Recently, we posted that the basic mechanics of customer retention help businesses boost sales even in wartime. This case study proves that our recommendations work (clarification: we worked on the case during the lockdown period, not the war).
We implemented the project on a turnkey basis. All the client’s team did was verify the domain.
Email marketing in wartime — how to rebuild communication after a break and do it right.
About client
Red Park is an online clothing, footwear, and household goods store, which is one of the giants in the Kazakhstan market. At the time of its launch in fall 2020, the retailer had 26,000 subscribers in its database. So how did they get into it? Mostly due to mandatory registration during ordering. The site didn’t have any additional contact collection forms. Besides, no promotional materials were sent, and no trigger chains were set up.
Later, we also discovered that only 15% out of 26,000 emails were active. Other subscribers did not read the emails from the retailer.
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At the beginning of our collaboration, the goal was to launch the channel and increase the number of sales, not forgetting about the ROI.
What we started with: a step-by-step guide
When it comes to ROI in an overheated market, the most effective method is engaging with an already familiar audience with high brand loyalty. Users in this segment are more likely to order and give feedback. In addition, it is important to use proven tools that can deliver predictable results. So we started with the implementation of basic mechanics.
We provided the ToR for domain verification and created a template for promotional newsletters.
View the promo email template in full
At the same time, we prepared a widget for the subscription form and placed it on the site. In the first month, it helped to collect more than 400 contacts that further interacted with the mailing.
After that, we implemented a welcome series of triggers the user received after signing up. Also, we developed different email designs for men and women to personalize the messages.
Finally, we added a questionnaire to one of the letters to understand customer preferences better and later used this information to segment the base.
Examples of emails from the welcome series for women and men
We launched two birthday triggers, providing an extra promo code for a discount to the subscriber.
In addition, we reformatted the client’s product feed, placed code for web tracking, and provided edits to the website markup to enable in-depth segmentation. Based on that, we implemented the “Abandoned View” and “Abandoned Cart” triggers. In addition, we added a contact collection form in the footer, using the Claspo service.
What’s next: accumulating the first conclusions
After creating a sufficient number of emails with unique designs, we chose the most effective ones and divided them into sections. As a result, it significantly reduced the time for creating promotional mailings in the future.
We also launched the “reactivation” trigger for contacts who hadn’t read the emails for more than three months. Contacts who remained inactive for a long time were deleted from the database.
View full version of the “Reactivation” trigger
In addition to the questionnaire, we added laconic blocks with surveys to our promotional mailings. This way, we received information from more subscribers. After collecting the responses, we identified segments for promotional mailings, offering the most relevant products.
Results
At the beginning of our cooperation with the Red Park brand, the client did not work with the email channel. However, in the first six months, the channel began to generate 20% of the total revenue of the online store.
Optimizing the marketing budget does not mean a loss of effectiveness. On the contrary, retention-marketing tools steadily help increase sales even in times of austerity. Ask for a consultation if you want to understand how to make email a sales channel.
About the Authors
Daria Harmash
Retention Marketing Specialist at Promodo
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