The Power of Direct Mail - How This Works uses the channel to deliver online growth and build its brand

This Works is an award-winning natural beauty brand established in 2003. It offers a range of products that address the different skincare needs faced over a 24-hour period.

To support its aggressive customer acquisition targets, it wanted to identify and focus on channels which would be most receptive to its core target audience.

The Solution:

While working with retailers including John Lewis, Boots and Marks & Spencer, This Works also wanted to grow its direct to consumer sales. Based on its customer demographics, it decided to test a printed catalogue, working with Epsilon Abacus to target the most appropriate prospects, using lookalike models driven by transactional data.

As its website was its core transactional platform, This Works also began working with Screen Pages to deliver a more impactful customer experience, relaunching its website on a new, responsive platform.

The Results:

Its initial direct mail test proved a success. This Works found that direct mail delivered its most valuable customers. Those recruited offline spent more, and their repurchase rates were significantly above the average for its other channels. These customers were also more likely to be cross-category buyers, a key segment This Works wanted to attract.

Direct mail has also helped in communicating its brand story. Focusing on its ‘24hr skin solutions’ philosophy, This Works wanted to educate its audience arounds its products that support the different skin needs over a 24-hour period.

The catalogue allowed This Works to tell its story more effectively than any other of its marketing channels, leading the reader systematically through its story in a manner not possible in a digital environment. This resulted in new catalogue-recruited customers having a greater affinity with This Works’ brand and a higher spend per order.

Joe Fletcher, eCommerce Director at This Works commented:

“Direct Mail delivers our best customers compared to any other channel. Those recruited spend more on their first order, have higher lifetime values and are more likely to remain active buyers in the future.”

On relaunching its new site, This Works dovetailed its offline activity with its online platform to ensure brand continuity. The site has delivered an improvement in a customer’s online experience, resulting in a significant improvement in conversions. On mobile, a 30% uplift has been achieved and a 60% increase in mobile sessions.

As a result of the success of its initial direct mail test, This Works has scaled up its mailing activity, increasing volumes five-fold compared with its original test. The catalogue is now entrenched into its growth plans as This Works continues to invest in channels that work.

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