This is a breakdown of an email marketing campaign by @pizzahut. 11 reasons why it works and even some suggestions they may try for future endeavors.  Scroll down to see the list of how Pizza Hut does it right and why their conversion rates are probably pretty high for this type of campaign.

Remember, my point here is not the design.  Conceptually design matters at some level, but most designers that are not conversion rate optimization conscious would probably say this design isn’t great.  However, at the end of the day, it’s all about moving the needle.

Things To Consider:

1.  First email was sent Monday February 28th at 1:11 PM EST.
2.  Second email was sent Monday March 7th at 5:16 PM EST.
3.  I did not opt in for these emails.
4.  Subject of the email was:  The Legendary PAN PIZZA 10$!  (notice how PAN and PIZZA are both capitalized)

pizza hut email marketing campaign

Breakdown: The Good
  1. Brand Awareness -  They do a very good job with other outside promotions. I knew exactly who they were when I received the email. Since Pizza Hut is such a strong brand, there was no confusion about the purpose of the email.  Once I clicked it (probably because I wanted to analyze it) there was additional brand recognition in the top left corner.
  2. Great Image – Zesty and filled with melted cheese, it heightens emotions with just one glance.  If you are hungry, it may sway you to make the famous dinner call home, “honey… do you feel like pizza tonight?”.
  3. Additional Offering – Everybody knows that you can’t just get pizza, you have to get breadsticks and a 2 liter as well. Without this, the up-sell on an additional offering would be less, therefore generating less revenue.
  4. Secondary Value – If you are not in a pizza mood, they have other choices too.  The 3 column display does will in conversion optimization techniques, even in emails as well as landing pages.
  5. Day Of The Week – Huge benefits here as outlining what specials there are on any given day of the week. Not only can you get discounted pizza, but you can also receive discounts on other products depending on the day.
  6. Large Font Titles – Gaudy, but it works. It grabs your attention immediately after you locate the brand image and you know without a doubt what this page is all about.
  7. Value Proposition – As soon as we see something we want, we immediately want to know how much it costs.  They do a great job here with immediate value, economical as well as large font types to draw the eye that direction.
  8. Definition – Defines the offer without making the user have to guess. Any size and up to 3 topics communicates clarity in the offer as well as promotes a feeling of limitless choices.
  9. Call To Action – This button is made clickable inside the email campaign, with a green color change from the themed reds and whites through the email.
  10. Theme – Every day has a different theme.  Wing Wednesday for example.  A title goes along way in conversion.  This helps clarify the offering with a creative twist.  Also, repetition of this can lead households to say, “hey it’s Wings Wednesday at Pizza Hut”.  Helps to create stickiness in the campaign promotion.
  11. Savings – Notice how each theme has a different price attached so there is no confusion how much something costs.  We want to know immediately what something costs, which is clearly defined here according to the day.
Things I Would Add Or Change:
  • Notice the time of day it was sent.  Maybe test different times of day.  I would suggest analyzing the time of day people start to think about dinner and see if there is any conversion increase there.
  • Although the design is not great, it doesn’t really matter, as long as there is conversion. I would add a box around the day of the week it is when sent. It will draw the eyes as well to that point.
  • I would test different sizes of the call to action button.  To me, it seems a bit small. Maybe something commensurate with the 5 dollars it’s next to.
  • Multiple call to actions landing at the same page.  I would make 3 more call to actions under each day of the week.  Possibly even make the picture clickable.
  • The background is a bit distracting to me.  Whenever you are using imagery or graphics, it needs to lend to the ultimate goal.  Looks like they are pepperonis floating around, but its a bit hard to tell. I might test just a full red background here.

What would you change?