How my Content Strategy masters project led to business success
For the past year and a half, I have been pursuing a Content Strategy masters program at Austria-based FH Joanneum. I’d been searching for a program that specialises in content strategy for years, so I was very happy when I discovered this one.
Each semester, we have to complete a large project that applies what we’ve learned during the semester. And for my second semester project, I decided to create a content strategy to revamp adidas’ loyalty program’s consumer lifecycle management emails.
I have since applied the strategy with significant positive results for the business. Read on to find out more.
Why this project?
As adidas’ loyalty program is key to the company’s future growth, I knew that it was an area of focus. Additionally, I discovered that there were plenty of opportunities to improve the program’s communications by applying my newly gained knowledge in content strategy methodologies and my experience as a user experience (UX) writer.
My primary aim was to increase the emails’ engagement levels measured by key performance indicators such as open rates, click-through-rates, revenue and user task completion rates.
More importantly, I knew that if successful, my project could generate a high return on investment for the business given the strategy’s low development requirements.
What I did
1 — Understanding the user
As a UX professional, I always start with the user. This means understanding users’ needs and pain points, behaviours and motivations. And since qualitative research was a key subject covered during my masters’ second semester, user research was an ideal methodology to apply.
I conducted a focus group to understand what sports loyalty program consumers wanted. After recruiting 4 participants from my network, who fit the user profile, I put together a list of questions and a discussion guide to moderate the focus group.
I also analysed a vast amount of user research that adidas had conducted to gain a better understanding of what our loyalty program members expected. Key questions that I needed answered included:
- What attracts consumers to a loyalty program?
- What are the key benefits and rewards that matter the most?
- What is the most important information that consumers want to know before joining the program?
- How do potential members want to be communicated with about the program and its benefits?
2 — Analysing the content’s current state
After completing my focus group and collecting user research insights, I was armed with a solid understanding about our users and their needs. The next step was to assess the membership program’s existing communications. So naturally, I conducted a content audit.
As I quickly learned, content audits are the backbone of any content strategy. Before coming up with an approach to improve content, it is important to know what you’re working with.
I started by putting together an inventory of all the important emails that form a part of adidas’ loyalty program user journey. Then I discussed the scoring criteria with my team. This is an important step, since choosing the most appropriate criteria depends on the business and UX goals you want to achieve.
Given that my goal was to increase engagement levels and compel users to complete tasks, I chose the following criteria: relevance, easy-to read, engaging (persuasive), supportive of user tasks and breadth and depth.
After scoring each email against these criteria, I identified a handful of key themes, content gaps and opportunities to optimise the user experience:
- Overall, the emails are designed with several stacks of content, making them lengthy and difficult to read.
- The emails do not immediately surface the key message to be conveyed: a reward or a status change; and they do not provide enough context, making them less relevant to users’ needs.
- Where there are celebratory moments, the content’s tone and wording is not engaging enough for the user to take the next steps.
- There are several missed opportunities to make the content more actionable, especially during key moments in the user’s journey (ex. first time a user earns points).
On the back of these findings, I came up with a simple framework to increase clarity, relevance and engagement. My approach comprises three pillars: a) inform users of the most important information they need at a given point in their user journey, b) educate users about next steps and, c) assist users to complete these steps. I also detailed recommendations to optimise each email through the lens of this framework.
3 — Applying the approach
In validating my framework and recommendations, I applied my strategy to the membership program’s welcome email.
My first recommendation was to modify the email’s information hierarchy so that the most important information based on user needs is front-loaded. This ensures users are informed about what matters to them right at the start. As an example, I included key information in the email’s subject line and pre-header.
Next, I improved the content’s scannability by using bulleted lists and styling.
Finally, I replaced the email’s generic call-to-action with a clearer task for users to complete, while adding an incentive to compel and assist them.
4 — Implementing the strategy
In the real world, a content strategist must have a feasible plan of action that encourages stakeholder buy-in and enables quick validation.
With this in mind, I came up with a three-step implementation strategy:
- “BASIC LEVEL” changes
- Copy changes only: content is more concise and actionable rather than purely informative.
2. “NEXT LEVEL” changes
- Content is actionable.
- Content educates users about how membership works.
- Design infuses the membership program’s branding and makes copy scannable.
3. “ULTIMATE LEVEL” changes
- Content reflects value proposition and narrative.
- Content is actionable.
- Content is concise.
- Design is driven by the framework of: inform, educate, assist.
- Key information is more visual and easy to scan.
I wanted to test my strategy, fail fast and iterate with minimal business resources.
The ‘Basic Level’ version was a worst-case scenario that I could proceed with using only copy changes. But luckily, we had the resources to apply the ‘Next Level’ version and validate it through user testing.
As is the case with any UX project, I iterated on the initial version based on user feedback. My team and I then conducted an A/B test to gain quantitative data and measure the new content’s impact on key metrics.
The outcome
The A/B test results showed a significant uplift across all key performance metrics: open rate, click-to-open rate, call to action clicks and revenue generation.
The test also showed that if we were to roll out the variant email globally, we could generate an additional 20–30 million euros in incremental revenue.
Next steps
After having validated the strategy, I plan to apply the same approach to the remaining membership program’s emails, test these with users and iterate accordingly.
The strategy will also be translated into a set of guidelines for local markets and other writers to use when creating email content.
Conclusion
This project showed me how my education in content strategy has advanced and elevated my approach to user experience problem solving. By applying the methodologies I learned in the programme, I was able to add even more value to the business through my role as a UX writer.
Content strategy and UX writing are a match made in heaven with the potential to move the needle with relatively few business resources.
Indeed, content really is king!
P.S. If you’re considering a career in content strategy or UX writing, I highly recommend having a look at the Masters Programme in Content Strategy offered by FH Joanneum.
