Ask any marketer what the main goal for any of their campaigns is, and the answer will be the same. It’s to stand out from the crowd and foster a meaningful connection with their audience. However, in a world where millions of brands are competing with each other, this is proving to be easier said than done.
Enter Experiential Marketing, a strategy that focuses on creating memorable and immersive experiences for customers. This fresh approach has been proven to be effective, particularly in live events. But can this be integrated into email campaigns as well? The answer is a resounding yes.
In this article, we’ll take a deeper look at what Experiential Marketing is and how it can be used to transform your ordinary emails into immersive journeys that leave a lasting impact. Let’s get started!
What is experiential marketing?
Experiential marketing revolves around creating an experience for customers. Unlike traditional marketing, where customers passively receive a brand’s message, experiential marketing encourages customers to actively engage and participate. This can be done through hands-on experiences, physical events, interactive games, creative displays, and other direct approaches.
The goal of experiential marketing is to provide a customer with a fun and immersive experience that can help form a deeper connection and investment in the brand. This will lead to increased brand loyalty and, ultimately, conversions.
Types of experiential marketing
Experiential marketing comes in different forms. Some examples are:
1. Live events
Live events are one of the most common types of experiential marketing. This includes trade shows, activations, product launches, pop-up shops, or any type of event where a customer can directly interact with the brand.
2. Product demos and samples
Creating a multi-sensory experience is what makes experiential marketing truly interactive and immersive. This can be done through product demos or samples where customers can see, hear, feel, or taste the product.
3. Guerilla marketing
Guerilla marketing focuses on using unconventional methods that encourage public interaction to promote a product or service. One example of this is Coca-Cola’s Hug Me Machine. When people “hug” the vending machine, it will dispense a free Coke for them. This campaign went viral as people were delighted with the experience of hugging a machine as well as getting a freebie out of it.
(Source: Coca-Cola YouTube channel)
Guerilla marketing relies on the element of surprise and the sense of disruption in a public place. This tends to produce a lot of buzz, as people get curious and tend to explore their set-ups instead of just passing by.
4. Virtual and augmented reality
The rise of technology has given rise to VR and AR in the field of experiential marketing. Brands can now harness the power of technology to give their customers an immersive experience by giving them creative visual worlds, offering to virtually try on their products, or transporting them to places they otherwise have to travel to.
Take, for example, McDonald’s VR Zodiac Exhibition. They created a virtual hall where people can explore a world where they can learn about the Chinese Zodiac, try on special McDonald's merchandise, and send lanterns into the sky.
(Source: McDonald’s Hall of Zodiacs)
5. Email marketing
While experiential marketing is commonly associated with physical events, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be applied to email marketing.
Experiential marketing can be applied to email marketing by focusing on creating interactive emails. These are emails that contain elements, features, or eye-catching visuals that subscribers can engage in within the inbox. This can be done through games, quizzes, live polls, or even a 360° image that subscribers can click around to explore.
One example of this is from Litmus, where their subscribers can see how their light and dark mode looks with a quick click of a button. This allows them to “experience” the product inside their inbox.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Benefits of experiential marketing
1. Provides customers with a fun and memorable experience
Experiential marketing provides a more engaging and entertaining experience as opposed to traditional marketing. It also gives your customers a chance to see your product in action and understand how it benefits them instead of just reading about it. Experiences also create a more memorable connection with you and your customers, fostering a deeper emotional bond.
2. Offers a fresh and unique take on marketing
Did you know that an average American sees a total of 4,000 to 10,000 ads daily? Sounds like a lot? It is. And within those high numbers, just how many repeated concepts and ideas do you think you’ll see?
Experiential marketing offers a lot more to your customers who are overexposed to ads and bored of repeated ideas. It can be a unique experience, a once-in-a-lifetime event, or just a fun break from their daily routine. Either way, it’s definitely more impactful compared to yet another website banner ad.
3. Boosts brand awareness
Brand awareness goes beyond just having a cool logo design or a catchy tagline. It’s about making your customers aware that your brand exists in the first place. And experiential marketing just does that. A fun and interactive experience can definitely make a mark on customers' minds and lead them to want to know more about your brand.
This can also help in building a strong brand identity. Who wouldn’t want to be known as the brand that does a lot of cool and unique marketing?
4. Promotes social sharing
Experiential marketing is a must-have if you want to drive buzz and free PR to your brand. People who attend a fun event tend to take tons of photos or videos about it and share it on social media. Meanwhile, a fun game or quiz on an email will lead to people sharing it with their family and friends.
What are some examples of experiential marketing in emails?
Now that you know what experiential marketing is and its benefits, let’s take a look at how you can incorporate it into your email marketing campaigns. Some examples are:
1. Interactive images (carousels, accordions, and scratch-offs)
Interactive images tend to generate higher engagement compared to static ones as they encourage people to click more. They are also useful in mobile, as they can provide more information and content even with the limited space available.
One example of this is image carousels. An image carousel is an interactive email where subscribers can “flip” through a series of photos with a simple click of a button.
B&Q has incorporated carousels into their email to great success. This email campaign, where their subscribers can tap each box to see specific summer recommendations, has garnered them an 18% increase in open rates and 42,000 click-throughs.
(Source: Action Rocket)
Another example of an interactive image is accordions. By clicking an element or item, it will expand to show more information. A fun example of this is an email from BBC, where clicking the “+” icon will expand to more content. But what makes this stand out is that the background image changes depending on the expansion you pick.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Another example is scratch-offs. This adds another element of interactiveness and surprise for your subscribers, as they get to “scratch off” to see if they got a prize or discount coupon.
(Source: 3radical)
2. Rollover and hover effects
Another example of interactive images is those that contain hover or rollover effects. This is the effect when an image changes to a different one when you hover over them.
One example is from UGG, where you can view their sandals in different colors when you hover over a specific swatch.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
This is a favorite for eCommerce brands, as they can give you more details and information about a product or even “hide” a promo code without using too much space in an email. You also get to have a full shopping experience, even in the comfort of your own home.
(Source: Stripo template)
3. Quizzes
Raise your hand if you took any of those “Which X are you?” quizzes on Buzzfeed. We’re willing to bet that you did. This is because quizzes, simply put, are fun. Plus, they’re easy to do while giving you important information (such as finding what kind of taco you are 😉).
The same idea can be applied to your emails. Quizzes can be used to find out your audience’s pain points and goals to recommend to them a tailored solution.
Quizzes are also great for those in the eCommerce industry who are looking to upsell or cross-sell. Take a look at Harry’s, where they match a specific shower gel to you, depending on your answers.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Of course, you can also go for some fun, random quizzes. Not everything needs to be sales-y, and depending on your target audience, they might appreciate this approach more.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
4. Games
It should probably be no surprise at this point that people love games. This is why email gamification is so successful. Excitement, competition, and a sense of completion after a game are great driving forces for any person. Add in a reward at the end, and you’re golden.
Take a look at this email from EmailMonk, where subscribers need to find hidden objects to escape a haunted castle.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Or from our Valentine’s Day game, where subscribers can get a promo code to learn which Cupid they are if they find three words related to Stripo.
In both examples, subscribers were able to celebrate an event (Halloween and Valentine’s Day, respectively) without having to physically go out for a live event. Our Valentine’s Day campaign also saw a 25% increase in open rates (from 30% to 37.5%) and a whopping 11% click-through rate.
5. Videos
While videos might not be the most “interactive” example on this list, it’s actually one of the most effective elements in an email campaign.
The numbers don’t lie — 89% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a product or service. Not to mention, 91% of people want to see more video content from brands. If that doesn’t inspire you to embed a video in your next email blast, I don’t know what will.
There are a few things to keep in mind — people tend to watch videos with the sound off, so make sure your video can still be understood even without the sound. One way to do this is to provide captions. Also, the success of your video relies on the first three seconds. You need to capture your subscribers’ attention in those precious seconds. Otherwise, they’ll just scroll over.
You don’t need to just be limited to one video, either. Take, for example, this email from Royal Caribbean, which contains an interactive map. Depending on the location that you click on the map, it will show you a short video that gives more information about each location.
(Source: ReallyGoodEmails)
Wrapping up
In the ever-changing world of marketing, staying ahead of the curve is crucial if you want to capture your customer’s attention and build meaningful relationships with them. One of the ways to do this is through experiential marketing.
While it’s traditionally associated with physical events, the advancement of technology makes it possible to give an immersive experience to your email subscribers as well.
The main thing to keep in mind is to retain the basic elements of experiential marketing - which are interactiveness, entertainment, and creativity - and incorporate them into your next email campaign. Do this, and you’ll be able to transform your boring emails into a more immersive experience.
