Tink x Cogeco Media: Driving 98.5 FM’s Email Marketing Strategy

Context and mandate

A giant in the Canadian radio industry, Cogeco Media owns and operates 21 radio stations across the province, including 98.5 FM, the most-listened-to talk radio station in the country. With its unique blend of news, debates and entertainment, 98.5 FM is an integral part of the Quebec radio landscape, generating millions of monthly page views on its digital platform.

In a rapidly evolving media landscape where the requirements of Law 25 on the protection of personal information are transforming data collection practices, Cogeco Media sought to roll out a first-party data-centric email marketing strategy for 98.5 FM.

The company therefore commissioned the Click & Mortar team — now part of Tink — to design and implement this strategy end to end, focusing on three key areas: subscriber acquisition, audience segmentation and content creation.

Objectives

• Capitalize on 98.5 FM's large and engaged audience, along with its millions of monthly page views, to build a qualified subscriber base
• Implement high-performing acquisition mechanisms tailored to user behaviour
• Understand the audience's content consumption habits to develop precise and actionable segmentation
• Deliver relevant, personalized content through newsletters aligned with the expectations of each audience segment
• Ensure an approach that meets the requirements of Law 25 regarding data collection and use

Achievements

Deployment of acquisition pop-ups

To convert visits on the 98.5 FM website into subscriptions, we implemented pop-ups — contextual windows inviting users to sign up for the newsletter. Initially generic to validate the approach, these pop-ups were then personalized based on the content viewed and each user's browsing journey. This personalization significantly optimized pop-up performance.

Audience segmentation

To better understand and engage 98.5 FM's audience, we implemented a two-tiered segmentation system.

• A welcome form first invited new subscribers to indicate their preferences (favourite shows, preferred hosts, topics of interest, etc.). Over 2,500 welcome emails were sent, enabling the collection of declared preferences right from sign-up.
• In parallel, dynamic segmentation based on user browsing journeys continuously enriched profiles according to the content viewed on the website.

This combination of declarative and behavioural data made it possible to build a rich, actionable database.

Newsletter design and automation

Based on this segmentation, our Digital Operations and Marketing Automation team designed and rolled out two newsletter formats:

• A weekly newsletter featuring the week's top content for all subscribers
• Targeted newsletters tailored to identified segments (by interests, shows or hosts)

Newsletter production was automated through an RSS feed, ensuring continuous content updates with no manual intervention.

Template design

Our creative team designed the visual templates for the newsletters and pop-ups, staying true to 98.5 FM's brand identity while optimizing readability across both mobile and desktop.

Performance tracking

To enable continuous optimization, we defined the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the email marketing strategy and established a results interpretation framework to adjust tactics along the way.

Results

The email marketing strategy deployed by our team quickly delivered strong, measurable results:

• A 41% increase in total subscribers in just 5 months
• Personalized pop-ups performing 5X higher than generic pop-ups
• A 74% open rate for welcome emails, with 935 preference selections
• A 36% open rate for the weekly newsletter
• An 11% click-through rate for weekly newsletters — more than double the industry average!

Building on these excellent results, Cogeco Media expanded the mandate to its other radio stations, with the goal of creating synergy among stations with diverse resources while continuing to enrich its database. This initiative proved especially crucial in the context of Bill C-18, which significantly reduced the visibility of Canadian media content on social media platforms. Cogeco Media was thus able to continue reaching its audience directly, without relying on social media algorithms.

"The continuous support from the C&M team — now part of Tink — has greatly contributed to delivering the initial milestones of our new digital experience at 98.5. Together, we found and implemented effective strategies to propel our news content to a highly engaged audience. The team's trust and commitment allowed us to swiftly reap our low-hanging fruits!"
 

— Vincent Tétreault, General Manager - Digital Content, Cogeco