Getting New Trialers over the Fence
An email drip campaign to help new trialers over the fence to become a paid user.
An email drip campaign to help new trialers over the fence to become a paid user.
A project created during my course study at the Interaction Design Foundation UX Bootcamp.
Miro, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
CLO is one of the leading 3D fashion design software programs in the softlines industry, providing virtual, true-to-life garment visualization with cutting-edge simulation technologies for apparel designers and brands. With the rising competition in the market, it is important to engage and assist new trialers, so that they can get the most out of their trial, and hopefully decide to leap to join as a paid user. However, I noticed CLO’s lack of initiative in this area of customer support, sending 2 text only emails in the course of the 30 day trial period. A targeted, visually engaging email drip campaign will ensure new user support and improve the company's chances in expanding their paid user base.
Keeping new trialers excited and interested in using the software.
Providing information about all the great features the software has to offer.
Getting new trialers to sign up as paid users at the end of their trials.
Over the course of CLO’s 30-day trial period, new trialers will receive a series of emails with helpful tips and information about the software. The content will provide customer support, making the experience of using the new software fun and enjoyable.
I worked on the entire project by myself, where I performed a design sprint, gathered feedback from a trusted industry mentor within the UX field, built customer journey maps, conducted competitive analysis, drafted wireframes, and brought together high-fidelity mockups.
With the use of Miro, an online visual collaboration whiteboard, I laid out each step of the design sprint, where my mentor commented and provided improvement insights.
The main goal of the email drip campaign is to get new trialers to sign up as paid users towards the end of their trials.
To better understand the sofware's target audience, I compiled user research, and generated a persona sheet and customer journey map that follows the typical steps an apparel designer would take when seeking a design tool to add under their belt.
Understanding market competition is a crucial ingredient to achieving the goal of this project. I took some time to study other 3D fashion design software applications, taking notes on their trial offers, customer support methods, product capability messaging on their website, and current user experience and feedback.
Then, I began listing out key points to cover within 4 emails, which will send out once every week during the 30-day trial period.
Onboard new trialer with a step by step Beginner’s Series content. Direct user to online knowledge base.
Present popular key features and actual examples from paid users to the new user.
Provide use case examples from users similar to the new user.
Promote similar success stories from paid communities to the new user.
Next, I began to arrange the structure of the presented content in a way that is easy for readers to consume. This was also the time when ideas for the copy started to flow in, where I put in placeholder text and suggested paragraph lengths within the wireframes.
Colors and font size play critical roles in getting readers to engage and consume email content. Following CLO’s available style guide online, I pulled together a style tile with their color palette and logo variations that would best fit the look and feel of the email layout.
The high fidelity build of each email structure was the highlight of this project. Images and copy found on general front pages of CLO’s website and simple Google search results were not the most interesting, so I dived deeper into their knowledge base, and PDF files of software updates and fixes on their website.
By taking this step, I was drawn into the advanced capabilities the software offers. Perhaps, using those compelling screenshots of the software’s new features will get new users excited about the software. This discovery had further validated the company’s lack of marketing effort for their powerful product.
A way to get new trialers to sign up as paid users at the end of their trial, is to display time constraints. Adding a countdown tracker on top of the email reminds the new user how much more time they have left within the trial, and it encourages the new user to make use of the remaining time while they can.
Through this email drip campaign case study, I gained more insight into the importance of having a targeted campaign to promote and nurture client relationships for a relatively new product - even at the beginning stage of the new user’s journey. If I was simply exploring the software based on the single email support from CLO and reading their online knowledge base, I would have lost interest and motivation to continue using the software within the 30-day trial.
Before deciding to put together this project as one of my work outputs for the bootcamp, I did not know what content to include would lead to a successful email campaign. With my basic understanding of marketing, upon completion of this project, I have come to realize the purpose, function, and nuance of an email drip campaign, and how to build one.
