Retail: Indicia's campaign for Shop Direct

Objectives

Recruit 2,500 style-seekers to become Very.com credit account customers. Drive 70% of business online by 2010.

Strategy and targeting

We had to find and recruit thousands of new credit account customers, rather than get one-off purchases. With many high-profile competitors already hammering inboxes, we developed an innovative campaign using the Holly and Fearne Secret Garden theme to build awareness and deliver cut-through. As high-profile brand ambassadors, the dynamic duo proved their enduring popularity with younger style-hunters who wanted fashion reassurance. Very.com appeals to female twenty-somethings, hungry for the latest trends and partial to a bit of credit to soften the impact on their purses. Research indicated how popular Holly and Fearne were with this audience, making them our natural choice. Crucially we integrated analytics, creative and technology to enhance customer interaction. By analysing individual browser activity on Very.com we dynamically populated our emails.

The result was a multiple transmission strategy driven by a combination of relevancy and fashion brand values. Email offered a uniquely personal and cost-effective medium, plus a seamless journey between initial impact and action. By creating an email prospect pool, enhanced by our proprietary database, we were able to build a detailed picture of the target audience. Combining this information with targeted models and detailed web analytics we were able to respond to individual actions, making content relevant as possible. This has transformed how Very recruits online. Bright, stylish and elegantly full of opportunities for every individual to interact. Magic.

Database

We created a prospect pool of 11 million third-party opt-ins with demographic, purchasing and lifestyle variables, and built a bespoke model to select the most relevant. We gathered data from interaction with the emails and Very.com to drive subsequent dynamic content. We then recorded subsequent interactions and, within a week, analysed behaviour to dynamically populate follow ups.

Results

We acquired 5,760 credit account customers, with an average lifetime value of £500. Our estimated total LTV was £2,880,000. 20% click to open rates, 74% reduction in cost per customer, doubling our forecast response.