Case study: P&O’s 679% sales boost

With its first cruise ship setting sail in 1837, P&O Cruises has a rich heritage, but is now part of a group that carries nearly half of the world’s cruise passengers. The industry as a whole is booming – worth an estimated £20bn a year – but unsurprisingly, perhaps, competition is fierce.
These days email plays a key role in P&O Cruises’ marketing strategy as the company strives to demonstrate the quality and diversity of the products and luxury on board, as well as the eclectic mix of destinations that can be explored.
To celebrate its 175th anniversary last summer P&O Cruises created what it dubbed the “Grand Event”, in which the cruise line’s seven ships were to meet in Southampton for the first time, before departing to points across the world.
The occasion was marked with a visit by ‘royal review’, carried out by HRH The Princess Royal. The plan was to give the 15,000-plus passengers on the seven ships a grand send-off, complete with ‘flutterfetti’ and daytime pyrotechnics. Each ship would depart with a champagne deck party and marching bands. The ships would then form a procession as they left Southampton for the English Channel and beyond.
P&O briefed Experian Cheetah Mail to devise a campaign to promote the event. The challenge was to create buzz surrounding the occasion, as well as the “P&O Cruises experience” within email, to raise awareness, encourage bookings and deliver a strong return on investment.
P&O Cruises’ Andy Mould explained: “We wanted a campaign that brought the ‘Grand Event’ to life in a way which allowed our customers to get a real feel for the event.”
Experian worked closely with the client and decided to deploy the Experian CheetahMail Video Email Solution. Using coding, CheetahMail video email technology is claimed to ensure perfect playback every time, no matter what device, browser or email client is used. All customers have to do is open the email and then enjoy the video.
The campaign allowed P&O Cruises to reach its customers with a form of media that brings an email to life, maximising interest, clickthrough rates and sales. The videos are ideally suited to sharing through social media, such as Facebook, with the ability to go viral and extend messaging reach far beyond the original target audience.
And when it came to the results, P&O Cruises, was not disappointed. Compared to an email sent seven weeks before without embedded video technology, this campaign witnessed an 11.4 % uplift in unique open rates, a 3.1 % increase in clickthrough rates, a 950% increase in bookings and a 679% boost in revenue
As P&O’s Mould said: “The ‘Grand Event’ video email campaign was the most effective video email campaign we’ve run. Delivered to deadline, the campaign resulted in high open and click through rates, which led to increased awareness and the highest number of bookings we have seen from an email. It helped us to engage with our passengers in a way that brought one of the biggest events in our history to life.”