Unexpected
Facebook Ban
An Email Marketing Case Study
The Client
The client featured in this case study is a U.S skincare brand focused on organic, cruelty-free ingredients, and USDA certified biodegradable products/packaging.
After delving into this skincare brand’s email strategy, we instantly saw ways to improve their process for higher revenue.
Conflicting information online (and a pretty terrible button from a particular email platform…) meant our client was wading through a system they didn’t have enough correct knowledge about. But it wasn’t their fault.
We reworked their entire email marketing process, and they began seeing results almost instantly. And it wasn’t just higher revenue and conversions we secured, either.
A switch-up in Facebook’s algorithm meant ad accounts were being unfairly banned, and our client, unfortunately, got caught up in the chaos.
But the improvements we’d made to their email revenue single-handedly protected this brand from a potentially disastrous situation and equipped them to handle algorithm-change curveballs.
We’ll be diving into how our process achieved greater longevity for this store and each key result that followed.
Increasing the Client’s Engaged Subscribers and Click Rate
Before we came on board, their emails were only generating 5% of overall revenue.
Considering the amount of time and dedication they’d spent creating their products (in addition to joining a ‘one tree planted per order’ scheme), we knew this figure didn’t properly reflect the extent of their hard work and dedication to the planet.
And once we discovered why this figure wasn’t improving and put a new process in place, email revenue increased up to 52%.
The Problem?
We soon found one key error our client had unknowingly fallen victim to. Using a resend strategy via Mailchimp, they were replicating campaigns that had already been sent – and sending them again to non-openers.
And all it took was the simple click of a button.
We can see (in theory) how this resend strategy may seem appealing. But as a store’s main goal should involve only sending emails to those who want to receive them, using this button does the total opposite – even if used just once.
And, due to Mailchimp’s lack of clear explanation, our client was resending the same campaign multiple times.
As a result, engagement plummeted, and the brand was left with a bunch of annoyed customers who headed straight for the ‘unsubscribe’ link.
While we (as experienced email marketers) could instantly see how detrimental this was to their email success, our client simply wasn’t aware of best practices. And this makes total sense given the sheer volume of conflicting articles and blog posts available on the world wide web.
It’s almost impossible to know what’s best if you’re new to email marketing – without an expert on hand to point you in the right direction.
So, when this brand began using Mailchimp, they naturally assumed everything Mailchimp suggested was a brilliant idea.
As one of the biggest email platforms out there, can we blame our client for taking this route? Absolutely not.
But their consistent resending was blocking revenue from increasing long-term. Subscribers were getting annoyed, and their desire to open future emails was vanishing with each duplicate email they received.
More and more of this brand’s emails ended up in the Spam or Promotions folder, as deliverability declined with each ‘resend’ click.
In all honesty, we’re not big fans of Mailchimp for this. And to rub more salt into the wound, they send notifications prompting you to resend campaigns to non-openers.
So, if you’re a store owner who isn’t aware of today’s best practices, you’re more likely to follow the prompts of the platform you’re using. Especially one as well-known as Mailchimp.
Through no real fault of their own, our client just didn’t realize what they were doing wasn’t effective. As a result, they couldn’t figure out why their metrics weren’t improving.
Our opinion? We firmly believe the resend button should be banished, pronto.
“If Mailchimp says this is what I should do, surely it should be working?”‘
Migration and Segmentation
A lack of spare time prevented our client from learning best practices. This made it almost impossible for them to realize their current strategy wasn’t on point, and improve their email marketing themselves.
So, they reached out to us – and we delivered big changes.
We dived in, moved to Klaviyo (with no ‘resend’ buttons in sight!), and segmented this brand’s list. The more engaged a subscriber was, the more emails they would receive. Almost the exact opposite of what our client was originally doing.
We only sent regular emails to those who wanted to receive them. This produced:
- Boosted engagement
- Increase in email deliverability
- Fewer emails end up in the spam folder
Plus opens and click rates were significantly higher than this year’s averages (average open rate: 17.8%; average click-through rate: 2.6%).
Our client saw an increase in sales almost immediately, with revenue reaching a high of 52% from email alone.
This gave the brand freedom to focus their time, energy, and new revenue on expanding other areas of the business and creating new eco-friendly products to expand their biodegradable range.
Targeted Action For Long-Term Results
As revenue quickly rose, we began optimizing this brand’s email automation.
With the right voice and messaging, they connected with target customers on a whole new level of relevancy. An essential piece of the revenue-boosting puzzle.
Our most successful action was creating a targeted welcome series flow, specifically designed to provide effective and unique value to subscribers.
After just one year, the first email of the series alone generated almost $200,000.
But this series wasn’t just a one-hit-wonder. We created multiple emails to follow, delivering a combination of:
- Discount reminders
- Education & how-to’s
- Product focus
Why?
Our client’s original emails were heavily focused on coupons. While these can be very profitable when used correctly, sending the same type of email over and over again wasn’t cutting it anymore.
Their audience was becoming bored. And that crucial sense of curiosity needed to drive opens wasn’t there anymore. Paired with their resend strategy, we needed to step in and overhaul the entire process.
The result?
Subscribers felt more valued by the brand, as their new emails provided SO much more than just constant coupon code reminders.
By educating their audience on the best routines for specific skin types, alongside top tips on how to use our client’s products, their lifetime value was instantly boosted. Their list became a whole lot more engaged, and open rates increased long-term.
Softer copy
We also reworked the messaging of the email copy itself. Instead of continuing the typical Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS) formula, we opted for a softer approach.
An approach that strongly contributed to our client’s new above-average click rate (6+%).
What did we change?
Our experience with other skincare brands meant we knew this copy formula wouldn’t drive high conversions.
Skin complaints often cause serious discomfort and low self-esteem. We knew our client’s target customer would likely feel these pains. This made the PAS formula too aggressive and confidence-knocking.
Our new approach helped subscribers feel this brand genuinely understood their skin problems and had created products specifically designed to help THEM. This newfound connection increased engagement, click-throughs, and revenue.
The relationship between the brand and its target audience became healthier and more meaningful. A type of connection they couldn’t have achieved with their original copywriting technique.
The Unexpected Hit
Before we unravel the most unexpected (and potentially business-saving) turn of events with this skincare brand, we need to backtrack a few paces
They solely relied on Facebook ads before branching out with email. And before we stepped in, email was only achieving 5% of their total revenue.
This meant Facebook ads were still their no.1 source of revenue, despite the brand having no direct control or ownership of this process.
They solely relied on Facebook ads before branching out with email. And before we stepped in, email was only achieving 5% of their total revenue.
But ad accounts were getting banned more frequently than usual, particularly around the time of US election campaigns. This was often random as the algorithm became stricter, with most brand bans being ousted for no real reason.
Random bans became even more prevalent when coronavirus hit, especially for companies selling cleaning products and hand sanitisers.
And this brand was, unfortunately, one of them.
Ads for their original hand sanitiser caused the entire account to become blocked. Despite no unfair price increases or fraudulent intentions, their Facebook ad account was banned.
This should have left our client in an incredibly worrying and stressful situation. After all, they relied on Facebook ads for virtually 100% of their revenue.
Or they would have done so, had we not significantly improved their email account behind the scenes.
Our process boosted their emails to account for 52% of total revenue during this challenging time – as opposed to the original 5% they were making before working with us.
Without this dramatic increase in email revenue securely in place, the outcome of their account ban would have been a very different story.
Instead, they thrived and continue making profits, despite temporarily losing their original no.1 revenue source.
Higher Revenue, More Engagement
Since we reworked their entire email marketing process, this eco-friendly skincare brand has experienced a dramatic increase in revenue.
As well as higher engagement, and a much stronger relationship with their target audience.
Our client now has a lot more breathing space and is able to fully focus on other areas of the business – from developing more sustainable products to creating optimized web content.
Our client now has a lot more breathing space and is able to fully focus on other areas of the business – from developing more sustainable products to creating optimized web content.
They no longer feel pressured to dedicate their rare snippets of free time to email, as we’ve taken the entire process off their hands.