How Product Recommendations Delivered 25x ROI and Triggered Viber Campaigns Boosted Conversion by 10x: a Pet Store Case Study

There are businesses that just send emails. And there are those that strategize and communicate as if they were mind readers. Not because they guess, but because they observe, analyze, and act at the right moment.

This case study is about a brand that has turned campaigns and a website into a complete system of personalized communication. There is no magic here but just data, logic, and a little attention to detail.

About the Project

Our client is an online pet store that offers products for cats and dogs, including food, treats, supplements, grooming items, toys, bowls, and more. The store also offers online consultations with vets.

Task

Previously, the company had been using another email service provider. As their business grew rapidly in 2022, they switched to Yespo CDP and began working with our agency. We focused on two goals:

• increase customer loyalty;
• increase sales from direct channels and the website.

Solution

After auditing their current communication approach, together with the client, we outlined the main steps:

• implement an omnichannel communication strategy;
• launch “Abandoned Cart” and “Abandoned Browse” triggers;
• set up recommendations on the website.

Web Tracking Setup

The first step was the implementation of web tracking. It allows tracking users’ actions on the site, namely what they view, what they add to the cart, and where they stop.

The collected data is the basis for personalized communication. Such information helps to launch triggers, segment the audience more precisely, and form relevant recommendations both in campaigns and on the website.

We have provided the team with the technical specification for implementing web tracking. There are three steps:

1. Installing a web tracking script on a website.
2. Uploading product feed to the company’s Yespo CDP account.
3. Connecting the transfer of events from the site to the system.

Master Template Development

While the technical setup was underway, our designer created a flexible master template used across promotional and triggered campaigns, ensuring consistent branding and faster production.

Configuring Omnichannel Triggered Workflows

After the client implemented web tracking, we started working on creating triggered workflows. To increase their efficiency, we extended the workflows to the omnichannel level as we added Viber and web push to email campaigns.

The company had previously used Viber, but its strategy remained multichannel, with channels operating separately and not interacting. The integration of Yespo transformed this approach: Viber was now fully integrated into the omnichannel communication strategy, and web push became an additional channel for engaging with the audience. As a result, the brand established another touchpoint with its customers.

First of all, we decided to implement “Abandoned Cart” and “Abandoned Browse” triggered workflows as they are must-haves for ecommerce businesses.

The “Abandoned cart” workflow is activated when a user adds an item to the cart but does not complete the purchase. Within an hour, they receive an email and a web push. After another two hours, the system checks whether the user has placed an order. If yes, the workflow stops, if no, a message is sent to Viber.

The “Abandoned browse" workflow operates with the same timing logic but is triggered differently: it activates when a user views a product but does not add it to the cart. In this flow, we use only email and Viber, excluding web push notifications.

In parallel, in both workflows, we tested a hypothesis: whether a promo code in Viber messages affects conversion. The audience was divided equally: one group received a promo code, the other group did not. For further analysis, contacts were automatically allocated to the appropriate segments.

Testing showed that triggered messages with a promo code perform better than messages without a promo code.

In the “Abandoned Cart” workflow:

• the number of sales increased by 2.4 times;
• revenue from campaigns increased by 2.98 times.

Under the “Abandoned Browse” workflow:

• the number of sales increased by 2.6 times;
• income from campaigns—by 2 times.

Working with Promo Campaigns

The company provided us with a file containing contacts that included basic information (email, phone number, customer name) as well as the following parameters:

• type of pet for which the customer purchased products: cat, dog, or both cat and dog;
• purchase frequency: the customer’s favorite brands (those bought most often) and additional brands (those bought less frequently).

 With this data in hand, we formed segments for email and Viber campaigns.

To make the emails interactive, we applied to Google for AMP emails sender status. After confirmation, we started using a carousel with promotional banners in promotional emails. For users whose email clients do not support AMP, alternative HTML blocks were added.

Viber campaigns combined general offers with several promotions in one message, as well as personalized offers from individual brands for those who had already bought their products.

Next, we began to incorporate data from web tracking into the segmentation, specifically, which brands customers were buying and the type of pet the products were designed for. This was important because new contacts didn’t have a history of interaction yet, and repeat customers can change their interests over time.

Segmentation by brand in Viber campaigns allowed to increase the rate of conversions from 8-10% to 11-20%, and conversion to sales exceeded the average figures by 30-80%.

We also experimented with the content in the campaigns. And here are the results we got:

1. Audiences opened emails whose subject lines contained a discount amount (e.g., -20%) or double emoji (🐶😻, 🦮🐈) the most. Open Rate was 23-26% compared to 18-22% for other email subject lines.
2. Email campaigns with product cards had an average Click-To-Open Rate of 9 to 15%, depending on the segment. At the same time, emails with promotional banners occasionally showed better results—up to 20%.
3. HTML versions of emails had slightly higher clickability than AMP: 55.8% vs. 44.2%. Probably because in AMP emails the terms and conditions of the promotion are immediately visible, while in HTML-images are smaller, so users visit the site to learn more.

Adding Recommendations to the Website

To increase sales on the site, we have added three blocks of personalized recommendations:

• in the shopping cart: items that are commonly bought together with the one selected;
• on product pages: items that are often purchased together with the one the user is browsing;
• on the home page: personalized selections based on the most popular products.

Results

In just the first month after launching product recommendations on the website, the profit from them exceeded the implementation cost by 25 times. Marketing communications through direct channels also delivered results:

The team continued to develop their omnichannel strategy. As soon as widgets became available in Yespo, they were among the first to integrate the tool into their communications.

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