The Athlete’s Foot reveals key strategies it employs to reward and communicate with its loyalty customers. This exclusive excerpt is from the Fashion eCommerce: Successful Strategies Decoded downloadable report which also features explorations into key strategies from Stylerunner, Kmart, PAS Group and many more.
Since its inception in 2008, The Athlete’s Foot loyalty database has grown to more than three million members.
The My Fit Rewards program operates using a points-earning mechanism, whereby customers earn one point for every dollar spent, with a $30 voucher given when 300 points are reached.
Other benefits include free shoe waterproofing, early access to VIP sales, promotions and events and being the first to hear about new product and health information.
"Our My Fit Rewards program is our way of saying thank you," The Athlete’s Foot CRM and loyalty manager Madeleine Bobb says of the program.
And the thanks is paying off, with 42% of the My Fit Rewards members repeat customers, accounting for over 70% of business revenue.
Nurturing this blooming database is high on the agenda for the retailer, Bobb explains.
"Our primary focus is to increase customer retention through our loyalty program.
"With an increasing proportion of our customers repeat purchasing, we know that a higher retention rate means a consistent flow of revenue - which cuts the cost to regularly acquiring new members in replace of churned existing members," she says.
Simultaneously, the business is also focusing reducing the 58% of the database that are single-purchase customers and increasing their purchase frequency.
"To achieve this, we need to continuously improve our loyalty approach by acting on insights and measuring success," Bobb explains.
"The focus will be on providing something of value to the customer, regularly - offering our customers the best possible experience," she says.
Helping achieve this goal is the business’ introduction of software which combines all data sources to allow TAF to better understand its customers and create more efficient marketing campaigns.
"This allows us to leverage audience data and performance results to connect audiences with the most engaging information and offers across our channels," Bobb says.
One such campaign was the recent Back to School program, which targeted members determined as ‘interested customers’ (based on purchase data) and qualified ‘potential customers’ (based on engagement data).
Whichever category the customer fell in determined the message they received across the marketing channels.
Using this customer-centric approach, TAF delivered a 119% increase in eCommerce conversion year-on-year (yoy) and a 52% increase in website sessions yoy, with the average session duration increasing by 34% yoy.
Bobb explains that to deliver these improved campaigns, the business also has to identify and work together across multiple segments.
"The business has recognised the need to reflect on the possibilities and opportunities that support the customer experience and provide the business with a holistic view of the customer.
"We understand the importance of working with cross-functional teams to help break down silos and support a seamless customer approach.
"Our primary aim is continuing to work on bridging the gap and building on successes, focusing on replacing business-centricity with customer-centricity," she says.
Bobb adds that the business will look to apply the ‘interested’ and ‘potential’ customer segmentation across its existing and future campaign audience selection.
However, it’s not only digital channels which prove effective for TAF.
A recent direct mail campaign contributed to a return on ad spend (ROAS) of 38:1 and an overall conversion rate of 28.88%.
"While most marketers question whether direct marketing is still an effective strategy in an increasingly digital world, we saw an opportunity to provide our members with something few could resist," Bobb says.
The campaign saw TAF send a letter to 5000 customers who had direct mail set as their preferred communication channel.
The initiative gave the retailer an opportunity to give customers a tactile, interactive experience that they might miss, by not receiving the email or SMS campaigns.
"With My Fit Members representing a significant advantage to TAF business, we wanted to take the opportunity to amplify our existing rewards vouchers," Bobb continues.
"We are always looking at making smarter decisions on how to best allocate time, budget, and resources by identifying initiatives with the greatest potential business impact," she says.
Part of this analysis includes a breakdown of channel preferences and tailoring the communications to suit, as was demonstrated in the direct mail campaign.
However, the business also builds out the campaign to flow across multiple channels, Bobb explains.
"Adding different channels into the mix when building campaigns, whether that is a re-engagement series or an ad-hoc campaign, contributes to an increase in engagement and overall conversion.
"For example, if a customer is unresponsive to email, we apply recency to enhance our targeting and leverage options like SMS and DM.
"Unsurprisingly, by taking this approach we can see an increase in overall conversion rate and return on investment (ROI) through our paid channels," she says.
A recent SMS activation drove home that this strategy was working, with the campaign delivering an ROI of $26 for every dollar spent and a conversion rate of 12%.
And while the direct mail and SMS campaigns delivered strong results, during the pandemic, email’s importance was heightened as a key channel for communicating with customers, Bobb explains.
"We required agile marketing processes to be able to respond to market conditions and revise email marketing campaigns and messaging, almost instantly.
"Like most businesses, we saw a shift in consumer behaviour.
"With changes in buying patterns, we observed an increase in acquired first-time customers and saw existing customers switch from the usual communication channels used – email became a vital tool to educate and communicate with customers.
"We took this opportunity to rethink and reinvent our processes, leveraging our ability to combine customer purchase and engagement data to better personalise our marketing automations and campaigns," Bobb says.
Ultimately, the most important factor in ensuring a successful campaign is the delivery and timing of the message, Bobb finishes.
"Customer expectations are at an all-time high. We are going through a transformation in how we connect and interact with our members.
"The key is to target customers with the right message and offers, at the right time, through their preferred channels to effectively engage and convert the right audience," she says.