AO.com Improves Conversions, Creates a Better Customer Experience
AO.com is one of the UK’s largest online retailers of electrical goods, operating out of the UK, Germany, and Holland. They recognised that having a deep understanding of their customers would be the fuel they needed to invigorate their communications and set them apart from other retailers.
AO worked with Cheetah Digital to change how they engaged with their customers across the entire customer journey — from that first discovery through purchase, delivery, reactivation, and beyond.
Problem
Siloed technology
Due to disconnected legacy systems, automation and segmentation were challenging.
Lack of insight
AO’s previous platform lacked the agility they needed to be fully self-sufficient with their data. Lists had to to be built outside their platform and they were unable to create targeted content and utilise segmentation.
Flat emails
The marketing team could only send generic emails with no dynamic content, and had little way of improving the customer experience post purchase.
Basic discount abilities
The marketing team could only send generic emails with no dynamic content, and had little way of improving the customer experience post purchase.
“Our post-sales programme is all about building retention and loyalty through added value, so we ask ourselves how can we educate the customer. How do you get the best out of your product? How do you use it? What features are behind it? This is peppered through the entire lifecycle up until 18 months after purchase.”
Solution
Enhancing customer loyalty by adding communication value and unique, automated codes
AO’s post-sale retention and loyalty programmes are as much about relationship building as they are about rewards. With Marketing Suite’s insights, AO was able to deploy smart messaging that expertly conveyed added value and also strategic, automated discount codes based on customer lead scores and behaviours.
Smart messaging solutions:
- AO peppered their customer lifecycle journey with a mixture of useful “how to” guides, feature guides, and maintenance guides.
- Each programme was designed to benefit their customers post sale, showcase AO’s thought leadership abilities, and build credibility for their brand.
- Customers who purchased products were sent cross-sell emails detailing unique discount codes and offers.
Automated discount solutions:
- New customers were sent welcome emails with discounts off their first purchase.
- Site visitors who browsed but didn’t purchase were sent browse-abandon emails that included discount codes for the products or categories they had shown an interest in.
- AO used a mystery discount programme to deliver discount codes to re-engage lapsed customers at different trigger points throughout the lifecycle.
“Discount codes have been huge for us, not just in terms of engagement but also conversion. It’s something that we have really ramped up in the last year. It gave us that extra hook needed to strengthen our cross-sell and upsell emails. We look at customer lifetime value and target different types of customers with different types of offers.”
Results
Smart messaging successfully enhanced AO’s customer experience and engagement.
- Post-sale campaigns had the highest engagement metrics — consistently high, even two years after purchase
- The installation guide had the highest open rate of 76%
- AO set up an automated lifecycle programme and can now use dynamic content, segmentation, and fully-targeted content
Promo codes have helped AO increase conversion and click-through rates.
- Reactivation email — 50% increase in conversion over regular newsletters
- Mystery discount — 20% increase in clicks over regular newsletters
