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Aveo Vision

Email Strategy & Design

Streamlining email systems to enable deeper engagement with the brand’s audience and drive sales.

Aveo Vision is a subscription-based, direct-to-consumer online contact lens retailer that sells high-quality products with industry-leading innovations.

The brand’s email activity did not match the premium-grade of their products. Their welcome series emails was an inconsistent experience of three long-winded emails – but still had a good open rate and decent conversion rate.

Through streamlining the email experience, adding further targeting and segmentation – as well as clearer and more strategic communication the goal was to improve conversions.

Role

Associate Creative Director

Tasks
  • Analysis and audit
  • Strategy
  • Creative direction
  • Email design
  • System implementation

1. Analysis and audit

The path to purchase for Aveo’s users was complicated – there were many sensitive touch points throughout their subscription journey, as well as requiring approval from their doctor as part of the checkout process (mandated by the FDA as this product, contact lenses, is considered a medical device in the USA).

To make improvements, we needed to gain an understanding of their email ecosystem – and that of their competitors (Hubble, Waldo, and 1-800 Contacts). This research was extended into leading DTC subscription-model businesses in other industries, such as Ritual Vitamins, MeUndies and Curology, and what their email activity was.

2. Email Strategy

As an e-commerce brand, Aveo was sending out both transactional and marketing emails. We knew we needed a new communications strategy, but all of the moving parts were difficult to understand. I developed a map of the current email ecosystems – as well as a plan for the recommendations for a new email strategy.

This diagram helped align the entire team, and aided in planning email series and campaigns. This diagram was interactive (via InVision) so that each email design could be clicked through to.

Now that the teams had an understanding of the ecosystem, and a plan forward – we were ready to start moving.

Technology hurdle

A huge challenge we faced within Aveo’s e-commerce ecosystem was that different systems were dispatching emails – and none of them integrated with each other. This caused several serious issues:

  • Customer segments had to be manually updated between campaigns
  • Drip campaigns were impossible to implement
  • Users who unsubscribed were not unsubscribed from all brand emails (violating CAN-SPAM requirements)
  • Customer data and analytics was fragmented across the various integrations and had to be manually compiled

The system as a whole was a disjointed customer experience, resource-heavy for the development team, and its data was exceedingly difficult to analyze and use for improvement. Email was one of Aveo’s most successful marketing channels, but these barriers significantly limited our ability to implement more complex email journeys and segmentation.

We had seen how other brands were implementing email series and campaigns, but implementing the plan within our existing ecosystem would not have been possible.

Before
After

After completing a further technology analysis, a new email platform (Klaviyo) was discovered, tested, and implemented. Klaviyo integrated with all of the existing platforms and could act as the core hub for email. It holds customer data in one centralized location, allowing quick access to reports and insights. It’s also able to be appended with advertising insights, so we could track the consumer’s journey.

The new email integration enabled Aveo to segment audiences, gain deeper insights into their customers, and design and implement custom drip campaigns – all with little to no developer resources.

3. Implementation

One of the key opportunities we were missing due to the multi-platform email situation was, as mentioned, the ability to implement a lead-nurture email series. Once Klaviyo was integrated and rolled out, Aveo’s first drip campaign was planned out to tell the brand story, communicate the product benefits, and drive conversions.

Since each of Aveo’s product benefits is multi-faceted, we needed to distill them down to a singular message that would resonate with the audience. Language in the emails shifted from technology- and feature-focused (like ‘BlissEdge’ and ‘AquaLock’) to benefit-focused (extremely comfortable, easy to wear).

Explore the lead-nurture series developed for Aveo:

The product names (Hello and Joy) were used in the headline of the welcome message to increase product registration in a fun and engaging manner.

Explore other emails with the tabs to the left.

Explore other emails in this series with the tabs above.

Aveo’s brand story always resonated well with their audience, so we made sure to communicate it early in the email series. This email’s sender address was that of Aveo’s CEO, for a more authentic feel.

The subscriber is introduced to the broader benefits of Aveo contact lenses. Future emails dove further into each of the specific benefits.

Another email that earned great response was “free shipping”, so this, too, was communicated early in the series with a simple message and a fun, branded animated graphic.

Approximately 80% of those who need vision correction have some form of astigmatism, and Aveo was the first direct-to-consumer brand that offered toric contact lenses. This email’s imagery was intended to represent a feeling of joy (the name of the astigmatism product).

Product reviews were driving high conversion rates. We used an animated hero image and quick snippets of the many positive, appreciative customer testimonials, to really drive home the enthusiasm for Aveo contact lenses.

The AquaLock feature’s messaging was all about comfort and the benefits of hydration. The brand’s custom illustration assets were leveraged to help create an emotional connection.

Rather than focus on the technology of BlissEdge, messaging focused on the benefits: breathability and comfort. Aveo’s custom illustrations were again leveraged to evoke positive feelings.

Biocompatibility was one of the most complex topics to communicate. Previous messaging about the lenses’ biocompatibility focused on technical specs, and complex terms that felt too dry and clinical for Aveo’s branding.

We shifted the messaging to emphasize better wearability and how it made the manufacturing process more sustainable. This was communicated through a fun concept linking the benefit to a “perfect match” for your eyes. Language and visuals referenced online dating apps.

Sustainability is an important value for this audience. Aveo’s products deliver a sustainable option, which is a category-leading benefit.

The final email in the series plugged the main offer from the brand – a product trial.

Subscribers who reached the end of the series were regularly sent additional marketing emails and offers to re-engage, earning further conversions. This remarketing activity was all planned out on the master strategy email roadmap.

The outcome

The lead-nurture series outperformed the client’s expectations, making it a valuable investment for the brand. The previous three-email series already had an already impressive 23% open rate. But the new series increased the average open rate to over 38% – and achieved exceptional conversion-rate growth of over 20%.

By revamping the email communications and technology platforms, the client was set up for stronger future marketing activities: implementing segmentation, further drip campaigns to re-engage previous customers, and introducing SMS marketing.

Final words from the client:

“Damian is a talented creative who brings passion and dedication to what he does… He's both able to think strategically and willing to get in the weeds, to deliver thoughtful and well-executed work. Damian was an absolute joy to work with.”

Cecile ThaiCEO of Aveo Vision
Results
  • Achieved an average open rate of over 38% (a 65% increase)
  • Over 20% conversion rate increase
  • Improved customer metrics and insights
  • Greater ability to segment audiences
  • Streamlined and consistent design system
  • Reduced load on development and analytics teams (saving at least 8 hours per week)
  • Positioned brand to launch SMS marketing in the next quarter

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