Creative agency, Machine_ won Best Internal Email for its Sanlam Group email campaign in the You Mailed It Email Marketing Awards 2024.

The judges commended the email’s captivating and uncluttered design, which they said made it easy to navigate and read. They also said it was clear the email added value to the Sanlam Group employee target audience.

Samantha Page, content officer at Machine_, said, “Machine_ and Sanlam are delighted with this win. This is the magic we all hope to achieve in the content marketing space. You pitch an idea, add considered, meaningful and relevant content, supported by your clients, and the result is genuine engagement. This is content marketing in its purest form, and I am privileged to be part of this collaboration.”

The primary objective of this campaign was to streamline and enhance internal communication within the Sanlam Group’s Retail Affluent staff division.

Previously, staff were receiving multiple email announcements daily, leading to email fatigue and low engagement rates. To address this, Machine_’s goal was to consolidate these fragmented communications into a single, weekly email newsletter.

This strategy aimed at reducing email volumes and increasing engagement when sharing essential business news and updates.

By collaborating with the broader Sanlam Group, Machine_ started curating and delivering a comprehensive weekly newsletter to all staff across various clusters, including the Retail Affluent staff division.

This approach ensures staff receive all necessary information in a concise and manageable format, improving overall communication effectiveness and employee engagement.

Dynamic content was used to tailor the newsletter for the Retail Affluent staff division audience specifically. This was achieved through content tagging, ensuring the first four to six content blocks were directly relevant to this audience. These targeted blocks were followed by broader, Sanlam Group-wide content.

This streamlined way of managing the internal communication for this specific audience within the Sanlam Group resulted in a 76% increase in the click rate and a 26% increase in the open rate compared with the 2022 benchmark.

Machine_ said this significant improvement in engagement demonstrates the power of delivering tailored, relevant content through a single, cohesive newsletter. The campaign not only met but exceeded the agency’s objectives, showcasing its creativity, innovation, and ability to drive meaningful business outcomes.

Through strategic consolidation and customisation, their emails delivered pertinent information to each staff member while maintaining a streamlined and unified communication channel.

The result was strategically tailored communication that effectively enhanced engagement and reduced email fatigue.

The You Mailed It judges also commended Machine_ for the uncluttered email design, which comprised of content blocks with a good image-to-text ratio, engaging images, use of questions to pique interest, and short content snippets with call-to-action buttons for staff to access further information.

Machine_ said it was incredibly proud of the campaign’s success, as highlighted by its Best Internal Email entry in Everlytic’s You Mailed It Email Marketing Awards 2024.