Case Study • Airbnb

Recruit More Guests and Create a Global Look for Email

What we did:

• New Creative Approach
• Responsive Layout
• Creative Animation
• Performance Testing

Airbnb is an online marketplace that enables people to list, find, and rent private lodging spaces for a small processing fee. It has over 1,500,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries.

The Brief

Airbnb needed more guests to become hosts, and establish a global look for their email communications. However, previous Airbnb email campaigns lacked a consistent brand look, and overall engagement with email communications was low.

The project involved finding new ways to communicate the benefits of hosting in a clear, simple, and motivating way, while redefining the email’s creative layout to improve engagement—all in just one email.

The Story

Trendline stepped in to develop a new creative approach to Airbnb’s email. This strategy included a responsive layout that progressively enhanced with a full width background using CSS animation to grab subscriber interest. After a successful test performance, the redesign’s layout would be applied to the rest of Airbnb’s email communications.

Trendline’s new layout produced a standardized look for Airbnb emails, and the winning design elements are now part of the Airbnb global style guide and master template.Airbnb’s email engagement numbers improved substantially across all areas, and its Guest-to-Host conversion numbers increased significantly.

Trendline’s execution produced several awards, including the 2016 MediaPost OMMA Award: Best Email Single Execution, the 2016 AMA Max Award: Best Email, and The Marketer Quarterly 2016 Email Marketing Award: Best email series – Travel.