance providing the incentive of a prize or voucher raffle for completing the survey. Equally, creating competitions whereby this target audience is more actively involved in generating new ideas for their events would be beneficial, more directly inviting interaction from the audience and strengthening OzParty Events’ relationship with these contacts and sense of community.
The Bucks/Hens audiences likewise engaged well with sophisticated designs intermixed with a more personable and familiar tone of voice. Future EDM content and designs will continue to build upon the established style, including a variety of creative resources and inspirational offerings to further nurture the relationship established with this target audience, reinforcing OzParty Events’ positioning as an industry leader and ‘go-to’ authority on amazing bucks and hens events.
Our campaigns have proven that timing is crucial to the success of each EDM and will be further tested, with a key focus on any cultural or social events which may impact its performance and strategy adjustments then made accordingly.
The Future
The Growth Genies continue to work on EDM content creation, design and implementation for OzParty Events, whilst offering CRM consultation and assistance on other projects and tasks when required. Presently, our team are supporting OzParty Events as they diversify their business during the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to provide creative content and copy as they grow their line of virtual team building events.
Our team has also assisted in the positioning and copywriting of a media article establishing the client as a key person of influence, in addition to a mindset leader within the events and hospitality industry. The article, developed in response to the cultural and global upheaval following the spread of COVID-19, is one way in which The Growth Genies continue working to support clients through multiple mediums.
As our focus is on ensuring our clients’ ongoing success, we will branch beyond the original services for which our clients engaged us for and work to draw on every opportunity we can for their advantage.