Parachute, a digitally born bedding, bath and home retailer, is an old hand at posting user-generated content (UGC) — the company even promotes its own “Instagram Shop” within its e-Commerce site, powered by the #MyParachuteHome hashtag. But this spring, the retailer discovered that its user content is marketing gold: UGC actually performed better than Parachute’s own editorial content in driving its retargeting campaigns. Through an A/B test, the Parachute team learned that UGC generated both a 35%higher click-through rate (CTR) and a 60%lower cost-per-click (CPC) compared to the editorial content. To deploy UGC across social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, Parachute partnered with Curalate, a platform that aggregates images and videos and turns them into shoppable advertisements for the products.

Vitacost.com, a Kroger-owned online retailer offering healthy consumer products such as vitamins, nutritional supplements, beauty supplies and organic grocery products, sought to improve consumer engagement within email by strengthening its exclusive, interactive “Mystery Sale” offerings. In building out personalized email campaigns with Selligent, Vitacost.com achieved its goal of generating immediate ROI, while ensuring a consistent and relevant customer experience, delivering: A 53% increase in click-to-open rates; 33% lower unsubscribe rates compared to prior Mystery Sale campaigns; and A 31% increase in revenue per email (RPE).

With a vision to “be the most fun outdoor retailer on the planet” while selling the best outdoor products, Moosejaw strives to deliver experiences that are both meaningful and memorable — all hinging strongly on being relatable to the shopper. The retailer operates by four chief values: be notable, get people engaged, make customers love the brand and “only do cool stuff” — or in business terms, be willing to test, try and fail — according to Dan Pingree, Moosejaw’s CMO, in a session at Retail TouchPoints Live! @ RetailX.

Prior to the 2018 holiday season, Tammy & Benjamin, a luxury leather brand, sought to drive more global sales for its handbags and expand further into major markets such as the U.S. and UK. But with only 34 stores, the company needed more effective outreach to promote both its online and physical businesses. The France-based retailer partnered with digital advertising platform MakeMeReach to drive awareness, and ultimately sales, through an ad campaign that encompassed Facebook, Instagram and Google. As a result, the retailer saw a 230% lift in sales attributed to Facebook and Instagram ads, and a 90% increase in sales through Google brand search campaigns in the lead-up to Black Friday 2018.

Hammock Gear initially built its reputation through social media, word of mouth and a commitment to first-class customer service. That reputation has provided a steady influx of new shoppers, and Hammock Gear has partnered with Springbot to automate its marketing campaigns and convert new site visitors into loyal customers. The company’s updated web site helped drive the best holiday season ever, with 2018 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales rising 164% over 2017. An important element of this success is the site’s granular approach to abandonment emails. Rather than immediately sending promotions, Hammock Gear varies its responses based on the level of interaction. Even simple, no-pressure emails are effective at getting potential customers to return, according to Sally Brown, Hammock Gear COO. For instance, a browser who visits the site, looks around and leaves without adding anything to his or her cart gets a polite thank you message with a return link. “We take a softer approach to it,” said Brown in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Rather than just going right at them and saying, ‘Hey, we know you stopped by, and we know you looked at this thing — come back and we’ll give you a discount,’ it's…