Boosting Offline Retail Sales with Email
Allen–Edmonds, a Wisconsin manufacturer of premium men’s
footwear, launched their email marketing program in August of 2001
based on a strategy proposed by Data Dog Marketing. With 27 retail
stores throughout the U.S. and Europe, the company was seeking additional
methods for reaching the customer. The program has proven very successful
in driving customers back into the stores for repeat purchases.
How It Works:
Although the technical aspects are simple, the
program provides highly sophisticated features that deliver solid
results in the area of “relationship marketing”. Relationship
marketing is all about knowing the customer and how to meet his or
her wishes. Here’s the process:
- Retail associates offer customers an incentive to voluntarily
provide their email addresses and other significant data at the
point of sale.
- Staffers use Data Dog’s web-enabled database to key in the
data which starts a sequence of marketing messages to that customer.
- Each customer automatically receives a personalized electronic
thank you from Susan Kleinfeldt, the director of retail operations.
The “eCard” provides a gracious follow-up to the store
visit and often arrives before the customer gets home.
- If the individual is a first-time Allen-Edmonds customer,
a second eCard from president and CEO John Stollenwerk [view
letter] is sent 10 days after the store visit. John’s letter
welcomes the customer to the Allen-Edmonds family. Customers also receive
a special eCard with a discount coupon on their birthdays.
- Periodic special promotion messages and offers are sent to various
groups selected from the database each month.
Robust Database Allows for Message Relevancy:
The email database is packed with critical customer
information including shoe size, number of pairs owned, types of shoes
and even clothing style preferences. Each message includes the address
and contact information from the store the customer visited. The list
is often segmented by store, region or country. Customers who shop
the Allen-Edmonds store in Serravalle, Italy [view
map] are sent translated eCards [view
card], a significant savings for the company when you consider
international postage costs.
Strengthening Relationships with Current Customers:
Allen-Edmonds realized the potential of email marketing
early on and has been diligent in making sure staffers capture the
right data in their stores. According to Cippy Seidler, who oversees
the program at the store level, “We can’t predict how
often a customer will return to our stores. Email allows us to stay
in touch with them and remind them about our events, offers and sales,
and that’s translated directly into incremental sales increases.”
Click each image below to view a larger version:
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| Data Card |
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Data entry |
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| Email reply |
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Sample eCard |
