Dancing towards success: Zumba Fitness’ most successful campaign

Back in the late 1990s, a fitness instructor named Alberto "Beto" Perez from Colombia stumbled upon something amazing. He was teaching an aerobics class when he realized he had forgotten his usual workout music. But being the quick thinker he is, Beto grabbed some Latin music tapes from his car and improvised the class on the spot.

Turns out, his impromptu dance-fitness fusion was a massive hit with his students. They loved the lively rhythms, the infectious energy, and how it made them forget they were even working out. Inspired by this success, Beto teamed up with a couple of entrepreneurs, Alberto Perlman and Alberto Aghion, and together they launched Zumba Fitness in 2001.

Let's dive into the electrifying world of Zumba and explore how they mastered the art of captivating their audience through personalised videos.

The challenge

Zumba's annual Instructor Convention was just around the corner and the marketing team wanted to spice things up. They decided to bring a touch of B2C (business-to-consumer) excitement into the B2B (business-to-business) space. How did they do it? By adding a personalised video to the launch email for the convention, of course!

Let’s see how they did it.

The campaign

Now, let's set the scene. It was the morning when registration for the Instructor Convention was about to go live. This was a big moment, marking the official start of the event's marketing efforts.

They had dug into the treasure trove of previous years' footage from the convention and put together a captivating video. It showcased the energy, excitement and pure joy that filled the event. But here's the cool part: This video wasn't just any generic promotional material. It was tailor-made for each recipient.

When the launch email landed in the inboxes of Zumba instructors, they were greeted with a pleasant surprise. The email featured a personalised video that personally invited them to be a part of the upcoming Instructor Convention. It was like receiving a virtual VIP invitation to an exclusive party.

The personalised video gave instructors a glimpse of the incredible experiences they could expect at the convention. They saw themselves and others having a blast, dancing their hearts out and connecting with fellow Zumba enthusiasts. It was a powerful visual reminder of why they became instructors in the first place and why attending the convention would be a highlight of their year.

So, how did they do it?

1. Ideation: How to create the video

When the team got together to brainstorm their strategy for the Instructor Convention marketing campaign, they were on the hunt for something truly attention-grabbing. That's when the genius idea of using personalised videos popped into the conversation. Wayne Miller, the Senior Manager of Email and Marketing Automation at Zumba Fitness, was the one who brought it up.

"Personalized video was a way the team could quickly convey in the email that the event was on the next level, in all of the marketing, we wanted to immerse people in that experience before they even get there," said Wayne Miller.

Zumba had some amazing video resources from previous years and the team had already begun putting together an awesome promo reel. It was meant to grab people's attention and promote the event on the landing and registration pages. As they worked on this, they realised just how valuable their existing video content was. So, they thought it would be a fantastic idea to test the waters with personalised videos and see how the audience would respond. They saw the event launch email as a perfect opportunity to gauge people's reactions to these personalised videos.

"I already had some ideas on how it might work and where we could incorporate personalized elements," Miller said. One of those elements was a badge. Miller came up with the concept of using the artwork from that year's event badges to create a mock-up that showcased what the personalised badge would look like. The idea was to have the invitee's name pre-printed on the badge, giving it a personalised touch as if it were their very own badge.

2. Creating the email campaign around the video

Miller aimed to maintain a consistent personalization approach throughout the entire campaign, starting with the subject line. Initially, the team had crafted a lengthier subject line, which read as "Registration is now open for the 2014 Orlando Convention." However, they wanted to experiment with a fresh approach for this particular email, opting for a subject line that was deliberately concise, almost to the point of being slightly uncomfortable: "[Recipient name], your Convention video."

In the email introducing the Convention, a captivating logo took centre stage, accompanied by convenient links to the schedule and sessions. Just below that, the personalised video awaited each recipient, showcasing their name in a still image.

Clicking on the video directed them to the Convention’s landing page, where the video automatically began playing. Positioned beneath the video, relevant information about the pricing was provided, along with a countdown to emphasise the remaining time available to seize the offer.

3. Time to test the new approach

Guess what? The team at Zumba really upped their marketing game! They decided to run a test to see if personalised videos and messages would work better than the regular emails they usually send out.

They divided their mailing list into two groups: 90% of the people got the new personalised video, while the remaining 10% received the regular emails (which they call the "control" in this experiment). The only tricky part was that they had to tweak the subject line a bit for the control group because they didn't have the personalised videos.

You won't believe it; Zumba's leap into the personalised video for the Conference paid off big time! The results were seriously impressive!

4. The results

Personalised message

• Open rate: 40%
• Clickthrough rate: 21%

Control message

• Open rate: 31%
• Clickthrough rate: 5.4%

There was more to it, though. The team also saw this unexpected bonus in the results:

• The highest click-to-open rate for any Zumba Fitness promotional email at 50%
• An average of more than nine minutes on the video landing page
• Users with more than 700 views of their video

Miller was thrilled by the additional outcomes, where individuals shared screenshots of their videos on social media and engaged in conversations about the conference. What marketers today refer to as User Generated Content.

The campaign unexpectedly went viral and the sharing aspect of the videos was both surprising and well-received. Some users even garnered 700 to 800 views for their videos, indicating a significant level of engagement. These views didn't stem from individuals repeatedly watching their own videos but rather from the enthusiastic sharing among others, resulting in nearly 1,000 views per video. The volume of social media posts became so substantial that Miller encountered a dilemma that every marketer dreams of, as he explained:

"Fortunately and unfortunately, it spilled over into the control group and they see what other people received. It's rare that you're ever upset that you didn't get to see some marketing message from a company. I think it means we were doing something right.”

Want to know how you can add videos to your campaigns too?

We have a useful guide that shows you how to successfully incorporate videos into your campaigns. Videos are not just limited to YouTube. They can add a nice flavour to your emails too, so take time to learn how to use them the right way.

We all love a good success story

This case study is a testament to the power of creativity, authenticity and the incredible impact of user-generated content. What started as a simple campaign for Zumba Fitness transformed into a viral sensation, with people enthusiastically sharing their experiences across social media platforms. The unexpected surge in video views, with some users amassing hundreds of views each, showcased the genuine appeal of the content.