Email Marketing Propels Most Successful Product Launch
Trek to Lead Upcoming Webcast Discussing Its Secrets to Success
Durham, NC – October 10, 2007 – Bronto Software, Inc. today announced that Trek Bikes credits its email campaigns as a key component in the success of the overall best product launch in the company's 31-year history – the all-new Madone bike. Trek uses Bronto to create email marketing campaigns designed to drive traffic to its website as well as notify customers of other products and specials available at local retailers. The company realizes that email marketing is the easiest and fastest way to get product information into the customer's hands.
Casey Kohner, Trek Bikes B2C e-Commerce Manager, will lead an upcoming webcast to discuss how Trek positions email marketing as a critical piece of an overarching marketing campaign which combines print advertising and paid search campaigns for upcoming product releases. Kohner will share best practices other retailers can easily implement to increase conversion rates and drive sales, including:
Develop a rich contact list
By collecting email addresses during the 2005 and 2006 Tour de France races, associated web site contests, and other methods, Trek developed a list of highly-relevant contacts. To further assure the best email delivery rates possible, Trek employs a double opt-in acceptance process. "We are adamant that our delivery list is clean and that our users are truly interested in receiving our mailing," noted Kohner.
Quality messaging and branded communications
Trek Bikes Web Art Director Ken Soliva notes, "We are very vigilant with regards to our brand and how it appears to our customers." As a result, the company works diligently to produce finely-crafted emails in terms of content and design. Typical new product newsletters include a streamlined look-and-feel with text balanced around two photos. Call-to-action links are often number one and number two in terms of click-thrus, indicating a significant percentage of customers are engaged and take the time to read the content.
Create dedicated microsites as appropriate
Trek often directs click-thru traffic to a dedicated microsite that further details a new product. Opt-in links are included for consumers who might have stumbled across the site through search engine queries.
Build the buzz
This best practice is especially important when launching new products. The Trek team often keeps product launch news and proprietary features secretive until just before the launch to help build the buzz within its dedicated and loyal consumer base.
Crunch the numbers
Analytics and reporting features help Trek understand the value and effectiveness of email campaigns as they provide insight into how email drives web site traffic and ultimately converts sales at the retail level. Based on this information, Trek can adjust email campaigns accordingly to ensure increased open rates, deliverability, and response rates. "I'm a numbers junkie," stated Kohner. "With Bronto's reporting tools I can easily see how our campaigns are performing. After organizing email campaigns for four releases, it was very clear that email marketing is the highest-performing marketing element."
The Trek team recently put all of these best practices to the test when planning one of the company’s largest product releases – the highly-anticipated all-new Madone bike. Trek dedicated a large portion of the overall marketing campaign to email marketing and saw fantastic results. The Madone email campaign generated a 36% open rate (compared to an industry average of 13.9%), an 18% click-thru rate (compared to an industry average of 3.7%), and a lift of 10% to their opt-in email and RSS programs – easily confirming that Trek’s email marketing campaign is a top performing and crucial piece of their overall marketing strategy.
"Customers would print out our emails featuring the all-new Madone bike and bring it to their local stores saying, 'I want this bike.' We couldn’t have asked for better results," stated Kohner. "Everything worked. In terms of marketing, execution, planning, and sales, we consider it to be the overall best product launch we have done in our company’s [31-year] history. Since the release of the all-new Madone, every bike produced is being shipped out immediately due to high demand. The email campaign was a key component to that success."
About Trek Bicycle Corporation
Headquartered in Waterloo, Wisconsin, Trek Bicycle Corporation is a global leader in bicycle design and manufacturing. From the original hand-built steel touring frames introduced in 1976 to the revolutionary OCLV carbon fiber first introduced in 1992, Trek’s passion for innovation, quality, and performance leads the industry with next-generation technology and thinking. With a record seven consecutive Tour de France titles, six straight 24-hour World Solo Mountain Bike Championships, and countless other professional wins, Trek enjoys a rich tradition of victory in the world’s premier cycling events. Today, with a broad range of bicycles and cycling products under the Trek, Gary Fisher, LeMond, Bontrager, and Klein brand names, Trek continues to pursue new ways to bring the joy of cycling to all people.
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