by
Allison Banko, Reporter
CHALLENGE
ZAGG has helped countless device-lovers coddle their gadgets and gizmos. The No. 1 mobile accessories company boasts a slew of products spanning from tablet keyboards to screen protectors.
The brand's abundance of such products, in the form of high inventory levels, even led to a promotion opportunity.
While in the past ZAGG tackled high inventory via discount, BOGO (buy one and get one free) and bundle promotions, the team had something else in mind this go 'round.
"We wanted to not only do something different, but we wanted to show our customers that we appreciate them," explained Jessica Andreasen, Email Marketing Manager, ZAGG.
However, Andreasen added the team unfortunately couldn't remain profitable by simply passing out the extra products to customers for free. ZAGG's challenge was creating a campaign that helped solve the issue of high inventory, continue to earn revenue and, most importantly, show appreciation to its loyal customers.
CAMPAIGN
To shake things up while showing thanks, the team ran an email campaign exclusive to existing ZAGG customers, promoting a free gift with the purchase of $9.99 or more.
Customers were split into three segments:
- Customers over one year
- Customers over two years
- Customers over three years
Each segment was offered three different gift products, the items increasing in value with the number of years the customer had been with ZAGG.
"It's a win for our customer, it's a win for our inventory levels and for our revenue, so it just made sense," Andreasen said. "It was one of those things where it was like, 'Why have we not done this before?'"
Step #1. Select products for each customer segment
By categorizing past purchasers into three tiers, the team was first tasked with selecting the gifts to offer to each of the sections.
They decided upon three gifts per segment (increasing in value the higher the tier), allowing longer customers the option of choosing from the lower tier products, as well:
- 1 year
- iPhone4 & 4S Universal Soft Gloss Cover — Clear
- EarPollution Luxe Mico Bud with Mic — Smart Blue
- EarPollution Ozone — Silver/Black
- 2 years
- EarPollution Plugz Earbuds with Mic — Orange
- iPhone 4 & 4S Bullfrog Cover — Black/Green
- iPod Touch 4 Soft Gloss Cover — Clear
- 3 years
- EarPollution Comfort Series 40 — Green Chromatone with Mic
- iPad 2 Backbone — Clear — Case
- EarPollution Ozone Earbuds with Microphone — Red/Chrome
During the selection process, Andreasen said the team wanted to ensure the gifts appealed to a wide array of customers. While there were device-specific options like iPhone covers, there were device-neutral products such as the earphones, as well.
"I always made sure that there was some sort of universal product within each tier," she explained.
Step #2. Design the body of the email
The team aspired for the campaign to exude gratitude, so the design and copy of the email portrayed an appreciative tone.
"The way that you communicate with your customer can make such a difference," Andreasen said. "So we took the approach of, 'Thank you so much. We appreciate you — enjoy this free gift' rather than, 'Spend this and get this.'"
Below a large header reading, "Thank you for being a loyal customer," the copy read:
(First Name), thank you for being a ZAGG customer for over (1, 2 or 3) years! We're so happy you're a part of the ZAGG family and want to celebrate by giving you a gift. For the next few days, purchase anything on the site over $9.99 and choose any one of the below items for free!
A button at the bottom of the email labeled "Choose Your Gift" directed customers to their corresponding gift landing page.
Step #3. Include a sense of urgency with each email send as an incentive
Beginning in March of 2013, ZAGG sent its customer appreciation emails a total of four times. Sends were spaced out every six weeks, and the gift offers were made available for only a week at a time to invoke a sense of urgency, Andreasen explained.
Minor adjustments were made to the campaign along the way due to some of the products running out of stock. The team observed the popularity of headphones and, due to the deal at hand, the gift choices that had the higher price points.
This even gave the team a glimpse into which items ZAGG customers liked the most, arming the team with helpful data to use in future campaigns as far as which products to market, Andreasen explained.
"Being able to do [the sends] a few times helped us see what products people are most interested in," she said. "It was helpful for later marketing purposes."
RESULTS
ZAGG's customer appreciation campaign produced these metrics:
- 152% increase in revenue-per-email sent
- 252% increase in average conversion rate
"To see the revenue-per-email and the conversion rate increase so much was awesome," Andreasen said. "My goal has been to try and find messaging and email promotions that are more relevant to our customers."
She added the team found it fun to watch the campaign take flight, witness gifts sell out and the see the buzz created on social media.
They saw customers tweeting screenshots of the ZAGG emails, expressing their excitement about the campaign — and gifts, of course.
The team attributes the campaign's overall prosperity to the messaging.
Andreasen said it was the approach of "thank you" that made all the difference for ZAGG.
"It's more of a relationship thing than a selling tool," she said. "And I think that really helped the success of this campaign."
See Jessica Andreasen's keynote presentation "Subscribers as brand advocates" at MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2014, held February 17 through 20, at the Aria Resort & Casino Las Vegas. Creative Samples
- Customer rewards landing page (one year)
- Customer rewards landing page (two years)
- Customer rewards landing page (three years)
- Email (one year)
- Email (two years)
- Email (three years)
Source
ZAGGRelated Resources
MarketingSherpa Email Awards 2014, presented by ExactTargetE-commerce Marketing: 540% higher revenue-per-email for automated sendEmail Marketing: Copyblogger's email list grows by 400% using free paywall to access "MyCopyblogger" contentE-commerce: 10 case studies to help you excel in content marketing, social media and website optimization
