#003. Personalization Takes Flight: EasyJet's Soaring Anniversary Campaign

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In this 3rd issue, we will explore how Easy Jet, an airline brand, used data-driven “Personalization” to connect with their audience, increase engagement and sales

Context:

EasyJet, an airline which had been providing easy and affordable travel for years wanted to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The goal was to celebrate it in a way, different from the typical chest-beating, and self-congratulatory way that many brands do. Instead of boasting about their success, they wanted to find a more meaningful and authentic way to honour this milestone.

To achieve this, EasyJet decided to look inward, into their existing customer data. By mining this data, they planned to celebrate their history and express genuine appreciation for their customers, creating an emotional and personal connection that truly resonated.

The Technique Used to Approach and Solve the Problem

• Data-Driven Personalization:

EasyJet understood that generic communication wouldn't be enough to connect with their customers meaningfully. To achieve a deeper connection, they delved into their data sources, analyzing both individual travel histories and overall customer trends. This thorough analysis enabled them to craft personal stories and recommendations for each customer, reflecting on their journey with EasyJet and suggesting exciting possibilities for the future. These emails weren't just generic messages; they included:

• Personalized Stories: EasyJet weaved customer data into compelling narratives, reminding them of their past journeys with the airline.
• Targeted Recommendations: Based on past trips, the emails offered personalized suggestions for future destinations, adding an element of discovery.
• Engaging Facts: To make the data more relatable, EasyJet compared travel distances to well-known landmarks, for example equating?that to the distance to the moon or the length of the River Nile- talk about creating context.

See a sample of the personalized emails below

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What Makes It Effective: A Recipe for Emotional Engagement

EasyJet's 20th-anniversary campaign transcended typical email marketing by forging a powerful emotional connection with customers through personalized storytelling. Here's how they achieved it:

• From Data to Nostalgia: EasyJet transformed customer data into heartfelt narratives. Instead of a generic message, customers received emails recounting their first flight with EasyJet, detailing the total distance they've flown (perhaps comparing it to the length of the Nile!), and suggesting future travel destinations. This approach turned data into an emotional journey, sparking a wave of positive sentiment across social media, with "love" being the most frequently used word. It wasn't just an email; it was a rekindled love affair with travel and EasyJet.

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• Personalization that Converts: The campaign's magic was in its adaptability. Whether you were a one-time flyer or a seasoned adventurer, EasyJet crafted a story just for you. This wasn't a generic "we appreciate your business" message. It was a targeted recommendation based on your past experiences, adding an element of discovery and relevance and the results speak for themselves. The emails with personalized recommendations from EasyJet saw three times more clicks than those with generic text.

Did you know that Personalized emails have been shown to have 26% higher open rates compared to generic ones ?

Beyond emotional connection, the campaign established a clear link between personalization, engagement, and ultimately, sales.

Key Takeaways and Practical Steps for Marketers

Utilize Customer Data for Personalization

• Leverage Customer Data: Go beyond demographics and dig deeper into your customer behaviour. Ask questions that help you understand their habits, preferences and past experience. This rich data is the foundation for crafting personalized narratives that resonate on a deeper level.
• Adapt and Evolve Messages: Ensure your communications reflect individual customer journeys. Tailor your content to resonate with where they are in their journey, whether they are first-time buyers or loyal repeat customers. Personalization enhances relevance and can help drive deeper engagement.

Create Stories, Not Just Messages

• Transform Data into Narratives: Facts can be powerful, but stories are captivating. You need to go beyond presenting facts and figures and turn your customer data into compelling stories that evoke emotions. For example, you can recount significant milestones in a customer's history with your brand or highlight unique achievements and experiences. One brand that does this well is Google Photos. The key is to make the numbers matter to your customers by weaving them into narratives that resonate and inspire.
• Use Creative Comparisons: Make your data-driven communications more engaging by incorporating creative comparisons and relatable content. EasyJet related travel distances to familiar landmarks or milestones to make the information more tangible and memorable for the customer.

Measure and Analyze Engagement

• Track Key Metrics: Continuously monitor and analyze metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and social media sentiment to assess the effectiveness of your personalized campaigns. These metrics provide valuable insights into how well your communications are resonating with your audience.
• Refine with Feedback: Collect and analyze customer feedback and behaviour to refine and improve future communications. Use this data to understand what works and what doesn't, and make necessary adjustments to enhance engagement and effectiveness.

Conclusion

EasyJet's 20th-anniversary campaign exemplifies the power of data-driven personalization in creating emotionally engaging and effective marketing communications. By focusing on customer journeys and leveraging data to craft personalized stories, EasyJet successfully connected with its audience, driving both engagement and transactions.

A Snapshot of Their Key Metrics:

• Over 100% higher open rates than average newsletters.
• 25% higher click-through rates.
• Positive social media response with 78% positive sentiment and significant reach.

Impact:

• 7.5% of recipients made a booking within 30 days.
• Conversion rates increased by nearly 30% in Switzerland.
• Personal stories were 14 times more effective than generic promotional emails in certain markets.

The world is fast changing and many organisations are starting to connect the dots using the information from data. If you haven’t started that yet, this is your sign to embrace the data revolution.

Stay tuned for our next issue, where we'll dive deeper into another powerful marketing technique!

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Cheers,

The Distillery Team

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