Photo credit: Canva. Graphic Artist: Sarai Pak
By Katie Griffith
Do you ever feel like your marketing efforts are a race to keep up with ever-changing social media algorithms? While Instagram Reels have their place, diversifying your content strategy can help you engage your audience in an authentic, measurable way. Email newsletters are a crucial tool for businesses to build and sustain their community.
Jessie Hsu, the Head of Creative at a zipline and canopy adventure company called Go Ape USA, says they consistently see a high return on investment from email marketing. To learn more, we chatted with Hsu about her favorite ways to use newsletters, tips for getting started, and strategies for measuring impact.
Source: Jessica Hsu.
According to Hsu, the majority of Go Ape’s half a million email subscribers have “Gone Ape” before, meaning they have already participated in a zipline or canopy adventure. Hsu uses regular email campaigns to stay connected with these customers and bring them back for another tree top experience.
With 14 locations across the country, email newsletters allow Hsu to easily tailor content to Go Ape’s specific audiences. If there is a special event or promotion happening in Chicago, for example, this information isn’t relevant to the Pittsburgh audience. Hsu sees better engagement resulting from personalized messages than from a generic email or social media post.
Rather than bending over backwards to please an Instagram algorithm, email newsletters allow a business to shift its strategy based on audience preferences. After Hsu sends an email, she can check the analytics to see how many people opened it and what they clicked on. The more she gets to know her audience, the better she can send content that they want to see.
Hsu’s number one piece of advice is to use an email marketing service to build your newsletter. These platforms allow you to easily segment your audience based on location, engagement levels, and other characteristics to better target your messages.
Email marketing services also collect valuable data that can help you get a sense of what your audience likes. One function that Hsu uses often is called A/B testing. She can test content by sending two different versions of an email newsletter to a portion of her audience. One version may include a photo of someone ziplining, while the other shows participants navigating an obstacle course. The email that gets more clicks goes out to the rest of the subscribers. “We learn really quickly what motivates our guests,” says Hsu.
As you’re building your email list, make sure you get permission to sign people up. Go Ape uses a clear opt in/out method when growing their audience, and email marketing services are typically very strict about obtaining permission. “It’s important to have a database that wants to receive your content,” says Hsu. “They’ll be more engaged.”
If customers opted into a newsletter when signing a waiver, Hsu can tell that they’ve “Gone Ape” before, allowing her to tailor content accordingly. A new customer may need more information on what a tree top adventure entails, while a past participant may need encouragement to sign up for another experience. If you set up your email newsletters through an email marketing platform, it’s easy to categorize customers and send them the most relevant messages. Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Sendinblue are a few examples of platforms that can help you grow and sustain your email audience.
The best time to send an email newsletter depends on your audience and the service your company provides. Since Go Ape offers experiences that are popular on the weekends, Hsu tends to schedule her campaigns toward the end of the week. Thursday afternoons around 3:00 pm are an effective time, as people finish up the workday and start making weekend plans.
An email marketing service collects data from past campaigns, so you can see when your audience typically opens them. If you schedule to send future email newsletters around those times, your campaign will likely be more successful. Hsu estimates that about 95% of Go Ape’s email opens are from the day they are sent out, and she says people generally don’t return to emails days later, unless they are referencing a discount code or they’ve bookmarked the email. “It’s getting pushed down their inbox with every minute that passes,” says Hsu, “so timing is really important.”
During busy months, Hsu typically sends weekly emails with special events, promotions, or local updates. Since Go Ape is a seasonal company, Hsu tries not to inundate inboxes too much during the shoulder seasons, pairing down to one or two messages a month. Because Go Ape is weather dependent, they’re closed for a few months in the winter, so she plans content accordingly.
Hsu tries to make sure Go Ape’s emails are not just about making a sale. She says their emails are also a great place to spread awareness of Go Ape’s vision of giving back to their communities through outdoor adventure and environmental stewardship. In addition, their guests love to learn more about who they do business with, which the emails can provide. Go Ape partners with a gorilla rehabilitation center in the Democratic Republic of Congo called Grace Gorillas, and every so often, Hsu sends out videos and updates about the gorillas. It’s important to consider the values of your customers and think creatively about how you can include stories, interviews, or information that will help them connect.
For subscribers that are just not opening any emails, Hsu creates specific content to re-engage them. She recommends what she calls “nurture campaigns” for audience members who haven’t opened her emails in a while. These messages may include a discount code or a survey to better understand what is preventing these customers from returning.
Social media does have its value, and Hsu likes Instagram for its ability to show what she calls “social proof” to new customers. Rather than glossy marketing pictures, Instagram provides content from real customers enjoying their experience. “If you’re a mom in your 50’s or 60’s, and you’re worried about not being able to do the course,” says Hsu, “if you go on our social media and see all of these user-generated images of moms loving their time, you’re going to feel more confident.”
If your business is focusing valuable energy toward email campaigns, it’s crucial to measure the impact of this hard work. One way to compare the success of social media campaigns with emails is to use promotional codes specific to each platform. Hsu gave the example of creating two different Father’s Day codes; use “dads22e” for email and “dads22s” for social to see which one is connected with more bookings.
The more you tweak your campaigns based on your subscribers’ preferences and values, the better you’ll be able to connect with and grow your community. Just like learning how to make an Instagram Reel or a Tik Tok video, crafting effective email newsletters takes time. Pay attention to your audience, learn from your mistakes, and have fun with it!