Customer Email Activation & Retention

Customer Email Activation & Retention

Kiyan Foroughi – CEO & Founder 10 February 2015

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•  Most people view acquisition as the most important part of the funnel –  Ge!ing users in is only the first step and to really drive

lifetime value, you need to focus on the later stages of the funnel as much as the first one

•  Activation is the process of turning your prospective leads (emails in this case) into users that perform a specific action (i.e., an order, a subscription etc.)

•  Lead acquisition and activation is one of the best ROI (and formulaic) online acquisition channels but it is not as commonly used as you would think due to the discipline it requires

Introduction

#Boticca

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•  Boticca is a global curated marketplace that allows customers to discover independent designers of fashion accessories, discover their stories and purchase directly from their studios

•  330+ designers from over 40+ countries

•  Orders made from 60 different countries every month – AOV of £110

•  Email database of over 800,000

•  VC backed by MMC Ventures and ISAI

Background: Boticca

#Boticca

This session will explore how you can build and optimise user email activation + retention

funnels that drive sales

Is lead acquisition right for you? Step 1

1 - Is it right for you?

2 – Mapping out your ideal user flow

3 – The Landing Page

4 – Driving Leads

5 – Measuring & Optimising

6 – Driving Repeats & LTV

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•  One of the marketing channels available to (nearly) all businesses online

•  Surprisingly, one of the least well-used channels despite how formulaic and profitable it can be

•  Deciding if it is right for you is more about having the right state of mind and internal team culture / mentality

Step 1 – Is it right for you?

#Boticca

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•  The checklist: – Are we analytical? – Are we iterative? – Are we able to iterate? (not to be confused

with previous) – Do we have the right tools in place to measure? – Do we have the capabilities required to make

changes and optimise? – Do we have the right skills in-house?

(acquisition, CRM, Dev, BI)

Step 1 – Is it right for you?

#Boticca

Mapping out your ideal user flow Step 2




4 – Driving Leads



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•  This is different from business to business

•  If you’re starting out, it begins with a hypothesis

•  It is a living, breathing thing that needs to be shaped by the data as you go along

Step 2 – Mapping out your ideal user flow

#Boticca

It can be as simple as…

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Sign Up Email offers Purchase

#Boticca

Or as complicated as…

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Sign Up

Welcome Programme 1

Welcome Programme 2

Welcome Programme 3

Welcome Programme 4

Sign Up

Purchase 1

No Purchase

Welcome Programme

Part 2

No Purchase

Welcome Programme

Part 3

List Hygiene

Repeat High Value

Repeat Low Value

Purchase 2

No Purchase

Repeat Purchase Part

2

High Lifetime Repeat 1

High Lifetime Repeat 2 Purchase 3

VIP Programme

#Boticca

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A few tips

•  Start simple and then expand with your flow

•  Have different Welcome programmes depending on source of the lead

•  Have fall back Welcome programmes for those who haven’t converted from the first ones

•  Have a “honeymoon” period where you block out all other communications

•  Personalise your emails in the relevant ways you can

•  Segment between high-value and low-value customers •  Measure and optimise… constantly.

•  It’s OK to give up… maintain list hygiene


#Boticca

The Landing Page Step 3




4 – Driving Leads



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Step 3 – The Landing Page

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A few tips •  Keep it simple, clear

•  Make sure the CTA (and offer) is prominent

•  Add testimonials/reviews to create trust

•  Add a local touch

•  Good copywriting wins

•  Push scarcity

•  Short loading times

•  Mobile friendly and keep it above the fold

•  A/B test this page… a lot.

Step 3 – The Landing Page

#Boticca

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Avoid Step 3 – The Landing Page

#Boticca

Driving Leads Step 4




4 – Driving Leads



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Step 4 – Driving Leads

•  You can drive leads via: – Onsite campaigns: use SEM, social ads,

media, video etc. to drive users to the landing page(s)

– Offsite campaigns: CPL/CPM partnerships with affiliate partners, lead acquisition agencies, competitions

•  Don’t buy or rent lists. Last time it worked in 2002 was 13 years ago…

Measuring and optimising funnel performance & activation

Step 5




4 – Driving Leads



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Step 5 – Measuring and Optimising

•  Look at the data on a flow-basis

7.8%

2.3% 1.5%

11.6%

4.3%

1.1% 0.7%

6.1%

1.7% 1.2%

2.9% 2.5%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

Welcome Programme

P1

Welcome Programme

P2

Welcome Programme

P3

Purchase 1 Repeat High Value

Repeat Low Value

Repeat Purchase P2

Purchase 2 High LifeDme Value 1

High LifeDme Value 2

Purchase 3 VIP Programme

#Boticca

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Step 5 – Measuring and Optimising •  Look at the data on a cohort basis

#Boticca

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Step 5 – Measuring and Optimising •  And on an overall activation basis

0.00%

2.00%

4.00%

6.00%

8.00%

10.00%

12.00%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Number of Months since Acquisi3on of Cohort

Email New Buyer Ac3va3on Rate Over Time

#Boticca

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Step 5 – Measuring and Optimising

•  Identify flows that performing and those that aren’t

•  For flows that aren’t performing, try adjusting the creative, copy, offer etc.

•  Identify sources of emails that lead to higher activation rates

•  Measure your CPA based on your activation rate and the original CPL you paid for the lead:

CPA = CPL / Activation Rate

Make sure that CPA < LTV

#Boticca

Driving repeats and lifetime value Step 6




4 – Driving Leads



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Step 6 – Driving repeats & LTV

•  Once activated into a first-time purchaser, you must now turn the focus on driving repeat purchases

•  Driving a 2nd purchase is hard

•  Driving the 3rd purchase is even harder and the key to unlocking the lifetime value in the customer

#Boticca

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Step 6 – Driving repeats & LTV

•  Implement early repeat purchase programmes (i.e., driving the 2nd purchase within 60 days of the 1st)

•  If the early repeat purchase flow is not successful, have repeat and fall-back repeat purchase flows with increasing incentives and offers to drive retention

•  Implement VIP programmes for 3 times+ customers

•  Make sure to: –  Personalise –  Make smart recommendations –  Hit users cross-devices and mediums

#Boticca

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•  Lead acquisition coupled with activation and retention funnels can be one of the most powerful marketing strategies but is not as common as it should be

•  However, it requires a lot of discipline and some resources to be successful

•  Its formulaic nature makes it very a!ractive also for fundraising purposes

•  It also makes you feel in control when you’re piloting your businesses

Final Thoughts

#Boticca

Any questions?

Thank you for your time.

[email protected]

I’d rather wear a unique story

Marketing

Customer Email Activation & Retention