The Automation / Customization Matrix: How Good Morning Love re-imagined drip emails

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I believe that technology is most powerful when it: (a) brings people together

(b) enables people to do things more easily

Good Morning Love embodied both values, and I’m proud to see the many couples who enjoyed the product.

Too much email…

Most people get way too many emails and it’s overwhelming. Sometimes you subscribe to an email list because you want to know what the brand is up to, and all of a sudden you’re getting emails from them twice a day, every day. It’s just too much.

With Good Morning Love, the idea of impersonal emails is turned on its head. The product was an email subscription with messages meant for just one person, not the same weekly promotion from Old Navy that’s sent millions of people. We also wanted to respect users by sending exactly the number of emails they agreed to: one per day for a week.

…or the wrong kind of email?

According to AdWeek, 80% of smartphone users check their phones first thing in the morning, so email is top of mind starting the minute we wake up. Most of the time we open our inbox to find junk emails, promotions, and updates.

But what if what you saw first thing was uplifting, positive, and personal from someone who loved you?

That’s what GML wanted to do, and that’s why we delivered the emails at 7am each day - so you could wake up to an awesome message.

Happy users, happy couples

I was blown away by the positive emails from people who sent and received notes with Good Morning Love.

Here’s a note I got just yesterday:

Loved your Good Morning Love. So did my husband.

Hope now that you have the technology working you set up 7 day modules that people can use for birthdays, anniversaries, or just because…

Thank you for doing this. It brought an element of specialness into the ordinariness of life and a long time marriage. Was also a great way to start the day. :)))

And lots of tweets:

@winniekao What a great concept! Best of luck with the art project love fest. :) - KM #HappyValentinesDay

— eHarmony (@eHarmony)

February 12, 2015

If you don’t know what to get your love for Valentines, DO THIS! Friends too. It’s easy & forever! http://t.co/hr8QjopKDS@winniekao

— Crystal Gornto (@CrystalGornto)

February 10, 2015

want to do something nice for your partner? how about a series of love emails over the next week - http://t.co/fE2Q55UfYA

— Stella Garber (@startupstella)

February 13, 2015

For those of u who are partnered up, this is such a cool idea - send an email to ur loved one each day for 1week: http://t.co/DT5W3Q1WUK#fb

— Ayokunle Falomo (@AFalomo)

February 12, 2015

For the do-ahead #cupids: #goodmorninglove will whisper your electronic sweet nothings to your love for a week. http://t.co/xKXWv9ootw

— Elissa Joy Watts (@elissajoywatts)

February 10, 2015

Gotta love marketers. A “drip campaign” of love notes. http://t.co/Abk72GE9hi

— Smit Patel (@thesmitpatel)

February 11, 2015

Adorable, nerdy v-day idea for those that love #MarketingAutomation (and someone else) http://t.co/9JDcXrX2Y6

— Clare Carr (@clareondrey)

February 10, 2015

Application of technology in new ways

I’m particularly excited about applying existing technology in new ways. Good Morning Love was a way to push the limits of interesting things you can do with online forms and automated emails. Specifically, it was about re-thinking the concepts of automation and customization.

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Typically when something is automated, it feels impersonal.

It’s the customer service phone tree you get when you really just want to speak to a human being. It’s getting an automatic email confirmation that you don’t need to open because every brand sends the same one.

On the other hand, customization is about taking the time and effort to do something personal. It’s your friend sending a congrats note. It’s your boss saying good job after your presentation.

With Good Morning Love, by combining the concepts of automation and personalization, we were able to create drip emails that were meant for a single individual, written by someone who cared.

User engagement across the globe

It was wonderful to see couples around the world participating in Good Morning Love.

Here’s a map to show where our users came from. The 81.91% for North America refers to the percentage of users from the US. This number is normal and expected, considering that we are based in the US. The product also had pick-up in other countries.

In ranked order, the countries with the most participants were:

  1. US

  2. Canada

  3. UK

  4. New Zealand

  5. Australia

  6. Brazil

  7. India

  8. Netherlands

  9. Turkey

  10. Ireland

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Drool-worthy open rate

MailChimp sends billions of emails each month and analyzes data on open rates.

According to their analysis on the software/web app category that we’re in, email open rates average around 23%. The Good Morning Love emails had an 85% open rate - that’s more than 3x the industry average. Pretty rad.

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The future of Good Morning Love

I originally thought of Good Morning Love as a one week project for Valentine’s Day that would be an interesting twist on drip emails, which are traditionally impersonal.

But over the past week, it’s become clear that GML has tapped into something much larger. Hundreds of couples participated and wrote thousands of love notes. Many of you reached out asking whether Good Morning Love would be extended. It’s been amazing feedback and I’m happy to say that Good Morning Love is just getting started. In the coming weeks, I’ll be introducing new functionality to GML and expanding the types of drip emails users can send.

If you have thoughts, feedback, or fun stories about your week sending or receiving GML notes, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to send me an email at goodmorninglove2015@gmail.com. Thanks and I’m excited to see where things go from here.