Case Study: The Success of Driving Holiday Sales at FitCouture.com

The Blue Sky Marketing team lives and breathes online marketing and one piece we are passionate about is the email-marketing campaign. These campaigns are effective tools that have continued to evolve and grow. Below is a recent case study involving one of Blue Sky's e-commerce clients, exhibiting the process of a successful email campaign.

The Situation — Where Did Fit Couture Stand?

Fit Couture is a family-owned and -operated online-only store of woman's fitness fashion, with designs to compliment the figure of any woman who wants to look their best when they exercise. The challenge was to engage a dormant database of previous customers during the busy holiday shopping season with key brand messages to meet year-end sales objectives.

Objectives — The Paths to Meeting the Goal

Three primary objectives were set to bring Fit Couture increased success during the holiday season: increase email engagement, increase website visitors and increase sales. Each objective was embedded with strategies and tactics in an email newsletter campaign active from Oct. 16 through Dec. 30.

[caption id="attachment_901" align="alignright" width="340"] A few of Fit Couture's emails and their results.[/caption] These objectives consisted of creating a series of emails that would rekindle the customer's affiliation with the brand through targeted content and appealing lifestyle imagery. The email marketing campaign would also contain key brand messages and captivating imagery to drive traffic to various areas of the site, including a Holiday Gift Guide landing page. Finally, through style recommendations, timely email themes and a strategic promotional plan, the objective was to increase sales on FitCouture.com to meet a holiday revenue goal of a $10,000 from these emails.

Strategies and Tactics — How were the Objectives Implemented?

• Increase Email Engagement: Roughly 13,000 previous customers had laid dormant for almost a year, Fit Couture wanted to reengage these buyers with a series of nine emails during the fall and holiday shopping season. The first emails served to recall the brand and deliver key messages. While later timely holiday shopping reminders, tied with limited time promo codes, elicited a more direct response and sense of urgency.
• Increase Website Visitors: A secondary goal of the campaign was to increase visits to the website, through clear and direct calls to action and hitting on the various lifestyles — yoga, workouts at the gym and running — so that each segment would reengage with the brand even after an extended absence from the online store.
• Increase Sales: The primary objective of the campaign was that through increasing engagement with the email marketing messaging as well as a strong promotional plan, including tiered savings, buy one get on 50% off, and a holiday shopping landing page, these previous customers would return to the online store and add more Fit Couture pieces of their fitness wardrobe as well as buying gifts for friends promotion aimed to create a sense of urgency with sales only lasting a few days at a time.

Message Alignment — Speaking to the Consumer

As with any higher-end product, sales should be attached to an emotion evoked in the customer, so Fit Couture used lifestyle messaging and images to create strong customer affiliation with the brand. By varying the line of clothing but always calling out key brand messages about product quality, flattering fit and feeling good while being healthy, Fit Couture aligned itself with customer goals, speaking to their needs.

Results - We Could All Happily Say� Mission Accomplished

All of Fit Couture's objectives were met and some went above and beyond. At the conclusion of the email newsletter campaign Fit Couture saw 3,663 visits to the online store, a 5.58% conversion rate on the site, 208 transactions (double any other source) and exceeded the revenue goal by 35%! These results were measured from Oct. 16 through Jan 7. Blue Sky Marketing is proud to say Fit Couture's strategy was an AMA Houston Crystal Award winning email marketing campaign for 2014. If you are looking for a partner in online marketing strategy, LinkedIn for business development, marketing strategy development, email marketing and website development, contact us to see how we can help.