The Key Rewards
The Key Rewards is the loyalty program for Williams-Sonoma, Inc’s portfolio of brands (which includes Williams Sonoma, Williams-Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, west elm, Rejuvenation, and Mark & Graham).
E M A I L M A R K E T I N G
During my tenure, The Key emails were WSI's top performing, non-promotional weekly email marketing campaign. Click-through-rates hovered around 20%, far surpassing that of the individual WSI brands (which might vacillate around 2-5%).
Emails featured products, recipes, and tips and tricks from the 7 main WSI brands (Williams Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, west elm, Mark & Graham).
Some emails were a collaborative effort. Others were often entirely my own creation (including copy writing, product selection, layout, etc.), with minimal input or changes from my creative manager.
My role
Senior Cross-Brand Designer
Produce email themes with VP of Loyalty program, marketing analysts, creative manager, and teammate
Design, layout
Storytelling
Copy writing; collab’ing with copy writing team
Image and product curation
Push cross-brand aesthetic to keep it fresh, engaging, on-brand
Challenges
All projects for The Key had to include a product(s) from each of the 7 family of brands.
Create unique, fun, meaningful themes throughout the calendar year
Build visually and conceptually cohesive concepts and stories to fit each theme, using a variety of non-competing items
Email marketing
Evolution of “the Key” emails
The Key Rewards launched in 2016. I joined the loyalty team in early 2017. During my time, I helped define, expand, and elevate The Key’s style and brand through its ongoing email series, direct mail pieces, related digital assets, and microsite.
With every email, I forged new territory, pushing the style, branding, and personality. I also pioneered the use of GIFs as email hero images and in birthday emails sent to Rewards members.
My role
Drove the evolution and elevation of the overall brand
Expounded on email themes given by marketing
Created more holistic, visual stories
Consistently push creative edge with new layouts, typography, visual storytelling, and copywriting
First Key email to feature a GIF, 2019
First Key member birthday email to feature GIF, 2018
Microsite
N E W K E Y “M I C R O S I T E”
In 2018, we launched The Key Rewards 2.0. I helped design the new home page, migration page, FAQ, and carousel slider “tour.”
My role
Collaborated with creative manager, other designers, VP of Loyalty program, marketing analysts, and developers on design, functionality, user paths
Design, image selection; carousel flip tour
Personal goal: Breathe new life into the site, refreshing brand aesthetics
Direct mail marketing
N E W M O V E R D I R E C T M A I L C A M P A I G N
In 2018, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. began it's first direct mail campaign for The Key, the WSI loyalty program.
The campaign consisted of 1 trifold direct mail piece and a cascading series of 5 emails, which were deployed on a specific timeline in accordance with the phases of the moving process (such as getting settled in and housewarming).
This was a huge team effort, as we researched the market, identified audience, and created personas. We also studied people’s moving data patterns to identify key moments in the new mover’s journey and what kind of marketing and products might be relevant to them at that stage.
Goals
Show customer that WSI brand family has everything they need for their new home
Encourage purchases with removable promo cards
Educate customer that Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, Rejuvenation, Williams Sonoma, Williams Sonoma Home, and west elm are part of the WSI brand portfolio
Feature The Key Rewards (WSI loyalty program), Design Crew (WSI Interior Design Services), and Sherwin Williams partnership
Incorporate analytics from study on stages of the moving process produced by external company that included data on emotional state of the customer during each stage, what they purchase at each stage, etc.
My roles
Owned the design and execution of all materials, including each email
Collaborated with CRM and analytics teams to incorporate data and executives’ goals
Worked with creative teams across 7 brands to curate harmonious, diverse selection of product imagery (while also avoiding redundancy, e.g., too many sofas)
Collab’d with copywriters and wrote my own copy
Collaborated with my creative manager and Pottery Barn SVP on content and design
Managed approvals with key stakeholders
Oversaw print process