Ed Weiss, general manager of Movies Unlimited, discusses how the multichannel film retailer and cataloger used e-mail marketing to re-target past customers and boost sales
Q How did using order confirmation e-mails help drive traffic to the site?
A We’d been using Vertex’s Listrak e-mail marketing for many years, but previously, our confirmation e-mails were purely informational and text-only. In September, we worked with Vertex to design a new version of the confirmation e-mail that gave personalized recommendations to the user after the initial sale. It used graphics and linked back to our Web site.
Q What was the goal of the initiative?
A We thought this was one more way that we could show consumers other items that they might be interested in. We wanted that to hopefully turn into a sale as well. The more titles a customer sees, the more likely he or she is to buy.
Q How does this fit in with your overall e-mail strategy?
A The majority of our sales come from our mail order catalog or by phone, but 43% of sales come from online channels. Depending on the time of year, we’ll send weekly or biweekly e-mails that drive to the site — sometimes even more around the holidays. The goal of this campaign was just to get customers to see more products that they might not have seen on MoviesUnlimited.com the first time around.
Q Does personalization make a difference to the consumer?
A Each confirmation e-mail is unique. It’s also much more visually appealing than before. We show suggestions and other movies they might be interested in based on past purchase behavior. We have their entire history in our database so the recommendations are pretty good. It helps to have something really relevant. This makes a huge difference in whether they return to buy again or not.
Q How else do you drive users to the site?
A We use search marketing, print and we have a very aggressive social media campaign. We try to drive traffic to the site from every channel we can, both online and off.
Q. What was the result of your confirmation e-mail campaign?
A Seven percent of users that got to the site through the confirmation e-mail continued through to make another purchase.
