+166% to Average Order Value in the Email Channel: TOUS Case Study

How can a retailer whose products are typically purchased in offline stores encourage audiences to interact with the brand through digital channels to increase activity, organically remind customers about themselves, and drive online purchases? We explain this in the case study of jewelry brand TOUS. Read our material to learn how we managed to double the active subscriber base, increase the average order value by 166%, and achieve a 55% Open Rate in mass promotional campaigns.

About the Project

The Spanish brand TOUS is known for its exclusive jewelry, accessories, watches, and perfumes. The company is represented in 50+ countries worldwide. 

Objectives

TOUS currently actively engages with customers via email, seeking to attract its audience to online purchases as well. Since most buyers are accustomed to traditional shopping in stores where they can try on products, the brand aims to create motivation for online purchases. Such communication not only encourages subscribers to make impulse purchases but also increases loyalty through online engagement.

In September 2022, TOUS approached us with the following requests:

• Improve conversion metrics
• Set up trigger communication
• Increase the number of active subscribers and enrich contacts with data for segmentation

Solutions

After familiarizing ourselves with the project details and specifics, we proposed a comprehensive solution to TOUS that included:

• expanding communication channels;
• building personalized communication;
• implementing more detailed segmentation;
• improving email design;
• implementing trigger emails;
• adding a subscription widget on the website;
• implementing gamification.

Project Implementation

Previously, the brand launched mass mailings to the entire audience. However, to achieve the set business goals, we proposed a personalized interaction strategy. According to statistics, 78% of consumers are more likely to reorder from a company that provides offers based on their needs and expectations.

Interest-Based Segmentation

We decided to segment the audience by interests to send personalized content to contacts based on their individual preferences. For this, we initially sent several promotional emails to the entire audience with offers from different categories to identify interests.

When clicking on a specific category, the contact was added to the corresponding interest group. After this, a scenario was launched that sent them emails with offers according to their preferences.

The click-through rate to the website from such emails proved to be quite high—6-16%. Therefore, in subsequent mailings, we excluded inactive users and began testing content: price range, image size, layouts with and without models. Also, based on click activity, we were able to select categories for the header menu that were in the highest demand.

Gender Segmentation

At the beginning of our collaboration with TOUS, contacts in the system were not categorized by gender. As a result, both men and women received identical emails. We understood that such a strategy was not effective, so we decided to prepare separate offers for men and women within specific occasions—Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, etc. For this, we needed to segment the contact base by gender.

Since we did not have direct information about the gender of each contact, we created a list of male names. Based on this, a group was created that filtered existing contacts by possible male names. We also checked the existing database and indicated gender for those who had male names. To automate this process for the future, the "Gender" field was first added to the personal account, and then to the registration form. If a client fills out other forms on the site, they enter a welcome scenario, within which they receive a request to fill in all necessary information in their personal account.

And for those contacts who had neither the gender field nor email filled out, we created a Viber campaign offering to complete all data in their personal account for a promotional discount code.

Gender segmentation allowed for improved personalized interaction. We identified the male audience and reduced the frequency of mailings to 1-2 times per month for them, as TOUS's main assortment is oriented toward the female audience. Also, during experiments, we determined that short emails with a small number of offers and promotional sales work better for men.

Zodiac Sign Segmentation

The next activity involved segmenting the audience for zodiac mailings. For this, we distributed contacts by birth date corresponding to each zodiac sign.

Each month, the respective contacts received an email with offers of jewelry with constellations and power stones specifically for them. Even though the first mailing was targeted at a rather narrow segment, it generated sales, so this activity was determined to be effective and is planned to continue.

Email Design Update

A separate task within the email channel was updating the email design. We added a header, footer, products, and emphasized the visual presentation.

The design improvements were reflected in the newsletter results—subscribers began to show more interest in the mailings, which was reflected in the growth of Open Rate from 28% to 51.8%, and Click Rate—from 1.2% to 4.1%.

Customer Activity Analysis

Our next step was to research the audience, as it's important to understand what influences customers' purchase decisions.

"After analyzing the results of our mailings, we identified a segment of the audience that read our emails but didn't place orders. So we began looking for reasons behind this atypical behavior," — Alexander Kostenko, head of TOUS brand online store.

To understand why this was happening, the project team decided to conduct a survey among customers: to learn about their preferences, explore their online and offline shopping experiences, and evaluate whether the pricing policy met their expectations. For this, we prepared a promotional email asking them to answer a few questions and receive a gift in return.

To increase audience reach for this activity, in addition to email, we added Viber messaging. If within 24 hours of receiving the email, the client didn't open it or opened it but didn't fill out the questionnaire, they received a message in the messenger.

Initially, we sent the campaign to 10% of the database to ensure the offer would interest the audience. TOUS confirmed that a third of the test audience took advantage of the offer, so we launched the campaign to the rest of the list.

The survey participants' responses allowed us to implement several improvements:

1. Content updates for emails. We added new blocks containing information about TOUS pricing policy, the main advantages of the brand, and details about physical stores.
2. Experimenting with offers. To increase engagement, we decided to add time-limited promotions, personal discounts, and gamification to emails.

In addition, testing the mailings allowed us to determine the optimal time to send messages. We analyzed emails from the last 6 months sent at different times: from 10:00 to 19:00. Mailings sent in the second half of the day generated more sales, while the open rate remained within the same range.

Personalized Communication

Segmentation of the customer base and in-depth audience analysis allowed us to move to the most important stage of work—personalized communication.

Birthday Promotional Code

To increase audience loyalty, we also decided to launch a trigger communication to congratulate customers on their birthday. To reach the widest possible audience, we chose email, Viber, and SMS channels. The campaign began 5 days before the customer's birthday. First, they received an email with a discount promo code. If the email wasn't delivered or wasn't read, the message was sent via Viber. If no target actions occurred at this stage either, the client received an SMS with a birthday promo code.

On the actual birthday, TOUS communicated with the customer again. If they had used the promo code, they received only a congratulatory message, but if not — the birthday greeting email reminded them about the active birthday discount promo code. This scenario worked on the same principle as the previous one, but before sending a message on Viber, the client received a web push notification. If the client didn't read it, the message was sent to the messenger. This allowed for budget optimization of the campaign, as Viber is the most expensive channel in the chain.

Implementing Behavioral Triggers

Previously, the brand didn't use trigger communications. To improve retention metrics, we suggested connecting the most popular e-commerce scenarios. In September 2022, we started with basic triggers, and in January 2024, we added scenarios available in our PRO plan.

For e-commerce, the most popular are Abandoned Cart, Abandoned View, Price Drop on Items in Cart, and Price Drop on Viewed Items.

To implement the triggers, we installed a web tracking script on the site, uploaded the product feed to the Yespo account, and set up event transmission to Yespo to track website visitor behavior. After this, we created email templates and corresponding scenarios for each trigger and tested them. We wrote more about setting up triggers in our "Aviatsiya Halychyny" case study.

Currently, TOUS has the following PRO plan scenarios operating:

• Abandoned Cart
• Abandoned Browse
• Price Drop on Items in Cart
• Price Drop on Viewed Items
• Back in stock notification
• New arrival announcement
• Discounts
• Abandoned Category
• Reactivate Inactive Customers
• Price Drop on Similar Items in Wishlist
• Wishlist Item Back in Stock
• Abandoned View

During the three months following implementation, trigger communications brought in 61% of the revenue received from all retention campaigns, with the average OR of trigger emails at 27%, and the transaction rate from mailings at 2.55%. It's important to note that PRO triggers showed a higher transaction rate compared to regular triggers.

The most effective scenarios for TOUS are Abandoned Cart, Abandoned View, and Reduced Price on Viewed Items. Read more about the most profitable triggers for e-commerce in our material.

Increasing the Contact Base

One of TOUS's requests was to increase their email database. So we used one of the most effective tools for this — a subscription form widget. Initially, we decided to test exclusively encouraging users to receive exclusive information and news from the brand. Later, we replaced it with a widget offering a bonus on the first order for subscribing to the newsletter.

We analyzed the performance of each widget over 6 months and confirmed the hypothesis that the discount variant interested users more:

• +14% to the contact base came from the widget without a bonus;

• +16% to the contact base came from the widget with a bonus.

Although the difference was only 2 percentage points, the bonus widget gave 14.29% more growth in the contact base compared to the widget without a bonus. Additionally, the widget with a promo code consistently brings transactions, so this option proved optimal for meeting several business objectives.

Read more about the capabilities and effectiveness of widgets in our article.

In addition, personalized interaction and regular communication with subscribers allowed doubling TOUS's active base.

Gamification in TOUS

To increase audience engagement, we developed a simple quiz with 5 questions about the brand. Email was used as the channel for engaging the audience in this activity. Those who correctly answered all questions received a limited-edition shopper bag as a gift with their order, which could be received with an order within a month after the start of the gamification. And those who answered incorrectly received a promo code for free delivery on their next order.

To properly segment the audience for sending emails with gifts, we created empty contact groups for winners and those who incorrectly answered the questions. A contact was placed in the appropriate group thanks to configured events in the email—clicking on a button. This event triggered scenarios, and contacts received the corresponding email based on their answer.

This activity for TOUS brought 10 times more sales compared to non-gamified mailings from the previous month, as well as positive feedback from store customers. The brand appreciated the effectiveness of this tool and uses gamified communications for holiday events to increase loyalty, engagement, and conversions.

Results

We have been collaborating with TOUS for over 2 years. During this period, we achieved the following metrics:

• +166% to average order value
• 2x active contact base
• 55% — email open rate
• 61% of revenue from all retention campaigns came from trigger mailings

The brand is satisfied with the results of using Yespo CDP tools, which helped achieve business goals: "We see positive dynamics in the growth of email reads and communication with customers. Even in retail locations, customers come in and mention information from emails — about gifts, promo codes, and personal discounts," — Anastasia Yermolenko, TOUS marketer.

If you want to improve interaction with your customers and achieve your business goals effectively — fill out the form below. Our team will share expertise in retention marketing with you and help choose solutions specifically for your business.

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