Powerful Creatives, Shorter Lead Time: Currys’ AI-Driven Transformation
Currys leveraged Movable Ink Da Vinci’s AI-driven personalization to transform their email marketing from manual, batch campaigns to dynamic, individually tailored creatives, resulting in a 49% increase in clickthrough rate, 30% rise in conversions, 37% growth in revenue per send, and a reduction in campaign lead time from three weeks to two days during a six-week test period.
See What the Team Accomplished
- 49% lift in clickthrough rate
- 30% lift in conversions
- 37% lift in revenue per send
Challenge
Like many global retailers, Currys wanted to make their emails more customer-focused. However, restricted creative insights, limited technical resources, and reliance on manual campaign calendars and one-off creatives were slowing their ability to innovate as quickly as their customers’ expectations evolved.
Solution
With Movable Ink Da Vinci, the Currys team was able to move away from the traditional campaign calendar and adopt AI-optimized personalization. This unlocked strategic creative targeting and reuse rules. They developed new creative layouts, apps that stayed updated with their latest web content, and used Movable Ink Studio to maintain personalized product grids. As a result, every campaign felt tailored from header to footer.
Today, their campaigns drive higher engagement and revenue more efficiently, with lead times reduced from three weeks to just two days.
The Da Vinci Transformation at a Glance
Currys’ email overhaul focused on shifting from marketer-selected batch sends to personalized emails where creative assets were selected by Da Vinci. Da Vinci uses AI models, algorithms, and a unique scoring system to determine which creatives resonate with individual recipients, driving opens, clicks, conversions, and more. This approach avoided generic batch-and-blast emails, preventing subscriber fatigue and preserving customer loyalty.
Results represent Da Vinci uplift during a 6-week test period October-December 2024, tested against a marketer-selected creative (7-day post-click, online sales only).
Fewer Sends, Better Results
Quantity doesn’t necessarily equate to quality, especially in email campaigns. Currys transformed their approach by strategically dripping out campaigns over two weeks instead of sending one static creative in a single blast. Da Vinci nearly halved the recipient list, yet results improved across clicks, click-to-conversion rates, and revenue per send. The key was targeting customers more likely to convert at the right time with a higher average order value (AOV).
This approach allowed Currys to reuse powerful creative assets multiple times, maximizing their investment.
We set out to work smarter and faster, to drive significant commercial growth and meaningful customer engagement, and create a better customer experience by delivering the right content to the right customers at the right time. Enter Movable Ink Da Vinci—a solution that delivered operational and performance impacts in a matter of months instead of what could have taken years.
— Krissy Williams, Head of CRM, Loyalty & Personalization, Currys
Head-to-Head Testing
Choosing which creatives to send to which customers should rely on more than guesswork or broad trends. Testing helps understand what resonates with customers and what needs adjusting. Currys used AI-led optimization to select the most relevant asset for each individual, rather than ordinary A/B testing. When comparing AI-selected creatives to marketer-selected ones, the team saw a significant jump in results.
Turn Every Creative Into a High Performer
A health & beauty creative didn’t seem promising for a full-audience send, as most of Currys’ audience wouldn’t have resonated with it. However, with the right targeting, the creative reached the audience for whom it mattered most, saving budget and effort. Using Da Vinci, Currys targeted the right recipients for this creative while balancing engagement across other assets. What initially seemed low-potential became one of their most effective pieces, achieving the highest click-to-conversion rate and the third-highest AOV in their library.
What Marketers Can Learn from Currys' Strategy
- Scrap one-size-fits-all creatives for a tailored approach. If the right audience is targeted, even niche creatives can drive big wins.
- Testing is key to ongoing optimization. It helps uncover high-performing creatives and identify assets needing adjustment or retargeting.
- More isn’t necessarily better. Sending emails to a larger list more frequently isn’t the key to engagement and revenue—instead, opt for smaller, strategically targeted sends based on data and AI analysis.
- Gain senior-level support to streamline collaboration with in-house studios, CRM teams, and creative development, allowing for better differentiated messaging.
- Innovate martech stacks to create a more efficient operating model, whether by enabling self-service through automated audience selection and analysis or by streamlining campaign production.
Currys at Think Summit
In this panel, innovation experts from Currys share how they bring bold ideas to life, motivate teams across functions, and secure lasting executive support. They discuss the challenges they overcame and the strategies that helped them drive meaningful, sustainable change.