What four years of email marketing does for a WA resort

The brief

The resort had grown fast without a marketing team to keep pace. Email meant one list: no segments, no send logic, no rhythm. Open rates were low and click rates lower. The database had potential. The strategy around it did not.

The work

We built the plan before we wrote a single email. The database became four segments, each with its own content, timing and commercial job:

• Monthly updates: the broad audience and brand presence
• Food and beverage: diners and F&B regulars
• Functions: corporate and event bookers, with longer lead times
• Accommodation: stay bookers, around rooms and packages

Sends went out one segment a week. Each got content built for it, deliverability improved, and we got a clean read on what worked. Then we kept at it for four years.

The result

Tracked monthly over two financial years, food and beverage averaged a 43.7% open rate against a 42% target. Accommodation averaged 41.9% and monthly updates 37.8%, both above Mailchimp’s 35.63% average (all users, data to December 2023). Functions, with the longest sales cycle, held at 34.1%. Clicks averaged 2.9% across segments: under our 3.7% target, ahead of Mailchimp’s 2.62%. Apple Mail Privacy Protection inflates opens, so the clicks, sessions and revenue below are the stronger proof.

In 2024, email drove 17,658 sessions to the resort’s website, up 43.2% on the year before, and $13,764 in directly tracked online revenue. That is the floor: it misses phone bookings, function enquiries and walk-ins. Email was the website’s third largest traffic channel, ahead of paid social and Google Ads.