case study + SWEET SUCCESS How Spangler Candy made their highest day of online sales ever with data-driven email marketing
getting more from existing customers Spangler Candy, founded in 1906, is a major candy manufacturer. Their products include classic candies such as Dum Dums, Candy Canes, Saf-T-Pops and Circus Peanuts. PAGE 1
repeat buyers GETTING MORE FROM EXISTING CUSTOMERS On Sept 16, 2013, Spangler Candy (maker of Dum Dums) saw their highest day of online revenue since starting ecommerce in 1998, from a segmented email campaign to new and lapsed customers. To implement this campaign, Spangler Candy s team leveraged purchase history data, imported by Windsor Circle from their ecommerce platform into their Salesforce Marketing Cloud account. This augmented profile data, combined with the analysis and retention automation services provided by Windsor Circle, allowed Spangler Candy to send targeted messages with different offers: one to lapsed customers who may have otherwise disappeared for good, and a second to new customers, aiming to turn them into repeat buyers. We sent out Windsor Circle enabled emails on 9/16/13, and the result was a 2.38x lift from our average weekday sales number (our sales skew toward the weekdays and are lower on weekends). said Jim Knight, Spangler Candy VP of Marketing / ecommerce. It was also our single highest day of revenue thus far, since our start in ecommerce in 1998. PAGE 2
client spotlight 01. 10 MILLION DUM DUMS Spangler Candy adopted Windsor Circle s software and services to help build their customer engagement, lifecycle marketing, and retention automation programs. With household brand names like Dum Dums in their product mix, this 107 year-old company has an enormous customer and subscriber database. Spangler Candy manufactures 2.7 million Candy Canes, 500,000 Saf- T-Pops, and 10 million Dum Dums each day. Millions of consumers enjoy their products, and tens of thousands of business customers order from SpanglerCandy.com. 66% More Opens 45% More Clicks When starting ecommerce and email marketing in the late 90s, they had little access to actual purchase history data within their email marketing software and were thus sending primarily batchand- blast emails, where everyone gets the same message. In 2005, Spangler Candy signed with Salesforce Marketing Cloud as their email marketing software provider. This platform gave them the capability to send more targeted, relevant, and personalized email, in addition providing a robust range of automation and design capabilities. Most retailers today are using email marketing software with segmentation and automation tools that are wellsuited to leverage ecommerce data. In 2012, Spangler Candy signed with Windsor Circle to integrate their ecommerce software with their email software. Windsor Circle began analyzing, cleansing, and importing customer, product, and purchase history data into Spangler Candy s email account in November 2012. Our Client Success team helped Jim Knight and his team move towards data-driven marketing, building out automated email campaigns based to fit their business model. Windsor Circle enabled automated retention emails are driving 66% more Opens and 45% more Clicks than Spangler Candy s 2013 average email campaign. PAGE 3
win back 02. WIN BACK CAMPAIGN Every retailer has dormant customers on their email list, but not every retailer can easily identify and email those customers who haven t purchased in a while. These customers need a special kind of message, one that compels them to re-activate and start spending again. Windsor Circle helped Spangler Candy identify customers who had not purchased for more than 6 months (from Feb 1, 2013 and prior), but no more than 3 years ago, and develop a Win Back email, sent on Sept. 16, 2013. This single email, targeting lapsed customers who may have otherwise disappeared for good, resulted in the majority of revenue on Spangler s highest ecommerce day ever. 30.1% Open Rate 1.7 times 2013 list avg. 9.1% Click-through Rate 2.2 times 2013 list avg. email subject: We ve Missed You! Click-through rate as a percent of total recipients! PAGE 4
win back 03. AUTOMATING THE WIN BACK Leveraging Spangler Candy s new email design, Windsor Circle built a series of 3 automated Win Back emails within their email marketing account. The emails are sent automatically to customers who haven t purchased in a pre-defined period of time, at 4, 8, and 12 months. RE-ENGAGE The first email in the series provides a clear we miss you message to spark re- engagement, along with a coupon. CONVERT email subject: We ve Missed You! Win Back campaigns can drive significant revenue for retailers, particularly when targeting Churning Customers, or those customers who in the past were big spenders or frequent shoppers, but have not purchased recently. The final Win-Back campaign email automatically reminds customers of the last item they ordered, 1 year from the order date, and encourages them to order again. 4 months 24.4% Open Rate 6.3% Click Rate 8 months 24.5% Open Rate 6.2% Click Rate 12 months 24.5% Open Rate 6.2% Click Rate email subject: Ready to Reorder? PAGE 5
thank your customers 04. NEW CUSTOMER THANK YOU Spangler Candy leveraged the purchase history data that Windsor Circle analyzes and imports from their custom ecommerce platform to send this New Customer thank you email on Sept 19, 2013. email subject: Thanks for your Recent Purchase!! 45.4% Open Rate 2.6 times 2013 list avg. 7.9% Click-through Rate 2.6 times 2013 list avg. We really wanted to get more ecommerce sales out of our current customers instead of spending money to acquire new customers. -Jim Knight, Spangler Candy VP of Marketing / ecommerce PAGE 4
thank your customers 05. AUTOMATE YOUR THANKS After the success of the initial, data-driven Thank You email, Spangler Candy decided to send all new customers a series of 3 automated thank-you emails after their 1st purchase. These emails are triggered based on purchase history data imported by Windsor Circle into Spangler Candy s email account. Windsor Circle imports a custom field containing a customer s first purchase date, which allows retailers to set up a triggered email which is sent at a pre-defined number of days after this first purchase date. The customer is automatically removed from the Thank You series when their Frequency Actual (another custom data field) goes from 1 to 2 (total number of purchases is above 1). 23.8% Opens 4.2% Clicks This is the 2nd automated email in Spangler Candy s new Post-Purchase Thank You Series. It aims to increase social engagement by inviting recipients to Like Spangler Candy on Facebook, and provides a 10% off coupon. PAGE 7
welcome 06. WELCOME NEW SUBSCRIBERS GET CONNECTED: SEGMENTING NEW RESIDENTIAL & BUSINESS SUBSCRIBERS Since July 2010, Spangler Candy has used Salesforce Marketing Cloud s Triggered Email feature to welcome new subscribers to their 2 email newsletters: Dum Dum Digest is for consumers, while Candy2Business is aimed at business clients. Many of Spangler Candy s ecommerce shoppers are business customers (for example, banks, doctors and law offices, restaurants...) who stock Spangler products for their patrons. By offering a different newsletter for each segment, Spangler can send relevant products, offers, and messages to customers. For example; smaller size boxes to consumers, bulk products for businesses. Spangler Candy s original welcome emails Welcome to Dum Dum Digest 42.9% Open Rate 14.2% Click-through Rate Welcome to Candy2Business! 50% Open Rate 19.3% Click-through Rate Spangler Candy s NEW welcome email PAGE 8
loyalty 07. BUILDING A LOYALTY PROGRAM Identifying and Rewarding Loyalty Spangler Candy sought to identify loyal customers in 2012 by inviting all customers who made a purchase in 2011 to subscribe to their email newsletters. This email helped Spangler Candy test the response rates and conversions from a loyalty-focused message with a 20% off coupon tied to subscribing to one of Spangler Candy s email newsletters. The initial one-time email generated a 26.1% Open Rate and 8.5% Click-through rate, and helped bring thousands of customers into an ongoing conversation. Identifying and Rewarding Loyalty Starting in November 2013, Spangler Candy started sending automatic Loyalty Reward emails to their best customers. Windsor Circle is constantly analyzing and updating purchase history data within Spangler Candy s email account, including whether a customer is part of Best Customer segment. Using their email software s automation features and this data, Best Customers will get special loyalty emails as soon as they deserve them. 27.8% Opens 2.8% Clicks Spangler Candy s NEW welcome emails PAGE 9
holiday 08. HOLIDAY OPPORTUNITIES With over 100 years of business history and household brand candy names to leverage, Spangler Candy aims to pioneer data-driven digital marketing for future growth. For holidays like Christmas and Valentines Day, Windsor Circle s Client Success team is helping Spangler Candy implement key data-driven and segmented campaigns: - Holiday recipes - Big spenders segment - Product recommendation - Candy cane segments The Holiday Recipes email uses first-name personalization and highlights some ways to make an already delectable treats even more amazing. Peppermint hot cocoa, anyone? Retailers like Spangler can generate large holiday revenue boosts by their biggest spenders and sending them right-sized offers. For example, if the AOV (average order value) of an average customer is $100, but big spenders tend to spend $200, a Big Spenders campaign can offer a $50 coupon on purchases of $250 or more to this group. 09. HELPING CUSTOMERS ENJOY MORE In preparation for the Holiday Season, Windsor Circle helped Spangler Candy develop a special product recommendation email targeting select customers. A segmented Candy Cane email will target residential consumers who tend to buy candy canes or businesses that buy mini-candy canes for the holidays, while a different email will target businesses who usually purchase mini-candy canes. These emails will aim to increase volume from these segments, while smoothing out orders to help the warehouse manage demand. Spangler Candy is also excited about its new email design. Staying colorful, fresh, and friendly, the design highlights the main brands and playful font. Remember, great marketing is one part science and one part art. You need the data to be a scientist, and creativity for the art. Spangler is doing a great job with both! PAGE 10
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