Mobovida, an online retailer of mobile accessories and handbags, is meeting the challenge of selling highly commoditized products with a two-pronged approach: providing fashion-forward products, and personalizing its messaging to strengthen shopper connections.
With the help of CRM platform provider Zaius, Mobovida has increased revenue-per-email-send 33%, and also has been able to:
- Segment customers more intelligently to increase relevancy of its messages;
- Personalize campaigns based on the history of each individual customer’s browsing and purchase behaviors; and
- Coordinate customer communications and reduce unsubscribe rates.
“As a philosophy of marketing, we always like to know what’s going on,” said Kenny Smithnanic, Director of Marketing and Business Intelligence at Mobovida. “We tend to shy away from AI engines, because we don’t always know exactly what the rules are — they are always very ‘black box.’ We wanted something that could put us in control, but also give us the ability to create customer segments we could message based on all the different behaviors that they’ve exhibited across all our touch points, including email and the web site.”
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Segmentation Sets The Stage For Relevant Messaging
Mobovida segments its customers based on various factors including email open rates, SMS responses, web site pages and products visited. Once customers are segmented, the retailer sends personalized messages that are personalized based on the appropriate response format (email, text or push notifications). Smithnanic notes that the first level of segmentation is always based on the smartphone device model, because each phone case or related product must fit the shopper’s phone.
“Based on your browsing behavior, or if you’ve purchased from us in the past, we’re only showing you stuff for that phone model,” Smithnanic said. “Depending on how much behavior you’ve displayed or how many purchases you’ve placed, we know the type of case. While there tend to be people who prefer black, slim, cheap, low-profile protectives, there are people who like purple wallet cases with designs on the outside. If you’re a ‘purple wallet case with designs’ person, you’re probably interested in other colored wallet cases with designs.”
The retailer separates its messaging based on the three different stages of the sales funnel:
- Top of the funnel: Emails directed toward different product categories, gauging consumer interest based on a quick visit to the site without making a purchase;
- Middle of the funnel: Messages directed largely to those who may have purchased once or twice, based on historic data and still focused on newer phone accessories; and
- Bottom of the funnel (most frequent customers): Messages that expand beyond typical accessories to feature new products such as clutches, wireless chargers, laptop cases and even purses.
“We’re expecting our new access to analytics and customer information to increase our revenue from non-accessories like wallets, wristlets and fashion accessories,” Smithnanic said. “Our merchandisers are going to be able to learn the tool and think creatively with marketing on the best ways to implement and sell these new categories.
Mobovida Moves Into Fashion With MissMinx Brand
In addition to its own site, Mobovida operates the e-Commerce sites for CellularOutfitterand recently established women’s fast fashion brand MissMinx. With three different web sites reaching a wide base of potential consumers, the retailer must further leverage the platform to understand a growing consumer base with newer, largely uncharted demographics.
“It’s fun to try new verticals,” Smithnanic said. “After selling cell phone accessories for years, it’s fun to have something fresh to take a shot at. Our CEO saw a market opportunity with this clothing line, and this past year we’ve been trying to narrow down and emphasize our core competencies, which have to be through digital marketing. It’s the only way our company can survive all these years when everybody sells cell phone accessories.”
