Lake Champlain Chocolates

Gourmet chocolatier Lake Champlain Chocolates tapped Bronto Software Inc. for its e-mail marketing platform to increase its online sales and generate awareness for its holiday offerings.

The Burlington, VT-based sweet-toothed retailer uses Bronto's segmentation tools to send targeted e-mail campaigns based on customer attributes and past e-mail and online behavior.

The e-commerce site at www.lakechamplainchocolates.com features chocolate treats and specialty holiday gifts like the Holiday Chocolates of Vermont selection, which features eighteen bonbons in honey caramel, green-mountain, maple crunch, and evergreen mint flavors for $24.

Lake Champlain Chocolates typically sends e-mail to customers on the first Tuesday of each month.

After two weeks have elapsed, the e-commerce site employs Durham, NC-based Bronto's segmentation tool to identify those customers that did not open the initial e-mail. Lake Champlain then resends the same e-mail using a different subject and as a result has seen associated sales increase 50 percent.

In addition to segmentation, Lake Champlain uses Bronto's reporting features to analyze the effectiveness of special promotional campaigns and adjusts its e-mail campaigns accordingly.