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← The work

One email, six times its money back

How fewer words, a clearer offer and a bit of personality lifted response on PartyGaming’s player emails. And how the same instinct produced a five-word brand line for Casumo.

Clients
PartyGaming · Casumo
Led by
Paul Cullen
Work
Email, CRM and short-form copy
41%
Response rate on a roulette launch email
6×
Return on spend: 20K in, 120K back
40%
Response rate on a casino chips email
4K+
Rise in casino APDs from the same email

♥The situation

Most bonus emails read like the terms and conditions had escaped. A long welcome, three pictures fighting for attention, and the actual offer buried somewhere in the fourth paragraph.

PartyGaming’s poker and casino emails were no exception. The people reading them were already players. They didn’t need convincing that online poker existed. They needed to know what was on offer, and why they should act now.

♠Fewer words, clearer offer

Here are two of the old mailers next to their replacements. I cut the copy, put the offer in the headline and gave each email one job. On both, the response rate improved considerably.

Before
Old PartyCasino email headed A bonus just for you, with several paragraphs of copy before the offer
PartyCasino. The offer arrives in the third paragraph.
After
New PartyCasino email headed Get 150% extra, free, with a short message and one button
The offer is the headline. One button: claim your bonus now.
Before
Old PartyPoker email headed Pick up a big bonus this March, followed by a long news section
PartyPoker. A bonus email that turns into a newsletter halfway down.
After
New PartyPoker email headed Raise, Get 150% extra, You deposit. We raise. It's your call.
“You deposit. We raise. It’s your call.” Poker talk, aimed at poker players.

Up closeThe anatomy of a bonus email

PartyPoker email headed Get 15% extra, with the offer, a single deposit button and a three-day deadline
  1. A headline that gets straight to business. Get 15% extra.
  2. An opening that is on topic and has some swagger. You deposit. We raise. It’s your call.
  3. The money in black and white: deposit this, get that.
  4. One button that does one thing. Make your deposit today.
  5. “Today” and “hurry” for urgency, used because the offer really did run out in three days.

Personality plus product equals brand.

♦Then add personality

That format is ideal for a straight bonus. What it lacks is personality, and personality is what builds a relationship between a brand and its players. So the one-off promotions got the full treatment.

PartyCasino email headed The wheel's in motion, launching a new European roulette game
The wheel’s in motionA new roulette game launched like a new car: slick new bodywork, a turbocharged engine, pole position. 41%response20Kspend120Kreturn
PartyCasino page headed You've got chips, with bonus code TRYCASINO
You’ve got chips“Roll ’em. Spin ’em. Turn ’em. Play ’em.” Free chips for poker players, to get them trying the casino. 40%response4K+more casino APDs

♣Five words for Casumo

Short-form copy works the same way, with even less room. Casumo needed players to know what it was and why it wasn’t like every other casino.

You Say Casino, We Say Casumo.

Casumo · brand line
The full Casumo story →

♥What other operators can take from it

  • Reach the right player at the right time with the right offer.
  • Put the offer in the headline. If players have to hunt for it, they won’t.
  • Show the money in black and white. Deposit this, get that.
  • One email, one job, one button.
  • Only use urgency when it’s true.
  • A clear offer gets the click. Personality is what gets the next email opened.

Emails shown date from 2007. Figures are as reported at the time.

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