Recruitment & Resourcing

Business Benefits

• Deliverability rate of 99.6%
• Click-through rate of 15%
• Doubled marketing output and halved marketing cost
• Retained full control over marketing

Synopsis

Adili is a leading online retailer of ethical fashion. The company had previously outsourced its marketing to an agency, but the marketing team felt they needed greater flexibility and more control in order to get better return from this channel.

Adili started working with smartFOCUS DIGITAL to bring email marketing in-house and increase the effectiveness this channel. The increased marketing power and the support from smartFOCUS DIGITAL has seen Adili double its marketing output and half its marketing spend.

Challenges

Before it started using the smartFOCUS DIGITAL email delivery platform, Adili’s email marketing was executed by an external agency. Adili had started to find this way of doing things restrictive. “Working with the agency proved to be a rather involved process,” says Rebekka Peake, Marketing Coordinator for Adili. “Work had to be scheduled in well in advance and last minute changes were chargeable.” Adili wanted to be able to quickly react to changes or opportunities in the business, but working on a fixed schedule with the agency made this impossible.

The lack of flexibility wasn’t the only challenge Adili faced. Outsourcing marketing systems was proving far from cost-effective. “If we wanted to change anything last minute, we had to pay for it,” explains Peake. “This meant that in order to avoid extra charges we would have to try and foresee what we would be communicating 2 weeks in advance, which is almost impossible in the fast-moving retail sector”.

Adili has an in-house team that needed an email service provider that could provide guidance and support during marketing campaigns, so it started looking for a vendor that could host the software, delivering functionality over the internet. Despite the close collaboration it wanted with the email service provider, Adili did not want to relinquish total control of its campaigns again. “It was important that we retain full control over our marketing at all times,” says Peake.

The Solution

Adili chose the smartFOCUS DIGITAL email delivery platform, and started working with smartFOCUS DIGITAL to improve the effectiveness of its marketing. “Email is the main communication tool for our customer base,” says Peake. “We send newsletters or e-shots out to customers at least once a week,” says Peake. “The newsletters promote new brands or product lines, as well as containing stories that focus on our key message of ethical business. Because it is now very easy to manipulate content and campaigns, we can make sure the newsletter stays relevant and up to date.” In addition, Adili keeps its customers updated about the latest deals and offers through its email marketing. Because of the greater flexibility afforded by smartFOCUS DIGITAL, Adili has been able to increase its marketing output dramatically, while paying less. “We have doubled our marketing activity,” says Peake. “What’s more, we’ve cut costs by half too.”

Since deploying the smartFOCUS solution, Adili’s email marketing campaigns have been yielding excellent results. Peake notes that deliverability is particularly high. “With the smartFOCUS DIGITAL solution, we are consistently experiencing deliverability rates of 99.6 percent,” she says. Response rates are also good. “We are getting click-through rates of between 10 and 15 percent, depending on the campaign,” says Peake.

The email marketing solution is hosted by smartFOCUS DIGITAL, with Adili accessing its functionality through a web application. “We are not IT experts,” says Peake. “With smartFOCUS DIGITAL looking after the maintenance of the system, all we have to think about is the marketing.” Adili is also receiving continued support from smartFOCUS DIGITAL. “When we have a question, we just have to pick up the phone and call the smartFOCUS team,” explains Peake. “There’s always someone on the other end who will help us, whether we want advice, or we have a problem that needs solving.”

The Bottom Line

Since it started using the smartFOCUS DIGITAL solution, Adili has doubled its output and halved cost. The company now experiences high deliverability rates of 99.6% and click-through rates of up to 15%. Peake is happy with the quality of the smartFOCUS DIGITAL solution, and the service Adili is receiving. “smartFOCUS is competitive price wise, the support is great and it’s really easy to use,” says Peake. “I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to other companies.”

Business Benefits

• Response rates of 33%
• Rapid campaign construction
• Best practice guidance
• Optimised Digital marketing

Synopsis

Hotpoint is the UK’s leading white goods brand, and part of Indesit Company UK. Founded in the 1900s, Hotpoint offers a comprehensive range of both free standing and integrated appliances covering laundry, refrigeration, dishwashing and cooking.

Hotpoint wanted to communicate with its customers in new ways, while ensuring its message remained relevant. Email was identified as being relevant, compelling and convenient. The company was launching a government-supported energy saving scheme, but needed additional customer information to do this successfully. The appliance manufacturer worked closely with smartFOCUS DIGITAL to launch a campaign to collect this information. The campaign was a success, and Hotpoint received response rates of 33%.

Challenges

Hotpoint was launching a new government-backed energy saving scheme, but to do this it desperately needed additional customer information. An email campaign with online data capture was identified as the ideal way to collect accurate and cost-effective information. Hotpoint had not marketed its brand through email before, and so needed to work with an email service provider that could supply guidance and expertise through the campaign, and beyond.

Campaign success was set with a minimum of 33% of email recipients to complete an online form. This data collection would provide additional personal details. A standard email campaign might achieve an average response rate of 10%, so achieving a rate 33% was a daunting prospect.

Another challenging aspect of the campaign was the extremely short timeframe that Hotpoint had available to collect the data. Every element of the campaign, from conception to completion, had to be completed in just four weeks.

The Solution

Hotpoint chose to work with smartFOCUS DIGITAL, leveraging the email service provider’s experience in email marketing to design a suitable campaign and manage it from concept through to execution and delivery. Because the campaign demanded such a high response rate, every part of the campaign needed to be optimised, and a multi-stage contact strategy would need to be used. All campaign elements were implemented using the smartFOCUS DIGITAL eChannel solution. “smartFOCUS DIGITAL was responsive and helpful, able to turn around work on the same day as they were asked,” says Iain Starkey. “This helped with the sign-off process and ensured we got the campaign up and running quickly.”

smartFOCUS DIGITAL developed email creative that reflected Hotpoint’s branding. This branding provided instant consumer recognition, raised trust for the campaign. smartFOCUS DIGITAL also provided best practice advice on the email content, ensuring optimum copy, length and effective calls to action.

The team at smartFOCUS DIGITAL also designed the online data capture form that would collect the information Hotpoint needed. The number, type and wording of the data capture questions were refined, so that the information could be collected in the easiest way for the customer. The data requested was quite sensitive, and the data capture form was designed to be respectful of this.

The campaign consisted of multiple stages, and was subject to a continuous improvement process. “smartFOCUS DIGITAL’s advice and solution made the whole campaign process very easy, and allowed us to focus on driving the response rate and optimising the e-mail survey we were using,“ says Iain Starkey. Every stage of the campaign was optimised based on the results of the previous stages, with copy and incentives improving along the way.

The Bottom Line

The content that smartFOCUS DIGITAL provided, and the continual refinement of the campaign, ensured that Hotpoint received the necessary response rate of 33%, and the campaign was executed and the results delivered within the four week timescale. Hotpoint was satisfied with both the Services and the smartFOCUS DIGITAL eChannel solution. “We have not previously used e-mail in this way,” says Iain Starkey. “This first campaign ensured we came across in a professional and effective way.” Hotpoint now considers email an important part of its brand strategy.

Business Benefits

• Achieved delivery rates of over 95%
• Halved email campaign construction time
• Improved segmentation and analysis

Synopsis

Bounty is the UK’s premier parenting club with over three million members. The organisation provides multiple channels for other family-focused companies to get their product or message to their target audience. The organisation works with the NHS and retail partners to distribute over 3.4 million Bounty packs containing essential samples and information to families with young children every year.

Bounty wanted to increase its email marketing capability. The company’s existing email delivery platform was not able to support complex activities like customer segmentation, and comprehensive campaign analysis. Bounty knew that this functionality would be crucial if it was to improve communication with its members and provide third parties with the standard of marketing they required. Bounty also wanted to make it easier to launch campaigns and ensure consistently high delivery rates.

Bounty was able to easily integrate the smartFOCUS DIGITAL solution into an existing smartFOCUS marketing software deployment, allowing for much more accurately targeted email campaigns, improved analysis of digital campaigns, faster email campaign construction times, and an increase in profitability.

Challenges

Before Bounty deployed smartFOCUS DIGITAL, it was using another in-house email marketing solution. Despite this, email was not integrated into the business as much as Bounty would like. Part of the reason for this was that Bounty was growing and the email solution it was using was unable to keep pace. “We realised we needed to be capable of much better targeting,” says Mike Flight, Data Services Manager for Bounty. “The solution we were using simply could not offer us the flexibility to segment our customer data in an effective way.”

Another challenge Bounty faced was that it was unable to conduct any meaningful campaign analysis. “Our email marketing system was geared towards functionality rather than understanding,” says Flight. “This meant we were unable to get a clear picture of what messages customers were and were not responding to.”

Bounty is a long-term smartFOCUS customer with a highly successful core smartFOCUS marketing deployment. “We were looking for an email service provider that would easily integrate with the smartFOCUS software we already used,” says Flight. “Although it was possible to integrate the majority of offerings in the market into our core marketing solution, with smartFOCUS DIGITAL it would be almost effortless. Plus, we looked around the market and quickly discovered that smartFOCUS DIGITAL’s functionality couldn’t be beaten.”

The Solution

After implementing the smartFOCUS DIGITAL email delivery platform, Bounty was able to start segmenting its database. The email solution integrated easily with Bounty’s smartFOCUS deployment, allowing it to feed into and receive data from the single customer view. “Our targeting is now intensely focused,” says Flight. “Members now receive only communications and offers that have relevance to their lives. Because messages are more relevant, customers are much more engaged, and more likely to do business with us too.” The improved segmentation afforded to Bounty through smartFOCUS DIGITAL has allowed email to become a core marketing channel for Bounty. “Email is helping us engage with members, from the first time they visit a GP prenatal, right up to when their children start school,” says Flight. “The messages a member will want to receive when they are prenatal are very different to what they will want to know about when their children are a year old. Because targeting is much improved, we can ensure that our communications are relevant to each member’s specific situation.”

Bounty now conducts a range of email marketing activities. As well as messages detailing offers, and product updates, Bounty also sends out a weekly newsletter, personalised for each individual member. The company has discovered that setting up and launching these campaigns is a much simpler task than it was. “smartFOCUS DIGITAL is really easy to use,” says Flight. “Being based on a content management system, the marketers have full control over all functions. The interface is clean and easy to use too, and this has helped us halve the time it takes to put campaigns together.” Deliverability and response are also good. “Click-throughs are always high, and we consistently hit over 95% deliverability,” says Flight.

Bounty is now able to comprehensively analyse the results of campaigns, and the progress of current ones. The email software feeds into Bounty’s existing smartFOCUS deployment. “We are getting much more information back than we were. This is helping us refine campaigns and determine our future marketing strategy.”

The Bottom Line

Since deploying the smartFOCUS DIGITAL solution, Bounty has greatly increased the flexibility of its email marketing. The company is now capable of complex segmentation and vastly improved analysis. “We have seen profits increase year on year, and email has played a key role in this,” says Flight. “Our marketers are impressed with the flexibility the email delivery platform offers. We haven’t encountered an email marketing challenge we couldn’t address with smartFOCUS DIGITAL. I think that says volumes about the quality of the solution.”