Sweet Success How Spangler Candy made their Highest Day of Online Sales Ever with Data-Driven Email Marketing.
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 email marketing software. Spangler Candy manufactures 10 million Dum Dums each day. 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.
10 Million Dum Dums, and 9 Pillars 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. Windsor Circle s 9 Pillars of Retention Automation framework found Spangler Candy s sweet spot 66% More Opens 45% More Clicks Windsor Circle enabled automated retention emails are driving 66% more Opens and 45% more Clicks than Spangler Candy s 2013 average email campaign. 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. Spangler Candy was looking for an approach to developing customer retention programs that was both manageable and robust. Windsor Circle s 9 Pillars of Retention Automation framework found Spangler Candy s sweet spot after all, there are 10 steps involved in making Dum Dums. 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 batch-andblast emails, where everyone gets the same message. In 2005, Spangler Candy signed with ExactTarget as their email marketing software provider. This platform gave them the capability to send more targeted, relevant, and personalized email, in addition to provide a robust range of automation and design capabilities. Most retailers today are using email marketing software with segmentation and automation tools that are well-suited 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 email campaigns that fit within the 9 Pillars framework.
Building a Customer Engagement Program using the 9 Pillars of Retention Automation Framework Windsor Circle s 9 Pillars of Retention Automation 1. Know Your Customers 2. Get Connected: Permission to Retain 3. Thank Your Customers 4. Amaze Your Best Customers 5. Help Your Customers Enjoy More 6. Save Your Churning Customers 7. Create Evangelists 8. Listen to Your Customers 9. Acquire Retainable Customers In this case study, we showcase Spangler Candy s execution around Pillars 3, 4, 5, and 6. www.windsorcircle.com/9pillars
About Spangler Candy Spangler Candy, founded in 1906, is a major candy manufacturer. Products include: Dum Dums Candy Canes Saf-T-Pops Circus Peanuts Spangler Candy started their web site, SpanglerCandy.com, in July 1997. Spangler Candy added e-commerce in May 1998. Spangler Candy signed with ExactTarget in April 2005. Spangler Candy signed with Windsor Circle in November 2012. Jim Knight, Spangler Candy s VP of Marketing / ecommerce, has led Spangler s digital marketing vision and strategy for 17 years. Mattea St. John, Spangler Candy s E-Commerce & Social Media Manager, has managed Spangler s email marketing execution for over 4 years. Spangler Candy in 2013: Headquartered in Bryan, Ohio Over 500,000 square feet 600+ Employees
Win Back Campaign Save Your Churning Customers! 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, leveraging data to send a targeted message to lapsed customers who may have otherwise disappeared for good, resulted in the majority of revenue on Spangler s highest ecommerce day ever. Win Back Campaign Results Subject: We've Missed You! Sent Sept. 16, 2013 To: Any customer who purchased 2/1/2013 or before (3 years back) 30.1% Open Rate 1.7 times 2013 list avg. Click-through rate as a percent of total recipients! 9.1% Click-through Rate 2.2 times 2013 list avg.
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 reengagement, along with a coupon. and Convert: 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 reminders customers of the last item they ordered, 1 year from the order date, and encourages them to order again. Win Back Campaign Results 4 Month: 24.4% Open, 6.3% Click 8 Month: 24.5% Open, 6.2% Click 12 Month: 28.4% Open, 9.9% Click
New Customer Thank You Thank Your Customers 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. New Customer Thank You Email Subject: Thanks for your Recent Purchase! Sent Sep 16, 2013 To: New Customers who had still only made 1 purchase, starting Feb 1, 2013 45.4% Open Rate 2.6 times 2013 list avg. 7.9% Click-through Rate 1.9 times 2013 list avg.
Automate Your Thanks Building a Post-Purchase Thank You Series 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 1 st 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 (their actual, total number of purchases is above 1). Jim Knight chose to adopt Windsor Circle s technology because we really wanted to get more ecommerce sales out of our current customers instead of spending money to acquire new customers. This is the 2 nd 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. Results: 23.8% Opens 4.2% Clicks
Welcome New Subscribers Get Connected: Segmenting New Residential & Business Subscribers Since July 2010, Spangler Candy has used ExactTarget 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 lawyers 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 smaller size boxes to consumers, bulk products for businesses. Spangler Candy s original Welcome Emails New Subscriber Welcome Results (Avg. of Jul 2010 through Sept 2013 sends) Subject: Welcome to the Dum Dum Digest! 42.9% Open Rate 14.2% Click-through Rate Subject: Welcome to Candy2Business! 50% Open Rate 19.3% Click-through Rate Spangler Candy s new Welcome Emails
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. An Automatic Reward Starting in November 2013, Spangler Candy s 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. Automated Reward Email Results: 27.8% Open Rate, 2.8% Click Rate
Spangler Candy 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 identifying 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.
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 minicandy 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! 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
Retention Marketing Automation Platform Get More from Your Existing Customers sales@windsorcircle.com +1 (877) 848-4113
Windsor Circle s Retention Automation Platform: Connect your ecommerce Platform & Email Marketing Software And additional data sources Data updated nightly to custom fields in your email software, including: Learn more about Windsor Circle s Retention Automation Platform and Integrations: windsorcircle.com/connect
Some Windsor Circle Clients "Case-Mate adopted Windsor Circle's customer retention analytics App to expand the insights we can gain from our ecommerce data, and identify customer retention and automation opportunities that we can implement using ExactTarget - Ruth DeFeo, Case-Mate Senior Manager, Ecommerce. 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). It was also our single highest day of revenue thus far, since our start in e-commerce in 1998. - Jim Knight, VP Marketing / Ecommerce, Spangler Candy We had a lot of great customer data locked up in our order management system, and we knew that repeat customers were much more valuable than one-time buyers. But we didn't have the resources to develop a good RFM model, or to automate the data transfer to ExactTarget. Windsor Circle stepped in and provided all those things, plus the kind of personalized, consultative assistance you would expect from an agile, "boutique" type vendor. - James Witmer, Retail Marketing Director, InkPixi.com