Sundance Catalog Company tests welcome email campaign to increase customer response

Overview

Sundance Catalog Company is a multichannel merchant specializing in a diverse assortment of clothing, jewelry, accessories and home décor. By tapping into Experian Marketing Services’ CheetahMail® email marketing technology and expertise to promote its catalogs and Website (www.sundancecatalog.com), Sundance engages its subscribers through customer-centric email marketing campaigns. As part of an ongoing initiative to keep Sundance’s emails as engaging as possible, the CheetahMail team conducted thorough testing on Sundance’s welcome email campaigns. The results of the test led to increases in average order value, revenue per email, transaction rates and click-throughs, indicating that new subscribers were engaged with the brand from the very beginning.

Experian CheetahMail takes a partner approach to email marketing by adapting to our unique needs. Our account team always ensures we are up to date on best practices and are utilizing industry learnings to maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace.

- Jessica McCleary
Internet Merchant
Sundance Catalog Company

Challenges

• Increase average order value, transaction rates and click-throughs
• Engage new subscribers and drive customer loyalty
• Increase Website visits and subscriber interaction

Solution

To boost the performance of its existing welcome emails, Sundance worked with its dedicated account team at Experian CheetahMail to test whether adding an incentive to welcome messages would garner better results. These tests were implemented across two different types of welcome messages:

To improve both inbox deliverability and email engagement metrics, AllPosters.com followed the recommendations of CheetahMail’s Deliverability team:

• Real-time welcome emails: Sent to subscribers who signed up via the email registration form on Sundance’s homepage received a real-time welcome email.
• Daily welcome emails: Sent to subscribers who signed up for email via the checkout process received a welcome email the following day.

It is important to note that the same creative design template was used for both versions, ensuring that customer responses were not swayed by a creative treatment that may have been more enticing than another. For one week, the CheetahMail team executed a fifty-fifty split test for both types of welcome messages, sending half of the subscribers an offer-based email (test) and the other half an email with no offer included (control). Response activity was tracked in real time by utilizing the intuitive reporting tools within the CheetahMail application, and results were analyzed at the conclusion of the week.

Results

Through a detailed analysis of Sundance’s welcome emails before and after testing, Experian CheetahMail determined that by including an offer, the company could significantly increase the average order value, the click-through rate and the revenue per email garnered by the campaign. Also, it became even clearer that subscribers who sign up via the checkout process tend to be more engaged than those who sign up via registration on Sundance’s homepage.

Daily welcome email

Transaction rate
11x higher

Revenue per email
19x higher

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Real-time welcome email

Clickthrough rate
2x higher

Revenue per email
2x higher

Looking ahead

Equipped with a high-performing welcome campaign supported by reporting data, Sundance aims to continually work with Experian CheetahMail to revamp other aspects of its email marketing strategy based on testing and campaign metrics, including the rollout of a new buyer welcome series.