OpticsPlanet is one of the world’s leading online retailers for hunting, shooting, and tactical gear. With millions of customers, they are dedicated to providing the service of a brick and mortar company in the form of an e-commerce store.
CHALLENGE
OpticsPlanet received a large quantity of OpticsPlanet branded fleece jackets and wanted to use these as a reward to their VIP customers.
The plan was to send a personalized email campaign that offered a unique coupon code which allowed VIP customers to order the fleece jacket for free. In addition to rewarding customers for their loyalty, this created an opportunity to represent the OpticsPlanet brand with a fleece jacket.
The main challenge OpticsPlanet faced was the level of personalization they wanted to include in each email. Highly personalized emails are difficult to create and there is generally a lot of testing involved. Each email needed to include the customer’s name and a unique coupon code. The team had to ensure these emails landed in their customers’ inboxes and rendered correctly, regardless of the device on which it was displayed.
On top of this, OpticsPlanet was experiencing low inbox placement at Microsoft and hoped Return Path could help them turn this around.
SOLUTION
In order to test the rendering of the email design, OpticsPlanet turned to Return Path’s Inbox Preview solution which allows senders to preview email campaigns on the most up-to-date devices whether on mobile, webmail, or desktop platforms. At the same time, they needed to keep an eye on their inbox placement rates to ensure their IP address and domain reputations were in good shape. The Return Path Platform gave them this ability with the most accurate and comprehensive data regarding their deliverability.
“Return Path has provided us with an excellent email testing platform and subject line comparison tool to make sure our emails and subject lines look great on every device and mailbox provider.”
Meghan O’Laughlin
Senior Specialist of Promotions, OpticsPlanet
RESULTS
Working closely with the Return Path team, OpticsPlanet was able to fix their inbox placement issues at Microsoft. With this boost in deliverability, the email marketing team also saw an increase in engagement with their subscribers.
O’Laughlin explains, “By working with us to start sending to our most engaged subscribers first, Return Path has improved our deliverability to Microsoft. This has drastically improved open rates for our email program.”
By being prepared with high inbox placement and well-executed email designs, this campaign had the highest total open rate of any email sent by OpticsPlanet that year at a rate of 228 percent (due to multiple opens) and a total click-through rate of 95 percent. Additionally, even though this was a free offer, there was a 56 percent conversion rate as a majority of email recipients also made a paid purchase. Finally, customers shared their free gift on social media channels and through word of mouth, offering a unique way to elevate the company’s brand.
Even with all the potential issues and risks of setting up these very personalized campaigns, OpticsPlanet succeeded by using the solutions offered by Return Path to optimize their testing strategy and inbox placement.