I subscribed to Kayla Itsines’ fitness program about a year ago. It is a structured wellness program, containing fitness and eating instructions, for 12 weeks. As I’m not the most athletic person, it might not come as a surprise that I forgot about it after 2 weeks. Luckily, they have focused well on their email marketing therefore have kept me following them. During the program, they send weekly reminders of taking progress photos and sending it to Kayla which Kayla can then post on her Instagram feed for her millions of followers to see. It is a good thing that those emails are weekly since they are a reminder for you to keep working and reaching your goals. After the program, they still email me which increases user commitment.

The email that I am examining is an email I received last week (so a year after my subscription). As you can see from the photos (see below) the email is very effective. According to Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty, the subject line is the first thing that triggers the need to open the email. The email reaches out to me well, since the first thing I saw was the subject line: ‘How to recognize signs of overeating’. As I am a female in my twenties, this definitely hit a nerve, which made me click on the email. The email is presented well with the top of the email showing the logo of Kayla Itsines. It also advertises the wellness program right in the beginning of the email by again by giving me 7 days for free and then showing me how and where I can download them by just one click.

The clear and simple structure of it makes it easy to read and easy to follow.  The use of illustrations is also effective. It is colorful while still maintaining a clear and focused content. The email has three different and effective photos and topics on the email which all relate to the wellness program that Kayla Itsines offers. The amount of  CTAs is good and they are clear. The top part of the email is clearly related to the email’s heading which concentrates on the eating habits which definitely engaged me in the email.

Email from Kayla Itsines

The lower two photos concentrate on the fitness side of the program and tries to entice me to buy the program again. The email definitely appeals to my motional side by making me think about my current fitness and eating habits. After I start to realize there might be a need for improvement, it hits me with a nice gift of a ‘Free 7 day Trial’. As  Kevan Lee mentions in his blog, giving something for free is good and effective content in a marketing email.

All in all, this email was an effective way to get my concentration by appealing to my emotions. While it does lack certain personalization, it does not make a difference since it still affected me emotionally. I didn’t even notice the lack of personalization at first. The length of the email is also ideal, since it is short but contains hyperlinks in order to get more information on the topics. I believe the marketing was also done effectively since it knows its target audience well. Most of the users are young women who spend time on their phones and use social media a lot. The email targeted the users to open the emails on their phones since it had links to App store to download the app and to buy the program. The end of the email also send hyperlinks to Kayla Itsines’ Instagram profile, where you can see people’s progress on the program.

References:

Ellis-Chadwick, F., & Doherty, N. F. (2012). Web advertising: The role of e-mail marketing. Journal of Business Research, 65(6), 843-848.

Kevan Lee (2013) 8 Effective Email Marketing Strategies, Backed by Science. <https://blog.bufferapp.com/8-effective-email-strategies-backed-by-research> (Accessed on the 4th of November 2016)