By targeting customers who contribute content like product reviews and photos, outdoor sports gear retailer Backcountry.com has boosted e-mail marketing open rates and conversion rates, director of customer retention Arnold Sookram says.
“We know that customers more engaged with the Backcountry brand have an e-mail open rate two to three times higher than other customers, and their conversion rates can also be that much higher,” Sookram says. “Those customers who are more engaged with us are more likely to open our e-mail and to shop and browse.”
Backcountry operates ten e-commerce sites, including two traditional retail sites—general sports gear site Backcountry.com and snowboard site DogFunk.com—and several that provide only timed “one-deal-at-a-time” offers, including sports gear site SteepandCheap.com, mountain bike site ChainLove.com and action sports site Brociety.com
The retailer lets customers load product ratings and reviews, articles they’ve written about sports outings, and photos of their outings and sports gear. It matches customer interests with multiple marketing programs across all of its branded web sites.
Among the thousands of customers who contribute content, Backcountry includes them in segmented marketing campaigns that can also be based on how recently they’ve made a purchase and their spending volume. In addition to e-mail marketing, Backcountry also reaches out to them with targeted messages containing promotional inserts in packages of purchased products, and it sends them a twice-yearly magazine-style catalog.
The package inserts will include at least one promotional message from Backcountry or one of its product suppliers, plus a promotional card related specifically to one its e-commerce sites. “We know from the data we collect on customers that go to our road biking site Bonktown.com may also go to ski gear site Tramdock.com and SteapandCheap,” Sookram says. “If we put a promotional code on a box insert, the return on investment is five to 10 times—a very efficient way to drive incremental revenue.”
Backcountry also attracts its most engaged and valuable customers to its multiple sites, and to specific product pages, with a magazine-like catalog that includes stories and photos contributed by customers as well as by staff members. Although the 32-page book doesn’t list product details and pricing like a traditional product catalog, it provides specific web site links on each catalog page related to the feature content.
Backcountry.com is part of QVC Inc./Liberty Interactive Group, No. 11 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.
Back...
