Experian Marketing Services American Eagle Outfitters / Client Case Study American Eagle Outfitters Cross-channel marketing holiday case study American Eagle Outfitters creates a dynamic, cross-channel marketing program to acquire, engage and convert customers during the competitive holiday season CLIENT American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality, on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products at affordable prices under its American Eagle Outfitters and Aerie brands. In order to gain more market share during the busy holiday season, AEO desired to create a unique and memorable campaign that would separate itself from the competition. Leveraging the popularity of mobile and social media within its target audience, AEO and Experian Marketing Services developed a fully integrated, omni-channel holiday program that drove mind share, social sharing and online and in-store traffic. CHALLENGE/OBJECTIVE Unrivaled customer experience Provide U.S. and Canadian customers with an unrivaled digital experience that encouraged continued brand engagement throughout the 12 days of the Legendary Gifts holiday campaign Focus on customer experience first, enabling customers to engage with the brand in the ways and channels they preferred Drive sales through product promotion and traffic Promote top holiday products from AEO s Legendary Gifts Collection Drive online and in-store traffic, as well as revenue growth, during the competitive holiday season Cross-channel customer acquisition Acquire new SMS and email subscribers for future messaging opportunities post-holiday
PROGRAM OVERVIEW To develop and execute the innovative holiday program, AEO chose Experian Marketing Services for its cross-channel experience and expertise. Experian Marketing Services worked closely with AEO to develop a program strategy and execute 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 media, direct mail and in-store display 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 12 DAYS OF LEGENDARY GIFTS PROGRAM The Legendary Gifts program gave consumers the opportunity to participate in a 12-day sweepstakes to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes while shopping AEO Legendary Gifts apparel. Starting on December 3, 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-timeuse redemption codes. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE The entire campaign was integrated and executed across all digital and traditional media, including AEO s desktop Website, email, mobile Web, mobile app, SMS, social media, 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, AEO customers were awarded the prizes dynamically based on 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.
CROSS-CHANNEL PROMOTION AEO fully integrated all of its channels with the program, delivering a call-to-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 presented consistently. For example, responsive design was used 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 throughout the 12 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 used a web opt-in form to capture customer data. Direct mail AEO distributed millions of direct mail pieces to promote the program. Email Based on consumer preference, email and SMS messages were delivered daily. 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 millions 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 opt-in and promote daily prizes. Instagram Instagram videos were used to promote each day s legendary gift to AEO s 347,000 followers.
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION AND DATA CAPTURE AEO worked with 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. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN EXECUTION AND CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT Customers that opted in to the sweepstakes had the ability to receive daily emails and SMS alerts to verify if they had won a Legendary Gift prize or a discount on select merchandise throughout the promotion. Each participant was dynamically served a personalized URL (PURL) within the email or text alert. Prelaunch message to existing database Web opt-in captures customer profile data First daily message Thank you for signing up message
Daily email alerts were an integral part of our holiday campaign that provided customers a natural way to connect and keep updated on the sweepstakes and various promotions that were offered. Experian Marketing Services cross-channel marketing technology and expertise helped us seamlessly integrate email into our cross-channel program, which allowed our customers to easily interact and consume relevant information on a consistent and daily basis from their desktops and/or mobile phones. Erica Dudash Director of Marketing American Eagle Outfitters Customers that clicked through the PURLs landed on a unique Legendary Gift prizes Web page where they would receive their special offer instantly. Examples of interactive PURL content: By clicking on the play button, participants unwrapped the present, revealing prize win or coupon. Coupon offers were displayed with a link leading to a redemption code. The redemption code would then display with social integration and a full scroll-down product page. Experian Marketing Services provided strategic guidance through all phases of the program, including best practices for mobile optimization of messaging across channels and regulatory compliance.
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 increased in value. Experian Marketing Services brought the cross-channel expertise, processes and technology that we needed to achieve our goals. Our account team s knowledge of the retail consumer and best practices makes Experian Marketing Services a trusted AEO solutions provider. Erica Dudash Director of Marketing American Eagle Outfitters RESULTS The customer-centric campaign resulted in exceptionally high engagement, with millions of participants on a daily basis and a 60% SMS click-through rate. Overall campaign performance: Connected with more than 8 million total 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 Daily customer engagement metrics: Daily SMS alert: 50% to 60% click-through rates Daily email alert: 1.7% to 7.8% click-through rates (an average of 4.3% throughout the campaign) In-store redemption Total conversion rate as high as 1.5% of all participants The program also was honored by etail and won its prestigious Mobile Best-In-Class Award. Keys to American Eagle Outfitters success: Designed the optimal customer journey to engage the target audience throughout the program Created comprehensive cross-channel integration with a consistent customer experience through every touch-point Delivered a surprise and delight experience that drove excitement and sharing Chose a vendor that had the expertise, technology and processes to ensure success For more information on how Experian Marketing Services can help your brand develop and deliver exceptional cross-channel customer experiences, you can contact us at crosschannelmarketing@experian.com, 1 866 626 6479 or visit us online at www.experian.com/crosschannelmarketing. Experian Marketing Services is a leading global provider of consumer insights, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing. We help organizations intelligently interact with today s empowered and hyperconnected consumers. By helping marketers identify their best customers, find more of them, and then coordinate seamless and intelligent interactions across the most appropriate channels, Experian Marketing Services clients can deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximize profits. 2015 Experian Information Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Experian and the Experian marks used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Experian Information Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. 02/15 www.experian.com/marketingservices Images courtesy of American Eagle Outfitters