Bombay Company Finds an E-mail Match
When Matt Corey joined furniture and accessories merchant Bombay Company as vice president of e-commerce in May 2002, he had his work cut out for him. The company’s existing e-mail program not only was costly, but it lacked Web-based and usability tracking tools.
“We needed a program that would grow with us,” says Corey.
The company’s combined needs for a source of advice on best e-mail practices, more efficient e-mail campaigns and Web-technology management led it to e-mail solutions provider Silverpop, which offers Dynamic Messaging 3.0 software.
The solution enables users who aren’t already familiar with information technology to rapidly create rich-media messages, manage lists, send e-mail campaigns and track the results to an individual level, according to company spokesperson MacKenzie Reece. Corey’s previous familiarity with Silverpop’s technology finalized the decision.
This knowledge, paired with what Corey praises as the solution’s simplicity, also helped Bombay staffers get up to speed on the software in less than two weeks.
Newsletter Program
The initial launch for a monthly newsletter program in June 2002 yielded 40-percent open rates and 16-percent clickthrough rates, according to Silverpop. And Corey says those numbers have stayed nearly consistent: Open rates from Bombay’s twice-monthly campaigns currently average more than 30 percent.
Anecdotally, Corey says that coupons included in the e-mails increased traffic at the company’s 427 retail locations, though exact results haven’t yet been quantified.
He adds that Bombay also now enjoys more flexibility in its e-mail campaign management. For example, composing and mocking up program examples is much easier.
Though he’s pleased with things so far, Corey acknowledges that Bombay still has a lot of work to do with the solution. For example, company executives hope to integrate their e-mail lists and tracking data with e-commerce systems within the next few months.
Other plans for the program include tripling its e-mail housefile names by November 2003 (there currently are 130,000 names in the program, up from 25,000 in May 2002), and extending its e-mail campaigns to customers in Canada.
