SØSTRENE GRENE
Building customer loyalty using first party data
By implementing a state-of-the-art marketing automation setup and activating first party data, we've helped Søstrene Grene personalise the customer journey, build customer loyalty and bring the unique brand experience to life in its new digital form.
increase in customer lifetime value
increase in returning customers
increase in basket size
Lift in revenue per email
lift in sales when using FPD for lead ads
ROAS on lead ads
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
Salesforce Service Cloud & Marketing Cloud
between owned and paid media
first party data
the mail flows with Relewise
the brand experience
Unique brand experience going digital
In 2020, Søstrene Grene embarked on its digital transformation journey by launching a brand-new web shop, bringing the beloved brick and mortar retail experience into the digital world.
To properly realise its digital ambitions, Søstrene Grene needed a state-of-the-art marketing automation setup that could support the web shop and provide a complete omnichannel experience for the customers. For Søstrene Grene, the main focus was to stay true to the brand universe and maintain the atmosphere of ‘hygge’ whether the customers meet the brand in a physical store, on the web shop or in their mailbox.
Not only was this the beginning of a digital transformation – it was also the beginning of an excellent and long-lasting partnership between Søstrene Grene and IMPACT Extend.
The results speak for themselves. But what's been really great about this project, is the collaboration we've had with the team at IMPACT Extend. Through good dialogue, allocation of resources, knowledge sharing and mutual respect we’ve achieved outstanding results, taking Søstrene Grene’s digital brand experience to the next level.
Cracking the code of weekly renewal
One of Søstrene Grene’s core values is renewal – that you should always be able to find a new item whenever you visit a physical store or the web shop. Therefore, Søstrene Grene renews up to 3-400 items every Thursday. That translates up to a whopping 70% of its assortment changing every year! While it contributes to the magical universe, that Søstrene Grene is, it also vastly complicates the brand’s marketing automation setup.
The challenge was to manage data from all the new products that were added to the online flow every Thursday and translate that data into a highly customised email automation flow, where every email is tailored for each recipient.
To accommodate this, we helped Søstrene Grene build a hyper-personalised trigger flow and in-mail content that supports customers throughout their customer journey – from the first email and first purchase, all the way to creating loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases.
Introducing so many new data touchpoints every week poses an enormous challenge for our marketing automation setup. Rising to the challenge, IMPACT Extend has helped us build a hyper-personalised marketing automation setup which supports customers throughout the entire customer journey – from their first email to their first purchase, to becoming a Thursday product drop loyalist.
State-of-the-art automation setup
By upgrading to Salesforce Marketing Cloud and integrating Relewise‘s personalisation engine, we were able to automatise and personalise Søstrene Grene’s email flows. What used to be a time-consuming, manual process of generating emails for +15 markets is now replaced with a smooth, automated solution. This has reduced editing time by a massive 60-70 % ensuring a quicker time-to-market and freeing up employee time to focus on business development instead.
The new setup enables Søstrene Grene to send out approximately 80.000.000 emails a year, where almost every email is personalised. Not only has the transformation made the process more efficient – it is also very scalable, cost-effective and flexible, which supports Søstrene Grene’s ambitious growth and expansion strategy.
…And if that’s not impressive enough, we managed to implement the most essential templates and automation flows in only one month, so that it was ready for Søstrene Grene’s big e-commerce launch in 2020. Hereafter, we rolled out the setup to each of Søstrene Grene’s markets, based on a monthly roll-out plan.
Beautiful synergy between owned and paid media
With a huge and active customer base on Facebook and Instagram, it was interesting to uncover how Søstrene Grene could reactivate the first party data obtained through Salesforce Marketing Cloud to lift the performance of its paid media setup. The goal was to increase customer loyalty; the means was an interplay between Salesforce and Meta.
It quickly became clear that sharing data between the two platforms would take Søstrene Grene’s automation setup to the next level. Utilising first party data in Søstrene Grene’s lead ads led to a remarkable 310% increase in conversions, resulting in an impressive return on investment of 493% for the Salesforce x Meta solution.
The use of first party data allows for orchestration rather than ‘just’ automation. What does this entail? Sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time – and that makes loyal customers. In fact, Søstrene Grene experienced a significant 142% rise in returning customers after optimising its use of first party data.
POWER TO THE FIRST PARTY DATA
With Søstrene Grene’s stock of first party data in mind, we were curious to dive into whether the performance of paid media could be optimised by reactivating this data – and how it could contribute to a more streamlined omnichannel experience.
To investigate this, we supported Søstrene Grene with data from Salesforce Marketing Cloud so that they, in collaboration with Facebook, could conduct an advanced Multi Cell Lift Study in Meta with a test and control group. The results confirmed what we predicted: synergistically sharing data between Meta’s platforms and Salesforce yields results on another level.
The study revealed a 78% lower cost per acquisition, a lift in sales by 310% and a 330% higher return on ad spend, when comparing a setup that activates first party data in paid ads with a setup that runs as usual.
The interplay between owned and paid media and the activation of first party data allows for Søstrene Grene to use several different platforms to reach its loyal customers and generate revenue – regardless of the channel.
Currently, we’re supporting Søstrene Grene in activating email data in its newly implemented mParticle Customer Data Platform. This will elevate the setup even further, as it allows for even greater utilisation of first party data, which is absolutely crucial in a marketing era increasingly characterised by strict tracking and data privacy regulations.
The case with Søstrene Grene clearly proves that working with first party data in the orchestration of campaigns and marketing channels is extremely important. Especially in an era, where the use of tracking-data as we know it is becoming more and more challenging.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE
For Søstrene Grene, nurturing and maintaining its loyal customers is alpha omega. Therefore, it was essential for Søstrene Grene to provide an excellent brand and service experience – online as well as in physical stores. Here too, our partnership has delivered clear and time-saving results.
By implementing Salesforce Service Cloud in a cross-cloud interplay with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, we vastly optimised the process of handling customer inquiries.
Now, Søstrene Grene can easily access customer contact information, order information and NPS scores. Before, this was handled manually in siloed programmes such as Outlook, Skype and Slack. It’s never been easier and faster for the team to respond to social media inquiries and develop personal dashboards for a quick overview of workload and priority hierarchies.
The key results? We’ve saved time. Weeks of it, in fact. Processing time has been reduced from up to 14 days to an average just three days! And the setup secured greater customer satisfaction with an NPS score of 63 for first-time-buyers and 71 for recurring customers.
The customer journey
For new customers, the customer journey often begins with exposure to a lead ad on Facebook inviting them to register for Anna & Clara’s universe. The lead ads are targeted based on look-a-likes and first party data from valuable customers.
The customer is then welcomed by an email flow that aims to get the customer to visit the website. Here, most customers browse the product assortment and the DIY section.
If the customer decides to leave the website, they are then followed up by a newsletter that contains personalised content based on products and categories in which they’ve previously shown interest in.
Should the purchase be interrupted, the customer will receive an automated email with a basket reminder and an easy option to complete the purchase. In connection with the purchase, a profile can be created which provides Søstrene Grene with even more first party data to work with.
After the purchase, the customer receives a survey to share their feedback on their shopping experience. Based on their unique purchase data and reviews, the customer is then added to a post-purchase audience flow that ensures personalised re-marketing campaigns across all channels.
The setup enables Søstrene Grene to deliver personalised and distinctive brand experiences throughout the customer journey, using first party data, in conjunction with Relewise and Salesforce Marketing Cloud, to tailor content for each customer based on their interests and purchase history.
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ABOUT SØSTRENE GRENE
The story of Søstrene Grene started in 1973 in Aarhus where the couple, Knud Cresten Vaupell Olsen and Inger Grene, opened the first store.
Since then, it is safe to say that they’ve experienced a lot of growth. Today, Søstrene Grene is present in 16 different markets with web shops in 6 of them, has 1,196 employees and a revenue of 1,688,984 DKK. The concept is the same: giving the customers a unique shopping experience in a peculiar universe that evolves around “hygge”.
Want more insights on our project with SØSTRENE GRENE?
Kenni is eager to tell you all about it.
