Consumer-Generated Feedback Enhances Email Marketing

Mountain Gear Case Study – May 2008
By Yury Polnar | Marketing Analyst

Overview

Email marketing is losing importance in shoppers' eyes and is becoming less effective in terms of performance. Not only are ISPs associating marketing emails with spam, but people have become desensitized to the frequent and predictable marketing messages that are filling their inboxes. In response, merchants are forced to send out increasingly higher volumes of email to combat the high deletion and low click-through rates.

Marketers struggle to find new and exciting ways to re-engage with their customers, and are rarely successful in deviating from the standard "new arrivals," "clearance" or "award winners" email promotions. This case study discusses how Mountain Gear leveraged the PowerReviews tag-based customer reviews solution to reconnect with its customers and significantly increase email performance in several key metrics: click-through, conversion, and AOV.

Challenge

Mountain Gear, a leading multi-channel retailer of outdoor clothing and supplies, is committed to carrying top brands that have earned a reputation for quality, performance and comfort.

Wishing to bring a fresh perspective to its commitment of offering top-of-the-line industry-rated products, Mountain Gear explored letting customers share their personal experiences with its products.

Solution

Mountain Gear selected PowerReviews’ tag-based customer reviews solution in 2005 and leveraged it across the company's entire shopping experience. Eager to help fellow shoppers make correct purchase decisions, Mountain Gear’s customers immediately and passionately engaged with the new product review functionality.

As one of PowerReviews’ early clients, Mountain Gear pioneered new ways of leveraging this review content throughout its marketing efforts. In addition to adding insightful product feedback on the product detail page, Mountain Gear began merchandising Top Rated products - products that were rated highly by actual customers - in email campaigns and various on-site promotions.

Results

Mountain Gear performed a two week A/B email test promoting the exact same products in two different emails – one email included product ratings while the other did not. The Top Rated email with product ratings outperformed the standard emails in several key metrics:

5%-8% Higher Click-Through Rate – Customers responded favorably to “User Approved” products and ratings in the email - with higher click-through rates as people wanted to discover why the products were rated highly.
14%-17% Higher Conversion Rate – Tag-based product reviews enabled customers to finding products that best matched their specific product interests or concerns such as being durable, lightweight or good for hiking.

81%-85% Higher AOV – Top Rated products focus on product performance and are not price driven. Relevant customer reviews and recommendations therefore take the uncertainty out of online shopping - with customers willing to pay for guaranteed product performance and satisfaction.

Mountain Gear was successfully able to re-engage with its email audience by featuring ”User-Approved” products – achieving significant performance increases as a result. Unlike standard email messaging, which cause recipients to feel marketed to, people welcome the inclusion of customer ratings in their search for proven quality products and unbiased recommendations. Product feedback from actual product users ensures that the products that arrive are of the same quality, performance, and comfort standards that are advertised online.

Company Profile

Partner Since: Dec 2005
Location: Spokane Valley, Wash.
URL: www.mountaingear.com