Online Marketing: Driving
Traffic, Conversion and Sales
Vicki Updike Chief Marketing Officer, Miles Kimball
Arthur Middleton Hughes Senior Strategist e-Dialog
Agenda
 Highlight several e-mail strategies
•Look in your mailbox strategy
•Use of e-mails as reminders
•Use of transaction and triggered e-mails
Look in your mailbox tests
 Objective: understand incremental sales from catalog
plus emails
 Method: Send three different catalogs to test and control
group with and without emails.
 Measure: increased sales and reduced costs from use of
emails.
How Test was Conducted
 Randomly selected 2 test panels
 All purchased on-line
 All received 3 catalogs: Winter, Winter Remail and Spring.
 Second panel also received three email newsletters: two
after the catalog arrived, one during the catalog mailing.
Contact Strategy Results
 Email group had total increase in sales of 18% over catalog
only.
 Email increased number orders by 6%
 Average order size increased by 12%
 Variable operating cost per order decreased by 44% for
online orders.
 Emails increased promo cost by 6%
Total Contribution* Increase
 Increase in sales and decrease in operating
expense resulted in:
• Increase in total contribution by 43%
• Increased contribution per order increased by 35%
• Response rate increased by 6%
* Contribution includes income from S&H plus sales
Transaction & Triggered e-mails
 Transactional
and triggered e-mails are the most
powerful e-mails you will ever send to your catalog
customers.
 They have open rates of 70% to 90%, whereas
promotional e-mail’s open rates are usually less than
20%
 To be successful, these e-mails should be like a
conversation between the client and his customer.
 Secret of success: put the message at the top, and a
cross sale below the fold.
Types of Triggers
 Welcomes
 Abandoned Shopping Cart
 Product Ratings and Review
 First Time Buyer
 Birthday or Anniversary
 Direct Mail Support
 We Missed You
 Surveys and Polls
Cold Stone Creamery E-Mails
 Cold Stone with 1,700 locations created a birthday
club “Receive FREE Ice Cream on Your Birthday!” .
 In two years, 2,000,000 signed up for e-mails.
 Birthday e-mails have open rates 62.5% higher than
other e-mails. Click throughs are 350% higher .
 Franchisee survey:
“Overwhelmingly positive
response… drives people into the stores… people
don’t come in by themselves.”
9
Transactions: very powerful e-mails
 Transaction e-mails (“Your order was shipped
today”) – like triggers -- have open rates of more
than 60%
 Here is an ideal opportunity to promote
additional sales – because customers are
reading them.
 Many companies do not take advantage of this.
 Their transactions are in text, not HTML, and
often say “Do not reply to this e-mail!”
 What a mistake!
10
Why Transactions often go wrong
Instant
Retail POS System
Web site & E-mail
Catalog Desk
Instant
Instant
Delay
Delay
Delay
Delay
Shipping Dept.
Information
Technology
E-mail Service
Provider
Text
HTML
Text
Customer
How the Problem is Solved
Retail POS System
Information
Technology
Catalog Desk
E-mail Service
Provider
Customer
12
Web site & E-mail
Shipping Dept.
A Terrible Transactional E-mail
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for placing your order with BillBracket.com. We are currently
processing order 64854019. In-stock item(s) will arrive within 7-10 days
Please add one business day for orders placed after 3:00 p.m. Pacific time
and for gift-wrapped
or inseamed items
Monogrammed Items: If you ordered an embroidered item, please add one
business day to your delivery timeframe
For engraved items, please allow an additional eight to nine days
For more
information, click here.
The status of your items is listed below:
Item name
Qty. Size Color Status
Carpenter Jeans, Regular
1
34/30 Med. In Stock OES
Casual Chinos Nano-Tex®--Regular 1
34
Khaki Avail. 12/07/07
If you haven't already, sign up today for a personal Bill Bracket Login Account
and you can track this order, plus all future orders!] (Please note: it may take a
day for order status to become available.)
We look forward to your next visit,
Customer Service,
Bill Bracket, Inc. BillBracket.com
Check out our new arrivals and find great savings at BillBracket.com.
Microsoft Blows an Opportunity
Why don’t you make a note of
this easy-to- remember number
So you can enter it here!
And read this easy number over the phone to them here!
14
Keeping your subscribers
 Now that you have them, how do you keep them –
and keep them opening your e-mails?
 Make each e-mail relevant (to their interests) and an
adventure (by making it very interactive).
 Include surveys, opinion polls, contests, humor
why not make your e-mails fun to read?
15
--
Email ‘Reminders’
 Objective: Increase sales and contribution
 Method: Send a follow up email reminding customers of the
targeted sale
 Measure:
Combined online and offline sales and
contribution increase.
‘Reminders: Postcard design
’
‘Reminders E-mail Design’
Email ‘Reminder Results
 Email group had total increase in sales of 11% over postcard
only.
 Email increased number orders by 10%
 Emails increased promo cost by 3%
 End Result:
Increased Contribution
Trigger E-mails Strategy
 Objective:
Increased customer engagement and increased
sales
 Method:
Emails are sent to customers at the following
triggers:
• Receipt of a catalog
• New promotable email address
• No second purchase
• Abandon shopping cart
 Measure:
Increased opens, conversion and sales.
Catalog Mailing Triggered email
Key Learnings:



Show the catalog
that the customer
will or has
received.
Tell them what’s
new
Make it easy to
understand
Welcome Trigger Email
Key Learnings:



Give the new
prospect a solid
brand message
Not overly
promotional
Include a call to
action
We Miss You Email
Key Learnings:



Be specific
Ask them to come
back
Consistent brand
message
Abandon Cart E-mail
Key Learnings:



Be specific
Give them a reason
to check out
Consistent brand
message but
stronger
promotional content
Trigger vs. Non-Triggered
Emails




117% increase in open rate
189% increase in click through rate
10 Times the order rate
11 Times increase in demand per
email sent!
Triggered E-mail Conclusion:
 Generates valuable, loyal customers.
 Triggered emails to those who furnish opt-in
address is a powerful marketing tool.
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