Sometimes, the most obscure references—okay, maybe not so obscure, depending on your age
and experience with digital communications—can trigger a response in email marketing.
In this case, it’s the number 143.

Lighthouses and Pagers

143 is texting slang for the phrase “I love you” based on the number of letters in each word. It
was popular in the 1990s when people had pagers with limited character counts. According to Internet lore, 143 as “I love you” originated with Minot’s Ledge lighthouse off the coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts. In 1895, the lighthouse changed its flash pattern to one quick
flash, four flashes, then three flashes, a pattern apparently chosen at random.

In 1915, assistant lighthouse keeper Winfield Scott Thompson’s family lived on a neighboring
island and could see the flashes of the lighthouse at night. Winfield’s wife allegedly told their
children it was the I Love You flash, their father’s way of telling them how much he loved them. As a result, Minot’s Ledge lighthouse is nicknamed the I Love You lighthouse.

Tying Discounts to Emotion

Last February for Valentines Day, Alchemy Worx ran an A/B split test on behalf of water
purifier merchant AquaTru highlighting the number 143 as a reference to I love you.

Both creative approaches offered a 14.3 percent-off discount sitewide. One highlighted the
discount offer on the top and bottom of the creative. The other said “143 = I Love You Sale” on
the top and made the 14.3-percent sitewide discount offer on the bottom.

Surprising Results

The “143 = I Love You Sale” creative won hands down.

It drove a 7-percent higher click rate, 34 percent more revenue and 14 percent more orders.
“This was a slam dunk,” says Terri Fajardo, executive vice president of strategy for Alchemy
Worx.

It was also somewhat of a surprise. “As direct marketers, our first instinct is to put the offer in
front of recipients. But the winning creative in this test featured the offer buried below the fold.
The only way recipients could see it was if they scrolled.”

“I think nostalgia played into this campaign,” says Fajardo. “143 = I Love You was cute and
drew some attention as opposed to 14.3 percent off which didn’t say I Love You. Inboxes are
flooded with percentage-off sales so I think people are desensitized to them.”

Alchemy Worx plans to apply the results of this campaign in creating others.

“We’ll take these learnings into Mother’s Day, which is heavy on I Love You,” says Fajardo. “We’ll try other iterations like the symbol “less than” and the number three (<3) which is also
love. It opens us up for nostalgic communication.”

Another possibility for a Mother’s Day campaign is a test involving 24.3 percent off, a
“243 = We Love Mom Sale.”

At Alchemy Worx, we test everything. You should, too. For more information on how to partner
with Alchemy Worx, contact us.