Michael Bugarin Content Design // UX Writing
© Michael Bugarin Content Design // UX Writing

Marketing Emails

Wasting Away in Margaritaville

Project Name

[Spec] Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs Marketing Email


Role(s)

Content Designer

Copywriter


Elements & Skills

Content Audit

Brand Voice & Tone

Information Architecture

CTAs


Software

Figma



Problem


Help email recipients navigate Margaritaville's exclusive January offers


Solution


Revise copy and CTA prompts for clarity.


My Process


* Conducted content audit and identified friction points.


* Re-iterated email design and information architecture.


* Revised CTA design and microcopy.


Discovery

Recently, the universe sensed that I needed a vacation and delivered a Margaritaville resort email into my inbox.


Naturally, I couldn’t take the hint, so my first reaction was to challenge myself by improving the content design and marketing copy.


First, I explored the main Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs site to hone in the brand’s voice, tone, and style. The most fun aspect of their copy is the inclusion of popular Jimmy Buffet song titles, so organically weaving one of the new email copy became a secondary, unofficial goal.


  • Voice: Light and breezy but professional. Utilizes terminology such as relax, getaway, lounge, and enjoy. Inserts Jimmy Buffet song titles when appropriate.

  • Tone: Neutral, leaning toward casual

  • Style: Complex and compound sentences. Some comma usage with no exclamation points, colons, or semi colons. Upper case only for H3 headers and CTAs. Standard sentence case for all other copy.

Define

Next, I performed a quick email content audit of the email content.

Content Audit Notes


  • - CTAs such as Book Now, Plan Your Trip, and Let’s Go feature different color and fill states.

  • - “Book Now” CTA in the top right corner navigates to the exclusive offers page.

  • - “Plan Your Trip” CTA below the first body text navigates to the Film Festival Fun offer page.

  • - “Let’s Go” CTA navigates to the general St. Elsewhere Spa page.

  • - Film Festival Fun offer description is located in the middle of the introduction body text and lacks essential information, such as discount code. 

  • - The H1 header is smaller than the subsequent H2 header.
  • St.

  • - Spa special prices are located under the body text.


cont'd

The most jarring friction clicked on the “plan your trip” CTA and was navigated to the Palm Springs Film Festival event offer page. This was alluded to in the 2nd body paragraph, but because the last paragraph described additional activities, I assumed the “plan your trip” CTA would navigate me to a general booking page.


I countered a similar lack of emphasis in the St. Somewhere Spa section. Though the section’s value proposition was the exclusive spa offer, this information was buried underneath a block of body text.


Problem: Marketing email does not clearly telegraph CTA navigation or emphasize exclusive offers.


Solution: Revise information architecture and CTA language for clear navigation and value proposition.


Design

I broke my revision plan into three sections: Introduction, Film Festival Fun, and the St. Elsewhere Spa.


Introduction


I maintained the existing content format and style while making key improvements.


To emphasize the “Film Festival Fun” offer, I removed the 2nd paragraph from the body text and created a new section (see below). Because of this, the vaguely worded “Plan your Trip” CTA was unnecessary.


I improved the marketing copy by leading paragraphs with action verbs emphasizing the value of Margaritaville’s services, such as “escape the winter blues” and “lounge in style.” 


Since the “Book Now” CTA in the upper right corner navigated to the exclusive offers page, I revised the microcopy to “Plan Your Stay” instead. I also inverted the CTA colors to create a fill state and included a minor drop shadow effect to emphasize CTA interaction.


However, most important was that I found a natural way to insert a Jimmy Buffet song title into the copy with “and it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere.” Nice.



Film Festival Fun


I designed a brand-new section for the film festival offer by drawing from the existing content format and style.


I transferred most 1st paragraph copy from the original email’s introduction text, though I included a “35th annual” description to convey the festival’s historical and cultural significance. I wrote the 2nd paragraph by pulling details from the main site’s exclusive offers page, including the number of films and the premiere of “Wicked Little Letters” with it’s star actresses. Similarly, I included this to convey better the value of the Film Festival Fun package with recognizable stars.


Then, I included the promotional code FILMFEST pulled from the main site so customers understood the code was necessary to receive the exclusive offer.


I utilized the same CTA style as above and changed the previous microcopy from “Plan Your Trip” to “Book Now.” I chose this language because the above copy clearly telegraphed the CTA navigation and conveyed the urgency of the limited ticket availability.




St. Somewhere Spa


The most jarring friction point of the previous section was the inconsistent CTA style and vague language, so I started there. I applied the same CTA style as previous sections and revised microcopy to “Explore Spa Specials” since the CTA navigated to the general Spa webpage and “explore” is a fun, active verb that conveys Margaritaville’s laid-back wanderlust.


I changed color of the H3 service names to blue (#2D687B) to differentiate them from the body text and moved the spa special prices above the service description so it was easier to find. I also changed “($$$ regular)” copy to “($$$ value)” to convey the value of these exclusive offers.


Finally, I implemented the same content style as the introduction section to the service descriptions, beginning with an action verb and immediately followed by value, e.g “embrace the new you with an instantly younger and glowing appearance.” I also tweaked the description copy for clarity and consistency.





Delivery

After these revisions, the email’s CTA’s were clearly telegraphed, the value of January’s exclusive offers were emphasized, and the marketing copy was action-oriented and written in a consistent brand voice.


I should have rewarded myself with a well-deserved trip to Palm Springs, but alas, in the words of Jimmy Buffet, “my gummy just kicked in.”