Design
Overhaul
Roles: Design Research and Reporting, Template Creation, Email Design
Seagate had a problem. Their email campaigns lacked cohesion, a unifying style, and proper branding. They were burning time coding custom emails for each communication they had to send. Wakegraphic was called in to help alongside Iron-Point to solve the problem. During this project we helped create and coordinate:
- A design audit of 100+ Seagate emails
- An analysis of competitor trends and internal Seagate branding rules that would need to be applied to the new email guidelines
- A template system that would keep their emails cohesive but allow for the same level of creative options that they currently had. This would include a series of Photoshop templates for future design use.
- An design document outlining the new template system.
This solution cut their marketing team’s turn times for email creation in half while improving engagement on B2B and B2C email communications.
All samples shown here are designs created by Wakegraphic using the overhauled system.
All samples shown here are designs created by Wakegraphic using the overhauled system.
Mobile First Design
For this project Wakegraphic assisted in an audit of over one-hundred archived marketing emails. This email audit included communications for three international segments within Seagate’s organization. The emails audited were pulled from all departments and included announcements, software updates, promotional offers, and sales. After interviews with stakeholders at Seagate, Wakegraphic assisted in separating the communications into bucketed types.
A major KPI in this project was the creation of mobile-ready templates—something that many Seagate’s marketing team, and many others at the time, lacked. Dozens of websites, white papers, and personal testimonials were collected to help the marketing team modernize their email communication. This all contributed to to the goal of driving higher click-through rates.
Wakgraphic was also invited to create unique email designs using the freshly created design system. The above designs are just a small sample. Wakegraphic created over 50 unique emails in this system, which were then sent out to a millions B2B and B2C customers across the globe (APJ, EMEA, US).
Prebuilt code blocks allowed designers and marketers to swap out different design pieces quickly and easily.
The templates had three default, branded call to actions styles.
Variable design elements allowed marketers to fit in the offers they needed.
The Template System
During the research process, Wakegraphic found that bucketing design items into a series of pre-built templates was not optimal. Seagate’s marketing team needed a more fluid option. We could not just create a finite set of design templates.
Outside of the audit mentioned above, an additional 100 Seagate emails were indexed. Common design elements were logged. Then, a series of interchangable elements were created for easy readability and engagement at any screen size, and in any order the B2B and B2C marketing team needed.
With this adaptable and responsive system, designers and marketers could create emails with infinite variety. These communications could also include as many or as few marketing offers as they needed.
In an effort to shave down turn times further, Wakegraphic also took charge of the creation and implementation of comprehensive Photoshop-based templates. These design files would streamline the conversion from static design to final HTML email in Seagate’s email marketing system.
As a supplement for these Photoshop templates, Wakegraphic also created a style guide and introduction booklet for the client to pass around internally, or to other agencies and contractors, in the future.
Seagate’s branded colors were applied to the templates
The Template System
During the research process, Wakegraphic found that bucketing design items into a series of pre-built templates was not optimal. Seagate’s marketing team needed a more fluid option. We could not just create a finite set of design templates.
Outside of the audit mentioned above, an additional 100 Seagate emails were indexed. Common design elements were logged. Then, a series of interchangable elements were created for easy readability and engagement at any screen size, and in any order the B2B and B2C marketing team needed.
With this adaptable and responsive system, designers and marketers could create emails with infinite variety. These communications could also include as many or as few marketing offers as they needed.
In an effort to shave down turn times further, Wakegraphic also took charge of the creation and implementation of comprehensive Photoshop-based templates. These design files would streamline the conversion from static design to final HTML email in Seagate’s email marketing system.
As a supplement for these Photoshop templates, Wakegraphic also created a style guide and introduction booklet for the client to pass around internally, or to other agencies and contractors, in the future.
Ongoing Use and Lasting Effects
The new design structuring was rolled out over the course of a few months. Time savings were immediately noticeable. The new template system allowed Seagate to pour more time into creating more visually compelling emails and more accurate and complex email campaigns.
Despite a rebrand and other brand updates, these templates are still still being used by the client and other agencies.
Most recently, Seagate got some positive attention for their email marketing system from ReallyGoodEmails.com and it is clear to see this design system still in use years later.
