The Challenge

Develop an online direct marketing programme that builds the brand whilst driving sales.

The Early Learning Centre (ELC) has operated a successful multi-million pound e-commerce website since 2001. It’s a channel that has become increasingly valuable over the years both in terms of sales and as a brand-building vehicle.

• Deliver a significant increase in sales

• Support a broader initiative to reinvigorate the ELC brand

• Articulate brand values through content, tone of voice and presentation

• Deepen the relationship between ELC and its customers through crafting a more targeted, deeper and more frequent conversation.

The Solution

Between 2005 and 2008, we developed and managed all of ELC’s email campaigns, with each campaign targeting an average of 60,000 users. A key component of the strategy was the Big Birthday Club, where parents register their children’s birthdays and promotional activity is based around these dates, including gifts.
In the year to September 2008 we sent 20 million emails. Many of these email offers have been highly targeted based on segmentation, often directing recipients to campaign-specific microsites and landing pages designed to drive revenue and build compelling and lasting customer relationships. 

The Result

The results spoke for themselves. Email campaigns achieved open rates of 20% on average, click-through rates above 5%, the customer database grew from 800,000 registrations in July 2007 to 2 million in September 2008 and year on year increase in site revenue of 20%.