Case Study: Car Talk achieves major newsletter engagement gains (40%+ opens, 42–50% clicks) with Emma, Inc.

Car Talk - Customer Case Study

Car Talk, the long‑running NPR program that’s grown into a digital community, needed a better way to keep its fans engaged via email as the brand expanded online. Working with Emma, Inc., Car Talk used email newsletters — most notably its weekly “Puzzler” — to maintain that community vibe while tackling the challenge of making messages more mobile‑friendly, focused, and easy to navigate.

Emma, Inc. helped redesign the Puzzler template on its email platform into a streamlined, mobile‑friendly layout with a single call to action and true CTA buttons. The new template boosted click rates by nearly 20%; the Puzzler now averages about 40% opens and 42–50% clicks, while the Car Talk “Time Kill Weekly” averages 30% opens and 35% clicks across nearly 60,000 subscribers — measurable gains attributable to Emma, Inc.’s design, automation, and segmentation support.

Car Talk

Doug Mayer

Digital Producer