How we increased revenue by 18,207% after email marketing platform migration during BFCM season
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Penoblo
Industry: Office Supplies Platform: Shopify
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About the Brand
Penoblo is a German online shop that offers an array of premium fountain pens, rollerball pens, ballpoint pens, and pencils, for every taste and every budget.
Penoblo aims to elevate the writer and improve their writing experience with the following core values:
- Passion and Creativity: coming up with novel solutions to age-old problems, innovation, and keeping ahead of trends through regularly updated designs.
- Service and Care: focusing on the customer and taking as much time as necessary to advise each customer personally.
- Trust and Respect: keeping promises and maintaining a 4.9-star buyer protection guarantee
- Professionalism: less talk and more action - be it in problem-solving, product development, or order fulfillment.
- Quality and Tradition: all brands managed by Penoblo are tradition-conscious experts who produce products with proven craftsmanship in loving craftsmanship and attention to detail.
The Challenge
The client had just migrated from Mailchimp to the Klaviyo platform during the most crucial period of pre-BFCM preparation.
eCom Maniacs used their comprehensive BFCM strategy to achieve the client's goals, which were:
- Improve and build on their newly-migrated flows and update them to adopt the BFCM Offers Strategy;
- Create a comprehensive email campaign plan for the BFCM 2021 Sale using a variety of offers;
- Convert as many subscribers as possible into paying customers during BFCM season even with just minimal subscriber data, having just migrated from Mailchimp to Klaviyo.
What was holding them back:
Mailchimp didn't offer the level of customization and depth of data that Klaviyo provides.
Lists & Campaigns Engagement rate data was not available.
Mailchimp automated flows were neither performing nor on brand-design & copy-wise.
Before BFCM
After eCom Maniacs
Within a month from migration to a new Email Marketing Platform and during one of the busiest sales of the year, we helped Penoblo increase their shop's Total Email Revenue from €29.3K to €101K, which is a growth of 18207%.
OUR BFCM PLAYBOOK
• Immediately began the email Campaign and used the client's pre-existing list of 13k subscribers to run a re-engagement Campaign before the BFCM event.
• Revamped the Flows & Campaigns email templates and built a high-converting website pop-up to boost list growth.
• Leveraged highly-engaging CTAs and offers, best-performing subject lines, and preview lines, and scheduled these to go out at the optimal send time.
• A/B-tested Popup designs to find the most effective approach.
Penoblo had completed a platform migration from Mailchimp to Klaviyo very close to the BFCM launch date. Because of this, we ran the first Campaign for this client during the BFCM season in November.
Luckily, their ESP (Email Service Provider) migration brought it with an extensive list of 13k subscribers, so we used it to run Campaigns.
However, reliable data did not adequately demonstrate this list's engagement quality.
Moving quickly, we immediately began sending Campaigns and prioritized those that would receive a high level of engagement. We then moved on to our BFCM strategy, which also performed well following Cyber Monday.
Strike first, fast
We knew we hit a goldmine with Penoblo's existing 13k-strong subscriber list. But we also knew this sizeable list had to be optimized in order to maximize conversion potential.
First, BFCM teasers were deployed to hype up the customer base.
Next, we launched the first BFCM Campaign on November 20 (Early BFCM with 10% OFF).
Since timing is everything with this Campaign, we expanded the Campaigns to Black Friday Week beginning November 23rd. This segued into the main event: Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale dates.
A/B Testing Popups
Since the BFCM sale was poised to offer massive price slashes and on-site discounts, eCom Maniacs recommended that the client modify their current Popup and remove the 5% sign-up as well as the discount offer.
We did this to make sure of two things:
- That we were still collecting email subscribers with an attractive BFCM offer;
- That we were protecting the client's revenue health by ensuring we weren’t offering unsustainable discount levels, given the incoming BFCM deals.
The old Popup (see Image 1) was tested for a couple of weeks before BFCM but yielded no significant improvement in performance.
The Shopify/Mailchimp format used underperformed, with Submit Rates of 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively. (See Graph 4)
Having seen the numbers from the previous A/B tests, eCom Maniacs decided to remove the 3 fields in favor of leaving just 1. Similarly, we tested various lifestyle images in the Popup.
Moreover, we changed the Popup behavior, "Exit Intent," to keep the client on the website and reduce Bounce Rates.
After making these changes, we immediately started seeing improvements in the number of signups and conversions. Submit Rates increased from 1.2% to 3.9% for Format A and from 1.6% to 2.9% for Format B. (See Image 5)
Advanced Acquisition Strategy
We used the weeks before the holidays to increase excitement and acquire potential shoppers by using scarcity, urgency, and a strategically placed valuable offer.
● Subscribe to Early Access - Targeted VIP customers or net new profiles and asked them to opt-in to receive BFCM discounts before the rest of the regular subscribers.
● Subscribe to SMS - “Join our SMS list and never miss a deal!” or “Join our SMS list for an exclusive BFCM offer!”
● Subscribe to Exclusive Content - For those looking to educate subscribers before the holidays, “Get our healthy holiday cookbook” “Get our guide on how to save for the holidays.”
Offers
Instead of relying on a typical 50% off discount for Black Friday Campaigns, we provided a range of high-value offers that the client could choose from, in accordance with which option would suit their business best:
• Bundle Deals - This offer is best for businesses with multiple SKUs. A bundle is usually comprised of best sellers or a combination of flagship and new products sold as a single package at a collective rate.
• Long-Term Discounts - Instead of discounting products or services for one-off purchases, customers can be encouraged to sign up for a yearly or monthly subscription at a significantly lower price. This forms the basis for various VIP programs.
• BOGO (Buy One, Get One) - A classic, where the customer gets 2 products for the price of 1.
• Holiday Perks - These perks are often cyclical and seasonal in nature. The offers usually go live in time for major holiday events. Some examples include free shipping, free gift wrapping, and guaranteed delivery date.
• Loyalty Perks - Loyalty offers, such as cash-back and rewards points, provide customers with incentives and benefits and may help foster long-lasting B2C relationships. In fact, 78% of buyers are more likely to buy from a company that offers a loyalty program.
• Creative Offers - Offers that are typically customized to the business' production and inventory pipeline schedule. Some examples include "Kick-off the Season Sale," "Early Bird Sale," "VIP Access Sale," and so on.
Here are other types of offer structures you can use for BFCM:
➔ Flat % off
➔ Flat $ off
➔ Tiered % or $ off
➔ Gift With Purchase
➔ Free Shipping
➔ Buy 1 Get 1
➔ Price Change Offer
A Multi-Channel Strategy
eCom Maniacs recommends a multichannel approach to all our clients as it is the most effective way to engage with prospects and maintain top of mind with consumers through various platforms.
What we recommended:
- Warm-up cold traffic in October and early November before the Cost Per Impression (CPM) spikes as BFCM approaches
- Launch primer Campaigns 21 days prior to Black Friday
- Decide on, and roll out, discount Campaigns
- Host offers on a dedicated landing page
The Dedicated Landing Page
A BFCM-dedicated landing page was essential to converting traffic for this project for the following reasons:
- A clear and concise message allowed us to funnel the audience to a page solely focused on a single message/call to action.
- A straightforward UX design helped visitors stay focused on the goal rather than distracted by numerous links leading them away from the page.
- A focused landing page allowed for quick loading time. The average person takes only 3 seconds to decide whether they will remain on a web page and explore its content.
- The targeted focus on the unique selling points helped highlight the offer's key benefits.
- A countdown timer encouraged a sense of urgency and created FOMO (fear of missing out). This tool grabs users' attention and functions as a highly-effective scroll stopper.
- Black Friday weekend is one of the busiest shopping periods. So, capture customers' attention with bold banners showing off your giveaways, offers, and exclusive deals.
The Email Flows
Otherwise known as the bread and butter of the eCom Maniacs BFCM strategy. Our email Flows are designed to deliver persuasive messaging that helps increase audience engagement.
Here's our simple but effective formula:
- A header that highlights seasonal deals
- A template that you can swap out in high volume/high engagement Flows (Welcome, Abandoned Cart, Browse Abandonment, etc.)
- Decreased time delays for Abandonment Flows (from 2 hours → 30 minutes)
- Updated subject lines to call out deals, add urgency, and highlight scarcity
- Countdown timers
- If someone viewed many pages, appeal to their indecision — if you offer gift cards, consider this option for a Browse Abandonment email: “How about a last-minute gift card?”
The eCom Maniacs 6-Step BFCM Sequence
Based on our market research and data insights, we predict that BFCM shopping will kick off earlier and last longer each coming year.
With almost half of all consumers purchasing early, we predict that more and more deals will appear earlier and extend well beyond December 24th.
A quick Google search for “Black Friday 2021” serves up plenty of content offering “early” deals to shoppers, many of whom are eager to get their hands on items that were in short supply in 2021 due to the market disruptions of 2020.
In this regard, we strategized and created a 6-Step BFCM Email Sequence:
The Hype Builder
Not wanting to miss a beat, we launched our comprehensive BFCM Campaign immediately.
The goal was to re-engage the client's 13K subscriber segment before the main BFCM event.
The emails that launched invited unengaged segments to participate in the upcoming sale. Branded email copy acted as a teaser and encouraged customers to stay tuned for more.
Priority List
A Priority List email was scheduled to go out five days before the main event. For this sequence, opt-ins are strongly encouraged.
We offered Early Access to the BFCM sale through the new Popup's CTA.
FOMO-style copy throughout evoked urgency and action from prospective buyers.
The Early Access opt-in, for example, promised exclusive first access to those who signed up 24 hours before the main Black Friday sale.
Main Launch
The main launch was released on the sale day.
We segmented the client's list according to interest, price sensitivity, customer value, and level of engagement. In addition, we prioritized Penoblo's most engaged segments since they would likely bring the best results.
This email highlights the offer and the duration of the sale. For this sequence, we highly recommend showcasing best-selling products.
Social Reminder
This email's purpose is to remind the customers that the sale is ending.
At this stage, we continued to utilize urgency by including a countdown timer. This would provide an extra push that would encourage the customer to take action and participate in the sale if they hadn't yet.
One notable feature of this email sequence is that it also highlights social proof — through testimonials or the power of numbers (or, in this case, how many customers had purchased throughout the sale).
Sales Closing
Think of this sequence as a "last call." This final email highlights the sense of urgency on the last day of the sale.
Here, we re-emphasize the discounts, indicate product scarcity, and include positive customer reviews.
THE RESULTS
Considering the recent migration from Mailchimp to Klaviyo and the uncertainty of the list’s engagement, the results exceeded expectations across all the KPIs.
As seen below, Owned Revenue share saw a massive jump from 0.34% to 22% from October to November.
Email Deliverability Performance
Our curated Campaign sequence scored higher than industry benchmarks for Open and Click Rates, as seen below:
THE CONCLUSION
Our BFCM strategy and efforts contributed to the following:
- A 178% increase in Overall Revenue from October 2021;
- A 38% increase in store revenues year on year (November 2020 vs. November 2021);
- 18,207% increase in Email Revenue from October 2021; and
- An Overall Revenue of €455K in one month, with €101K coming from Email Flows and Campaigns.
Ready to talk strategy?
If you are serious about hitting record-breaking sales with retention marketing, contact us for a strategy call, where we'll share the most effective and advanced strategies we're using.
