Campaigns we like: Wiggle.co.uk

I was involved in the judging for the “Best customer journey” category at the DMA Awards a couple of weeks ago where we saw some great examples of brands not just running siloed marketing campaigns, but really thinking about customer experience and how to talk to customers in different ways and via different channels.

A great customer journey
So, rather than choosing an individual campaign, I decided I’d share an example of a great customer journey that is run predominantly via email. The brand in question is Wiggle.co.uk, no doubt well known to all you post-Olympics cycling converts! They are an online retailer of cycles and associated accessories.

My journey with Wiggle began with me registering on the site and making a purchase. While I am generally a fan of Wiggle’s comms, I did feel that they missed a trick early on. The automated welcome email I received upon registering was text only and really felt out of kilter with their subsequent comms.

Having placed my order, I received the expected order confirmation, but was then also pleased to receive a subsequent message, a day or two later, telling me that my order was ready for dispatch. Had I not been a cheapskate and opted for the cheapest delivery option, I would also have been able to track the progress of my delivery.

Post-purchase offers
I received my order when I expected and 10 days later I received a message offering me £15 off a £100 spend. There was a strong call to action and a four-day limit on the offer, driving me to act quickly. Also, the message was very single-minded and contained virtually nothing other than the offer. We were now in the run-up to Christmas, so as you’d expect I received a series of Christmas offer messages, my particular favourite being an offer message that catered for multiple levels of spend, five different offers ranging from a £50 spend up to a £1,000 spend.

Again, single-minded in its messaging, inclusive in its catering for all wallets and valid for just a few days to drive the desired action quickly.

Believable bulletin stories
During this time, I also began to receive their bulletin, which, while still being a sales message, also includes a more human story element. The first covered a group of friends out on a dark rainy evening trying out some new lights they had “splashed out on”. The language used and the way it was written made it very believable and feel real, rather than something that had been knocked out by the marketing department, it felt like it had been written by an avid cyclist.

Good use of “last chance” messaging
The offer messaging continues over time, with the well-tested “last chance” messaging, which frankly works, or always has whenever I’ve tested it! Subject lines are always personalised and there is a nice feeling of consistency between the emails and the site, for example the layout and navigation bar. The messaging is a nice balance of offer/discount, new product announcements and story type messaging as I’ve explained.

Strong integration with social media
Wiggle cover social media nicely with the ability to link to all the usual platforms. Also, their content is very shareable, with share buttons being provided against every product once you click into them. There is also stacks of user generated content (UGC) such as ratings, reviews and customer answered FAQs against a lot of the products.

Nothing groundbreaking you may say, but in my view they are getting the basics right and it’s clearly working for them. They are streets ahead of many online retailers in my opinion.

Rupert Harrison, senior planning consultant, relationship marketing, Possible Worldwide
@possible
@RupertHarrison

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