ARCHER MOBILE CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY American Eagle Outfitters executes a mobilefirst, omni-channel marketing program that results in 60% consumer engagement during the competitive holiday season 1
SEAMLESS MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE As the vast majority of our customers are smartphone users, we see they re spending more time researching products and deals, and they re changing the ways they shop and seek out our brands. That means it s increasingly important for us to deliver a seamless user experience for our mobile customers, and Legendary Gifts was a great example of our commitment to that. Erica Dudash Director of Marketing American Eagle Outfitters Table of Contents Executive Summary Program Overview Twelve Days of Legendary Gifts Program Cross-Channel Media Strategy Program Results 2
Executive Summary Driving consumer engagement is challenging for any retailer, especially during the competitive holiday season. Engaging, acquiring and converting holiday shoppers were the main objectives for American Eagle Outfitters. American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality, on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products, needed a mobile-first holiday program that would separate itself from the competition. Teaming with Archer Mobile and Experian Marketing Services, AEO executed a fully integrated, omni-channel program that drove mind share, social sharing and online and in-store traffic. AEO s Objectives Provide customers with an unrivaled mobile first digital experience that encouraged continued brand engagement throughout the Twelve Days of Legendary Gifts program Focus on the customer experience rather than the marketing channel, enabling customers to engage based on preference Promote top holiday products, driving online and in-store traffic and revenue Compete with other retailers and gain mind share during the holiday season Acquire new SMS and email subscribers, while capturing additional consumer data for future segmentation and messaging opportunities Deliver an optimized, feature rich experience on and off line Results The program results far exceeded expectations, delivering click-through rates (CTR) of 60% for SMS and engaging millions of customers every day. AEO Significantly Outperforms Industry Average CTR s Text Message Benchmarks: Archer Mobile Email Benchmarks : Experian Marketing Services 2013 PPC Benchmarks: EMarketer.com Facebook Benchmarks: Webtrends Display Ad Benchmarks: Johsteinberg.com 3
Program Overview The Archer Mobile team brought the mobile marketing expertise, processes and technology that we needed to achieve our goals. Their knowledge of the retail consumer and mobile best practices makes them a trusted AEO partner. Erica Dudash Director of Marketing American Eagle Outfitters AEO chose Archer Mobile and Experian Marketing Services as its partner for cross-channel consumer engagement. Archer Mobile was chosen based on the combination of mobile strategy expertise and proven mobile messaging technology and execution. Experian Marketing Services brought its unmatched cross-channel integration expertise and solutions. Together, the three organizations worked as a team to set the strategy and execution plan, provided program management and delivered on the objectives of the program. Program Strategy Create an integrated contact strategy across all paid, earned and owned media Integrate across all media - desktop web, mobile web, app, email, SMS, social, direct mail and in-store display Mobile-first focus Engage based on customers desktop, tablet or mobile device preferences Drive customer data capture for increased effectiveness Drive online and in-store traffic by building ongoing email and SMS messaging groups Encourage active engagers and latent responders with incentives that increased in value Drive viral brand engagement and growth 4
Twelve Days of Legendary Gifts Program The Legendary Gifts program gave consumers the opportunity to participate in a twelve day sweepstakes to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes while shopping AEO Legendary Gifts apparel. Starting on December 3rd, the campaign provided different prizes for each of the 12 days, with a $10,000 grand prize giveaway on the last day. This approach enabled customers to enroll once and participate on a daily basis. Not only did the prizes increase in value, but all customers who did not win the daily prize received special discounts with unique, one-time use redemption codes. Customer Experience With a mobile-first approach, the entire campaign was integrated and executed across all digital and traditional media including AEO s desktop website, mobile web, mobile app, email, SMS, social, direct mail and in store signage. Regardless of whether the consumer became aware of the campaign through on-line or off-line media, AEO provided an optimized, feature rich, customer experience. Enrollment enabled customers to receive daily emails and/ or SMS messages, based on their preference, with unique, personalized URL s that redirected to a device-optimized webpage to click to unwrap the daily gift. As this process occurred, Archer Mobile s enterprise-grade prize engine dynamically awarded the prizes based on the preset business rules and prize quantities. Overall, this created a surprise and delight experience with growing anticipation throughout the program as the prizes grew in value. 5
Customer Acquisition and Data Capture Customers had the opportunity to opt in to the program via keyword text message and website and had the ability to select their alert type preferences. AEO worked with Archer Mobile and Experian Marketing Services to provide enrollment forms for customer data capture, and integrated the customer records and data attributes into a central database. This enabled AEO to deliver targeted messages during and after the program. Pre-launch message to existing database Web opt-in captures customer profile data Keyword non-web based opt-in First daily message Engage and Convert Powered by Archer Mobile s real-time prize engine and enterprise-grade mobile engagement platform, consumers received an SMS message that directed them to a mobile web page where a gift unwrapped itself to reveal the daily prize or special discounts with unique, one-time use redemption codes. Customers received daily, time-zone specific messages to participate in the program. Below is the SMS experience on Day 6. 6
Cross-Channel Media Strategy AEO fully integrated all of its channels with the program offering and callto-action to drive widespread awareness and engagement. These channels included desktop and mobile website, emails, mobile app, social media, direct mail and in-store signage. Regardless of the media, the program s value proposition and call-to-action were consistently presented. For example, responsive design was utilized across the desktop, tablet and mobile sites to provide an optimized experience. Just as important, email, mobile and social media were used daily to increase awareness, engagement and excitement through the twelve days. Not only did this help drive initial enrollment, it provided the opportunity for advocacy and sharing the campaign with friends and family. Once the customer opened the gift, the customer could share the campaign through Facebook, Twitter and email. In-Store Signage with prizes and call-to-action Web The AEO desktop website promoted the program and utilized a web opt-in form to capture customer data 7
Cross-channel Media Strategy, cont. Email Based on consumer preference, email and SMS messages were delivered daily Direct Mail AEO distributed millions of direct mail pieces to promote the program APP AEO s app promoted the program and drove additional program growth Facebook Facebook was used to promote the program and each day s legendary gift to their 9.4 million fans. Users who claimed prizes could also post to their wall and share the program with their friends Twitter AEO tweeted to its 271,000 followers to encourage program optins and promote daily prizes Instagram Instagram videos were used to promote each day s legendary gift to AEO s 347,000 followers Check out the complete cross-channel program at archermobile.com/aeo-legendary-video 8
Program Results The program results far exceeded expectations, delivering click-through rates of 60% for SMS and engaging millions of customers every day. Daily SMS customer engagement rates ranged from 50-60% CTR Connected with millions of email and SMS subscribers in the U.S. and Canada in less than two weeks Drove unprecedented customer engagement in email and mobile throughout the 12 day campaign Extremely low SMS opt-out rate of 0.2% The consumer excitement around this campaign was demonstrated clearly with nearly 60% of the mobile subscribers reached engaging with the prize pages just minutes after receiving their text messages. That excitement didn t seem to fade either. The engagement continued to increase daily from every channel as the prizes became more increased in value. Erica Dudash Director of Marketing American Eagle Outfitters The program also was honored by etail and won its prestigious Mobile Best-In-Class Award. 9
Director of Marketing The AEO holiday program realized an evenly distributed customer engagement throughout the twelve days. Most programs experience heavy engagement at the onset of a campaign and then interest wanes. This program was specifically designed to deliver sustained engagement and participation. This strategy allows us to not only target the active clickers, but customers who are latent responders. Average Daily Engagement (SMS) Key Takeaways - Messages sent - Daily CTR Design the optimal customer journey to engage the target audience throughout the program Create comprehensive cross-channel integration with a consistent customer experience through every touchpoint Deliver surprise and delight experience that drives excitement and social sharing Choose partners that have the expertise, technology and processes to ensure your success 10
Archer Mobile At Archer Mobile, we re dedicated to creating mobile engagement solutions that solve your business problems. We bring mobile strategy expertise, unmatched technology, and a client-driven services team to achieve the business results you seek: increased customer engagement, direct revenue generation, and reduced operating expenses. Harness the power of mobile to drive real business results. archermobile.com (800) 557-4148 Seattle, WA 2025 1st Ave. Suite 320 Seattle, WA 98121 San Jose 111 N Market St. Suite 402 San Jose, CA 95113 Krakow Kolowa 8, 30-134 Krakow Poland Johannesburg Clearwater Office Strubens Valley Johannesburg South Africa Singapore 98A Amoy Street Singapore, 069918 11