Hearst UK drives higher conversions and cuts email build time with personalization and automation

For over a century, Hearst UK has built trusted media brands that engage millions. Home to recognizable names like Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, and Elle, the company has always been at the forefront of premium content creation. But as digital media consumption evolved, Hearst UK faced a challenge many publishers know all too well: how to modernize its email marketing to drive engagement and revenue while juggling growing demands with smaller teams and fewer resources.

By leveraging Sailthru by Marigold and Marigold Liveclicker, Hearst UK saw a 75-100% increase in email conversion rates and a 10% year-over-year increase in open rates. This, in turn, saved their marketing team over 50 hours per month on email builds.

The challenge

With an extensive portfolio of brands and a growing e-commerce business, Hearst UK needed to transform its digital strategy to stay ahead. As digital engagement evolved, the company recognized that its existing email marketing approach could not keep up.

Being a media business, it is important that we are constantly evolving digitally and generating new revenue streams. Melinda Carter, Head of Customer Analytics, Hearst UK

To address this, Hearst UK set out to:

• Increase team efficiency and streamline their martech, migrating to the same Marigold platform used across other global Hearst teams.
• Create a better user experience using more real-time personalization and audience insights.
• Optimize an integrated content and commerce strategy, recommending products based on browsing behaviors and interests.
• Drive sales for product marketing emails and increase engagement, implementing brand-affinity sends and dynamic content.

The solution

Content and commerce convergence

Hearst UK boosted engagement by sending emails from the brands readers engaged with most, rather than just the ones they originally subscribed to. They also optimized cross-sell opportunities by recommending products based on browsing behavior, monetizing newsletters, and launching premium subscriptions.

Data-driven growth

To grow its audience, Hearst UK used Sailthru’s hosted pages to create targeted sign-up forms. Integrations with Facebook and Google AdWords helped increase sign-ups 4x for Runner’s World and 17x for Harper’s Bazaar.

Real-time personalization

With Marigold Liveclicker, Hearst UK embedded dynamic content, countdown timers, and live product recommendations into emails. Countdown timers drove action on limited-time sales, while live product recommendations kept content relevant when opening an email.

Advanced segmentation

Using Sailthru’s Lifecycle Optimizer, Hearst UK built smarter onboarding and retargeting journeys, reducing manual effort and improving performance.

The results

By fully integrating Marigold’s solutions, Hearst UK not only improved its email performance but achieved amazing results, including:

• 75-100% uplift in email conversion rates through brand-affinity sends.
• 10% year-over-year increase in open rates for newsletters.
• 50+ hours per month saved on newsletter builds, enabling the team to launch new verticals.

In just under six months, Hearst UK saw dramatic improvements in engagement and revenue while streamlining its processes.