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Pretty pictures can go a long way: How Boston Proper visually engages its email subscribers

Boston Proper, a leading cataloger and specialty retailer of stylish, contemporary women’s sportswear, aims to grow online sales and extend customer loyalty while driving traffic to its e-commerce site, www.bostonproper.com. Since Boston Proper has a highly loyal customer base, avoiding the overuse of promotional discounts and, instead, relying on strong visual merchandising and imagery to drive conversions was key.

By working with Experian CheetahMail (read the full case study here), Boston Proper was able to send brand conscious and highly relevant emails to build a remarkably loyal and profitable customer base. Some of the key creative tips used by the brand, that other companies may want to consider implementing into their own program include: 

Visual cohesion with your website: Boston Proper designed visually stimulating HTML email templates based on strategic or best practice recommendations from Experian Cheetahmail. The designs mirrored the imagery on www.bostonproper.com as well as in the Boston Proper catalog, creating a visual cohesiveness amongst channels and giving customers a familiar and engaging design to interact with. 

Let reporting drive design: Once creative was complete, Boston Proper began mailing to their subscriber list two times a week, simultaneously collecting data on each customer’s response rate and activity. After a few weeks of reporting they were able to determine which mailing frequencies, offers and message content garnered the greatest response from each customer type. 

Target imagery by segment: To leverage these findings, Boston Proper used the segmentation tools in the CheetahMail application to send the most appropriate messages, at the most optimal frequencies, to each group accordingly. For example, the entire file receives two general catalog announcements per month, and a second email per week promoting a top selling product classification. Customers who interacted with the emails in the last 90 days receive a third email that is more category, trend or product specific. 

Boston Proper’s email messages have outperformed those of their industry peers in nearly all areas, with significantly higher clickthru rates and revenue per email. Furthermore, unsubscribe rates have fallen below .15%, proving that customers are highly receptive to the messages Boston Proper sends.

As the Hispanic market grows in size and spending power, it is important to consider including specific messages to this group as part of an overall marketing program. The engagement metrics show this group to be highly engaged with email campaigns.

According to the 2011 Digital Marketer Report, of the emails sent to the Hispanic market:

• Seventy percent were in Spanish and 31% were in English
• Had 26% higher open rates and 43% higher click rates when compared to “All industry” benchmarks
• Had 41% higher open and 59% higher click rates when sent in Spanish as opposed to English
• Responds best to promotions with dollars off or percentage off. Email campaigns with these types of financial “rewards” had 81% higher transaction rates when compared to emails with “nonfinancial” rewards (free gifts, free shipping, etc.)

Want to know more about the Hispanic market? Download the 2011 Digital Marketer Report or take a look at Simmons’ National Hispanic Consumer Study.

Technology has brought about immense change in the lives of American consumers. Today, eight-in-ten U.S. adults access the Internet and seven-in-ten use email and surf the web. Fully nine-in-ten adults have at least one mobile device and four-in-ten send text messages. While Americans wholeheartedly embrace new technology and adopt it quickly, others take a longer time to adjust before integrating new technology into their lives.

A new technology segmentation system developed by Experian Simmons uncovers four distinct groups of consumers to help marketers be more relevant in their targeting efforts and messaging.

• Wizards: “Technology is life”
• Journeymen: “Technology is an important part of my life”
• Apprentices: “Technology is changing my life”
• Novices: “Technology has a limited impact on my life”

As seen in the chart below, Journeymen are the most receptive to hearing about products/services via email and are increasing the amount of time they spend shopping and surfing the Internet. In terms of mobile advertising, Wizards are the best segment to target. They are interested in receiving mobile advertisements and are the most likely to purchase products they see advertised on their cell phones. Click here for more results from the study.

Nine in ten U.S. adults today use at least one mobile device. Mobile phones have truly become an essential part of consumers’ every day lives, and email marketers can easily capitalize on this immense market if they plan and segment their campaigns strategically. Recently released consumer reseach from Experian Simmons reveals the following key trends that provide deep insight on the traits and characterstics of the mobile consumer today:

• The most popular mobile function today – aside from talking – is taking pictures, which 70% of mobile phone owners do each month.
• Adults under age 50 are the most likely to be mobile users with 93% owning a mobile phone today.
• Over 78% of adults over the age of adults over age 60 are now mobile.
• Fully half of cell phone users simultaneously engage with some other medium while on their mobile. TV is the most common media distraction with 21% of mobile phone owners watching TV while using the phone
• Thirty-one percent of mobile phone owners check personal email on their phone and 21% check their work email.

To learn more about what research by Experian Simmons has to say about today’s mobile consumers, we recommend reading the “Mobile marketing” section of our latest report, the 2010 Digital marketer: Benchmark and trend report.

Source: Experian Simmons Fall 2009 Consumer Study/National Hispanic Study

Today’s consumers are more connected to their electronic devices and gadgets than ever before. To provide insight on the demographic traits and behavioral tendencies of the consumers that purchase electronics in America, Experian Simmons analyzed relevant information from its 2009 National Consumer Study and New Media Study. Key findings include:

• Seventy-one percent of new TV buyers in 2009 reported purchasing either an LCD or plasma TV, more than double the rate in 2006
• Nearly half of all TV buyers reported that the screen size of their most recent purchase was 40 inches or larger
• Between 2006 and 2009, ownership of VCRs among US households dropped 13% to 79%. Meanwhile, DVR ownership doubled
• The most popular mobile function today is taking pictures, which 70% of mobile phone owners do each month
• Video gaming among adults grew a relative 9% between 2007 and 2009, with half of almost all adults now saying they own or play games

Travel tends to peak during the holiday season and late winter months.  But given the state of our economy and financial changes that have occured over the last year, how have American’s travel habits shifted? A review from the Experian Simmons Summer 2009 and Summer 2008 full-year National Consumer Studies shows that domestic vacation travel is slightly down in comparison to years past. Key trends and statistics include:

• Over the past year, all modes of transportation, except for buses, have seen a decrease in the percentage of vacationing Americans using them for travel. This likely due to the fact that fewer Americans are vacationing away from home.

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With the winter holiday season heading our way, candy consumption will surely rise. Experian Simmons reviewed data from its Spring 2009 Kids Study: Full Year and its National Consumer Study to gain insight on Americans who are most likely to consume candy, as well as what types of candy they prefer. Key findings from the analysis include:

• Seventy-five percent of all U.S. Adults say they eat chocolate or hard candy.
• Ninety-six percent of American children ages 6 to 11 say they eat chocolate or hard candy with little difference across age groups. Older kids, though, indulge more frequently than their younger friends.
• Specifically, kids ages 10 and 11 are 16 percent more likely than the average kid to say that they eat 6 or more servings of candy per month. Young children ages 6 and 7 who are most reliant on their parents for their candy supply are the least likely to have 6 or more servings a month.

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