Free Fashion Email Marketing Report Resource. Take a look at how some of the biggest fashion retailers in the UK use email marketing to generate sales, drive traffic and build relationships in our 2015 Fashion Email Marketing Report.

1. 1
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T
RAIL TRAVEL

2. 2 3
We have analysed the email marketing of
20 UK based rail travel operators.
I N T R O D U C T I O N
T H E B R A N D S
M E T H O D
The UK rail industry is growing at a quicker
rate than in all other European countries,
including France, Germany and the
Netherlands. In fact, the UK is currently
seeing the longest sustained period of
growth in history. Since privatisation 20
years ago, the UK has experienced increased
passenger kilometres and journeys have
more than doubled.This has resulted in
record numbers of passengers using the
UK mainline railway network in 2014.
It is estimated that this growth is set
to continue, with train operators and
Network Rail planning to accommodate
an extra 400 million rail journeys on the
mainline network by 2020.
In order to achieve these ambitious
objectives, email marketing can play an
important part from both a customer
acquisition and customer retention point
of view, especially as the industry
continues to move into the digital age.
This Marketing Report looks at how rail
operators in the UK are using email not
only to generate sales, but also to drive
traffic and build relationships.We have
looked at how businesses who operate in
this sector acquire new email addresses,
what data they collect at subscription and
how they welcome new subscribers to the
brand. In addition, we explore the often
controversial subject of email frequency,
alongside the issue of responsive
design, and also highlight some of
our favourite emails.
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5

3. 4 5
S I G N I N G U P F O R M
S I G N U P
FACT: 1/2 of rail operators did not have a ‘subscribe to our
newsletter’ section. Instead email subscription was part of
creating an ‘Account’.
Where on the website do they ask for email ‘sign up’?
B o t t o m o f p a g e
T o p o f p a g e
M i d d l e o f p a g e25%
35%
40%
First Name Last Name DOB Address Phone number
How often do
you travel
Usage
Usual start
station
Usual end
station
Heathrow Express   
Mersey rail       
C2C   
Chiltern Railways     
East Coast  
Arriva Trains Wales     
South West Trains    
First Scotrail   
London Midland   
Cross Country    
Northern Rail         
Southern   
North Yorkshire
Moors  
Abellio Greater
Anglia      
What information was requested at ‘sign up’/Account set up?
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
We appreciate that there is a lot of competition for
homepage real estate, especially above the fold.
However, if you have a requirement for new email data
then we would recommend that you promote email
subscription in the most prominent position possible.
How do they encourage you to sign up?
E x c l u s i v e c o m p e t i t i o n s
0 3 6 9 12
15
5
2
3
1
T i c k e t r e l e a s e d a t e s
I n s p i r i n g i d e a s
T r a v e l a d v i c e
G e t l a t e s t d e a l s
F i n d o u t a b o u t l a t e s t
G e t l a t e s t o f f e r s
8G e t l a t e s t n e w s
N o e n c o u r a g e m e n t
15
1
1
1
FACT: 14/20 rail operators had a registration form
What did it say on the website post ‘sign up’/registration?
20 4 6 8 10 12
I n f o o f w h a t t o e x p e c t f r o m
t h e i r e m a i l s
N o t h i n g
C o n f i r m a t i o n o f s u b s c r i p t i o n
W e l c o m e
T h a n k y o u
6
3
4
3
12
Some brands promote more than one benefit of signing up to their emails. Some brands had more than one message

4. 6 7
W E L C O M E E M A I L S F R E Q U E N C Y
D I S C O U N T O F F E R
13/20 companies sent a welcome email, no welcome emails were received from these brands:
W H E N W E R E T H E W E L C O M E E M A I L S R E C E I V E D ?
NEXTDAY
INSTANT
FACTS:
11/13 emails were personalised
I n s t a n t
N e x t D a y
59% of brands sent the welcome email the
next day while 31% sent an immediate email
How many emails were received in a month?
FACTS:
Total 26 emails from 20 companies in 30 days
8/20 Rail operators, Northern Rail, First Scot Rail, South West Trains, First Trans Pennine Express,Arriva Trains Wales, East Coast,
First Hull Trains and Grand Central, have not sent any emails since sign up
7/12 Rail operators send responsive emails
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
Clients regularly ask us
how often they should
send their customers
emails, but for us, it
shouldn’t be a question
of email frequency,
instead a question of
content and response.
If you’re sending
valuable and relevant
content to your email
recipients and they’re
responding well, look
to push the frequency
as high as possible.
As with any automated email, timing is everything. In our experience, we see better open and click-through rates when automated
welcome emails are sent instantly at the point of subscription.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
A b e l l i o G r e a t e r A n g l i a
N o r t h Y o r k s h i r e M o o r s R a i l w a y
E u r o s t a r
S o u t h e r n
N o r t h e r n R a i l
C r o s s C o u n t r y
L o n d o n M i d l a n d
F i r s t S c o t R a i l
S o u t h W e s t T r a i n s
F i r s t T r a n s P e n n i n e E x p r e s s
A r r i v a T r a i n s W a l e s
E a s t M i d l a n d T r a i n s
E a s t C o a s t
V i r g i n T r a i n s
C h i l t e r n R a i l w a y s
C 2 C R a i l
M e r s e y r a i l
H e a t h r o w E x p r e s s
F i r s t H u l l T r a i n s
G r a n d C e n t r a l
2
2
1
1
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
2
6
0
0
1
4
Only one brand incentivised their welcome email:
£5
OFF
Welcome emails from these companies were not responsive:

5. 8 9
A B A N D O N E D B A S K E T C R E A T I V E E X A M P L E S O F B E S T R E C E I V E D E M A I L S
South West trains sent an email 30 minutes
after the basket was abandoned.
Only one rail operator sent an abandoned basket email: South West Trains
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
Date: 16th December 2014
Subject Line: 5 of the best booking tips EVER
Virgin Trains’ tongue-in-cheek approach to
booking tips is a welcome break from what
could ultimately have been a very dry affair.The
wordplay used throughout is the real stand-out
aspect of this email, which is delivered under the
clever heading of ‘The Virgin Trains Love-a-fare’.
The ‘Make the next move’ call-to-action makes
it feel like the power is in the recipient’s hand.
There’s no hard sell here, just your old mate Virgin
helping you to get the best deal and to ‘hit the
sweet spot every time’, as they put it.While the
tips on offer were not necessarily ground-breaking,
Virgin did enough to maintain our interest with
an enticing subject line and novel header.
It surprises us greatly that only one of the 20 rail operators has an abandoned basket programme in place.
Ideally, this should be the first automated programme that is implemented as the results can be so rewarding.
EVER
There’s no hard sell here, just your old mate Virgin
tips on offer were not necessarily ground-breaking,

6. 10 11
C R E A T I V E E X A M P L E S O F B E S T R E C E I V E D E M A I L S
Date: 11th December 2014
Subject Line: Bring the station to you –
download our app now
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
While we are partial to a beautifully
designed email here at Red C, we also
recognise that sometimes simplicity can
speak volumes.Although this email from
thetrainline.com won’t be winning any
creative awards any time soon, that
doesn’t stop it being amongst our
favourites for December.The email lists
the benefits of thetrainline’s app in a
clear and concise way, as well as providing
ample opportunity for the recipient to
click through to download it. For those
who frequently travel by train, phrases
such as ‘best chance of getting a seat’
and ‘avoid queues by getting tickets sent
to your phone’ will be music to the ears
as thetrainline let’s its app do the talking
in this simplified, informative email.
C R E A T I V E E X A M P L E S O F B E S T R E C E I V E D E M A I L S
Date: 12th December 2014
Subject Line: Go further, faster for £89 return
with our new routes to the South of France
Ok, so we might be a bit biased as this email
was carefully crafted right here at Red C
towers, but this offering from Eurostar
stood out from other emails we received
in December.While predominantly a sales
email, promoting new routes to the South
of France, the added detail is what made it
stand out from the norm. By providing
information on each of the cities in focus,
such as Lyon ‘the gastronomic capital of
France’ or Marseille’s local delicacy of
bouillabaisse, Eurostar manage to paint
a picture and offer a real insight into the
destinations.This, teamed with clear and
prominent call-to-actions, had us reaching
for our passports. Bravo Eurostar.
Bring the station to you –

7. 12
O U R A G E N C Y
At Red C, we believe producing effective advertising and marketing campaigns can only
come from developing a deep and genuine understanding of a client’s business, products and
customers.We encourage staff to get ‘under the skin’ of every client’s business.We sit in on call
centres, accompany field sales staff, work in branches and stores and analyse and interpret
client data online and offline to create real insight. It leads to robust, long-standing relationships
with our clients.
Strongly analytical in approach, the agency comes from a direct marketing background, yet today 70% of revenue is
from online channels, including email marketing, paid search and search engine optimisation, social media marketing
and web development.A significant further proportion of revenue comes from TV – we will have completed around
a dozen commercials by the year end. So the agency can offer expertise across a full range of channels, online, offline
and broadcast, which helps us to tackle client challenges and develop integrated campaigns for a wide range of
target audiences, products and services, in a media neutral way.
Our client base is blue chip.Alongside JD Williams and Swinton, we are also retained by rail operator Eurostar,
leading Premier League team Manchester City, 270-store strong retail chain Bensons for Beds, leading pub company
Spirit and top holiday operators Hoseasons and Great Rail Journeys. So everyday, our employees work with leading
edge marketing teams in every relationship.
O U R S E R V I C E S
Red C is a fully integrated agency which offers a wide range of services, including Strategic
Consultancy, Email Marketing, Social Media Management, Search Engine Optimisation,
Content Marketing, Paid Search,Television Production, Print Production and Analysis.
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : F A S H I O N R E T A I L : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4E M A I L M A R K E T I N G R E P O R T : R A I L T R A V E L : F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5
O U R C L I E N T S
THE
CLEVER
CLOTHES
SHOP