Latest / The Email Marketing Podcast with Fexingo: Newsletters, Open Rates, and Subscriber Growth / How Email List Storytelling Doubled Open Rates for an Outdoor Brand
Transcript
- Lucas: So, there's this outdoor brand — Trailblazer Goods. They sell hiking gear, tents, that sort of thing. Nothing huge, maybe two hundred thousand subscribers on their list. And they were stuck with open rates around twenty-two percent. Luna: Yeah, twenty-two percent is pretty much average for retail email, maybe even a touch below. Lucas: Right. So instead of trying yet another discount code or a better subject line, they completely changed the format. They turned their email sequence into a story. Luna: A story? Like, fiction? Lucas: Exactly. They wrote a three-part survival narrative, set in the backcountry, starring a hiker who gets caught in a storm. Each email was a chapter — about four hundred words with a cliffhanger at the end. No product push until the final email, where the gear the protagonist used was subtly linked to items they sell. Luna: Okay, that sounds risky. Did people actually read it? Lucas: Open rates doubled to forty-four percent. Click-through rates jumped sixty percent. And the unsubscribe rate actually dropped by half during the campaign. Luna: Wow. So the cliffhanger really worked. What was the release cadence? Lucas: They sent one email every two weeks over six weeks. No other promotional emails went out during that window — just the story. They tested it against a control group that got their usual weekly newsletter with product features and blog links. The story group outperformed on every metric. Luna: That's a pretty clean A-B test. I wonder if the novelty factor played a role. I mean, if you get a story in your inbox instead of a sale, you'd probably click just out of curiosity. Lucas: Sure, novelty helps. But the numbers held over the full six weeks. The third email had the highest open rate — fifty-one percent. That suggests subscribers were anticipating the next chapter, not just clicking once and forgetting. Luna: So narrative transport, the psychological term. When you get absorbed in a story, you're more receptive to messages embedded in it. That's probably why the product links worked without feeling spammy. Lucas: Exactly. And the copy itself was smart. The subject lines were things like 'Part 1: The Storm Hits' and 'Part 3: The Rescue'. No brand name, no mention of sale. Just pure story hook. They also included a small 'Read Part 1' link at the top for anyone who missed the previous email. Luna: That's a good recovery mechanism. Did they segment by engagement at all? Lucas: They sent the story to the entire list, but they did track who opened each part. After the campaign ended, they tagged subscribers who opened all three as 'highly engaged' and started sending them more narrative content. The ones who didn't open any went into a re-engagement flow. Luna: So they used the story as a segmentation tool too. That's clever — instead of just a one-off campaign, it became a way to identify their most loyal readers. Lucas: Right. And the data from that campaign informed their content strategy for the next six months. They now run a narrative series twice a year, and their baseline open rates have stayed above thirty percent even between stories. Luna: I think a lot of marketers assume storytelling only works for B2C lifestyle brands, but I've seen similar results in B2B. One SaaS company I know sent a 'customer journey' story over four emails, following a fictional project manager using their tool. Open rates went from twenty-eight to forty-one percent. Lucas: That's a great example. The principle is the same: give subscribers a reason to look forward to your email, not just a reason to open it. Most email strategies focus on the subject line and the preview text, but the real hook is the anticipation of what's inside. Luna: What about length? Trailblazer's emails were four hundred words each. Do you think shorter or longer would work? Lucas: I think four hundred is a sweet spot for a narrative email. It's long enough to build tension but short enough to read on mobile. They tested a longer version — about seven hundred words — for one segment and saw completion rates drop by fifteen percent. So pacing matters. Luna: And the cliffhanger — they used a classic 'what happens next' setup. Each email ended with the protagonist facing a new challenge. That's a proven formula from serialized fiction. Lucas: Exactly. The first email ended with the hiker losing his tent in a windstorm. The second ended with a river crossing that goes wrong. The third resolved the story and tied back to the gear. They even included a small map image in the second email — not a product shot, just an illustration of the terrain. Luna: Visuals that support the story, not distract from it. I love that. I think one reason this works is that most promotional emails feel like interruptions. A story feels like a gift — it's content you want to consume. Lucas: Right. And if you can make that gift consistent and serialized, subscribers start to associate your brand with a positive experience. Trailblazer saw a twenty percent increase in website traffic from email during the campaign, and a ten percent lift in direct traffic overall in the month after. Luna: So the halo effect was real. People who read the story were more likely to search for the brand later, even without clicking a link. Lucas: Yeah. And that's the kind of metric that doesn't show up in your standard email report. You need to look at assisted conversions or brand search volume. But it's there. Luna: I'm curious about the subject line strategy. Did they use the same subject line format for all three parts? Lucas: They did. 'Part: '. No brand name, no emoji, no personalization. They tested a version with the brand name in the subject and open rates dropped six points. So they went with pure story. Luna: That's counterintuitive for a lot of email marketers who are told to always include the brand. But if the story is strong enough, the brand recognition comes from the from-line. Lucas: Exactly. The from-line was just 'Trailblazer Stories', which was a sub-brand they created for narrative content. That way, subscribers who loved the story knew exactly who it was from, and those who didn't could easily identify and ignore it without unsubscribing from the main list. Luna: That's a smart way to reduce churn. Give people an off-ramp that doesn't kill the whole relationship. Lucas: And it worked. The overall list churn rate dropped from one point two percent per month to zero point eight percent during the campaign. People who didn't engage with the story just didn't open — they didn't leave. Luna: I think there's a lesson here for anyone who sends regular email. You don't have to write fiction — you can tell a customer success story, a behind the scenes account of a product launch, or even a day-in-the-life narrative from your team. Lucas: Absolutely. The structure is more important than the genre: a clear beginning, middle, and end, with a hook in each installment. And always deliver on the promise. If you tease a story, you have to complete it. Luna: One thing I've noticed is that these campaigns also give you great data on who your most engaged subscribers are. You can segment by how many parts someone opened and tailor future messaging accordingly. Lucas: Exactly what Trailblazer did. They now have a segment of about thirty thousand subscribers who opened all three parts — that's their 'story lovers' segment. They send them an exclusive narrative email every quarter, and those emails consistently see open rates above fifty percent. Luna: So it's not just a one-time tactic; it's a way to build a deeper relationship with your best audience. Lucas: Right. And if you're thinking about trying something like this, start small. Write a two-part story, send it over two weeks, and measure the response. You don't need a big budget — just a good story and a willingness to experiment. Luna: Before we wrap, I want to mention something that ties back to what we were just saying about building relationships. This show and the whole Fexingo network exist because listeners like you support them. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these going — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, if you've gotten something out of them. Lucas: Yeah, it really does make a difference. Even small contributions add up and let us keep these conversations ad-free. So thanks to anyone who's been part of that. Luna: Alright, back to storytelling. One thing we haven't touched on is the frequency. Six weeks is a long time for a three-part series. Would a weekly cadence work better? Lucas: I think bi-weekly was smart for Trailblazer because it gave people time to anticipate. Weekly might work for a shorter series — say two or three parts — but if you go longer, you risk fatigue. The key is to match the pace to the story's tension. Luna: So if the story is fast-paced, send more frequently. If it's atmospheric, space it out. Lucas: Exactly. And always include a recap link at the top for anyone who missed an installment. You don't want to lose people because they skipped one email. Luna: What about mobile formatting? Trailblazer's emails were mostly text, but did they use any special layouts? Lucas: They kept it simple. A single column, large font, plenty of white space. The images were inline and small — just the map illustration and a hero image at the top of each chapter. No buttons, no call to action boxes until the final email. They wanted the reading experience to feel like a book, not a marketing message. Luna: That minimal design probably helped with deliverability too. Less code, fewer spam triggers. Lucas: Good point. Their inbox placement rate was ninety-eight percent across the three sends, which is excellent for a mid-size retail list. Luna: So if someone wanted to try this tomorrow, what's the first step? Lucas: Pick a story from your own company. Maybe a customer testimonial that has narrative arc — a problem, a journey, a solution. Write it as a first-person account. Then outline three acts. That's your skeleton. Everything else is editing. Luna: I like that. Keep it authentic, keep it human. I think that's the core lesson here — subscribers are people who love stories. Give them one, and they'll reward you with their attention. Lucas: Exactly. And the data from Trailblazer shows that attention translates into real business metrics. So it's not just a creative exercise — it's a strategy that works. Luna: Thanks Lucas. That was a really practical case study. I'm already thinking about how to adapt it for my own list. Lucas: Glad to hear it. If you try it, let us know how it goes. We'd love to feature your results on a future episode.