Using education to drive engagement? This case study will show you why you should double down with those who engage with your educational messages and resources. Spoiler alert: It results in exponential open and clickthrough rates in subsequent campaign emails.
Case Study
This veterinary advertiser’s goal was to drive traffic to their educational website. The advertising would ideally generate awareness and recurring traffic, making the website a destination for veterinarians seeking resources in the advertiser’s area of expertise.
In addition, our case has a little twist: This campaign flipped the common order of messaging. Typically, you’d kick off with a high-level message and filter down to a sales offer. Instead, the campaign began with a sales offer. Then, it remarketed an educational webinar to veterinary professionals who had declined the initial sales engagement. The results were quite interesting.
Campaign Goals
- Generate brand awareness for the educational website
- Drive traffic to the website
- Convert sales through a sales offer
- Convert leads through an educational webinar
Campaign Details
| Phase | Content | Audience |
| Phase 1 | Sales offer email | Sent to a targeted list based on audience behavior |
| Phase 2 | Topic-focused email | Sent to a targeted list of visitors who had previously engaged with relevant topics |
| Phase 3 | Remarketed webinar email | Sent to 2 groups to capture a more comprehensive audience of veterinarians needing further nurturing 1. Veterinarians who did not engage with the initial sales offer email (Phase 1) 2. Veterinarians who did engage with the topic-focused email (Phase 2) |
Campaign Results
Remarketing to both audiences—veterinarians who hadn’t engaged with the sales message and veterinarians who had engaged with a top-of-funnel educational message—was a winning decision.
The rationale that those who did not engage with the sales message required further nurturing proved to be a sound one.
Pulling from both audiences created a strong target audience. As a result, the advertiser saw higher than expected open rates and engagement with the Phase 3 webinar email.
Phase 1 Email Performance
The Phase 1 email focused on the sales offer. The audience was made up of veterinary professionals who had previously engaged with content that indicated an appropriate product fit.
- Delivered: 5,228
- Open Rate: 35.8%
- CTR: 3.7%
Phase 2 Email Performance
The Phase 2 email focused on specific clinical content. The audience was a broad selection of content-engaged veterinary professionals.
- Delivered: 30,135
- Open Rate: 26.8%
- CTR: 16.9%
Phase 3 Email Performance
The Phase 3 email focused on the webinar. The audience was made up of veterinary professionals who did not engage with the Phase 1 email and veterinary professionals who did engage with the Phase 2 email.
- Delivered: 8,898
- Open Rate: 53.8%
- CTR: 8.7%
The third email received a staggering 175% higher open rate and a 17% higher CTR over benchmarks.
Related Article: Veterinary Webinar Exceeds Crucial Benchmark [Case Study]
Sales messaging isn’t your only tool—but neither is educational messaging. Match these two strategies with relevant retargeting and smart segmentation to improve sales and fill your pipeline.
Not sure where to get started with audience segmentation? Need a hand with your educational messaging? We’re happy to help. Let’s work together!