American Eagle Outfitters

Experian Marketing Services
American Eagle Outfitters / Client Case Study
American Eagle Outfitters®
Cross-channel marketing holiday case study
American Eagle Outfitters creates a dynamic, cross-channel marketing
program to acquire, engage and convert customers during the competitive
holiday season
CLIENT
American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (AEO) is a leading global specialty retailer offering high-quality,
on-trend clothing, accessories and personal care products at affordable prices under its
American Eagle Outfitters® and Aerie® brands.
In order to gain more market share during the busy holiday season, AEO desired to create a
unique and memorable campaign that would separate itself from the competition. Leveraging
the popularity of mobile and social media within its target audience, AEO, Experian Marketing
Services and Archer Mobile developed a fully integrated, omni-channel holiday program that
drove mind share, social sharing and online and in-store traffic.
CHALLENGE/OBJECTIVE
Unrivaled customer experience
•Provide customers with an unrivaled digital experience that encouraged continued
brand engagement throughout the 12 days of the Legendary Gifts holiday
campaign
•Focus on customer experience first, enabling customers to engage with the brand in the
ways and channels they preferred
Drive sales through product promotion and traffic
•Promote top holiday products from AEO’s Legendary Gifts Collection
•Drive online and in-store traffic, as well as revenue growth, during the competitive
holiday season
Cross-channel customer acquisition
•Acquire new SMS and email subscribers for future messaging opportunities post-holiday
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
To develop and execute the innovative holiday program, AEO chose Experian Marketing
Services for its cross-channel experience and expertise. Experian Marketing Services, along
with its mobile engagement solutions partner Archer Mobile, worked closely with AEO to
develop a program strategy and execute the program.
PROGRAM STRATEGY
•Create an integrated contact strategy across all paid, earned and owned media
•Integrate across all media — desktop Web, mobile Web, app, email, SMS, social media,
direct mail and in-store display
•Engage based on customers’ desktop, tablet or mobile device preferences
•Drive customer data capture for increased effectiveness
•Drive online and in-store traffic by building ongoing email and SMS messaging groups
•Encourage active engagers and latent responders with incentives that increased in value
•Drive viral brand engagement and growth
“12 DAYS OF LEGENDARY GIFTS” PROGRAM
The “Legendary Gifts” program gave consumers the opportunity to participate in a 12-day
sweepstakes to win once-in-a-lifetime prizes while shopping AEO Legendary Gifts apparel.
Starting on December 3, the campaign provided different prizes for each of the 12 days,
with a $10,000 grand prize giveaway on the last day. This approach enabled customers to
enroll once and participate on a daily basis. Not only did the prizes increase in value, but all
customers who did not win the daily prize received special discounts with unique, one-timeuse redemption codes.
Watch American Eagle Outfitters’ “12 Days of Legendary Gifts” commercial
at http://bit.ly/AEO12days
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
The entire campaign was integrated and executed across all digital and traditional media,
including AEO’s desktop Website, email, mobile Web, mobile app, SMS, social media,
direct mail and in-store signage. Regardless of whether the consumer became aware of
the campaign through on-line or off-line media, AEO provided an optimised, feature-rich
customer experience.
Enrollment enabled customers to receive
daily emails and/or SMS messages,
based on their preference, with unique,
personalised URL’s that redirected to a
device-optimised webpage to ‘click to
unwrap the daily gift.’ As this process
occurred, AEO customers were awarded
the prizes dynamically based on preset
business rules and prize quantities.
Overall, this created a “surprise and
delight” experience with growing
anticipation throughout the program as
the prizes grew in value.
CROSS-CHANNEL PROMOTION
AEO fully integrated all of its channels with the program, delivering a call-to-action to drive
widespread awareness and engagement. These channels included desktop and mobile
Website, emails, mobile app, social media, direct mail and in-store signage.
Regardless of the media, the program’s value proposition and call-to-action were presented
consistently. For example, responsive design was used across the desktop, tablet and mobile
sites to provide an optimised experience. Just as important, email, mobile and social media
were used daily to increase awareness, engagement and excitement throughout the 12
days. Not only did this help drive initial enrollment, it provided the opportunity for advocacy
and sharing the campaign with friends and family. Once the customer opened the gift, the
customer could share the campaign through Facebook, Twitter and email.
In-store
Web
Signage with
prizes and
call-to-action.
The AEO desktop
website promoted the
program and used a web
opt-in form to capture
customer data.
Direct mail
Email
AEO distributed
millions of direct
mail pieces
to promote
the program.
Based on consumer
preference, email and
SMS messages were
delivered daily.
App
Facebook
AEO’s app
promoted the
program and
drove additional
program growth.
Facebook was used to
promote the program
and each day’s legendary
gift to their 9.4 millions
fans. Users who claimed
prizes could also post to
their wall and share the
program with their friends.
Twitter
Instagram
AEO tweeted to its
271,000 followers to
encourage program
opt-in and promote
daily prizes.
Instagram videos
were used to
promote each day’s
legendary gift to AEO’s
347,000 followers.
Find out how you can implement a cross-channel marketing program at
www.experian.com.au/cross-channel-marketing
CUSTOMER ACQUISITION AND DATA CAPTURE
AEO worked with Experian Marketing Services and Archer Mobile to provide enrollment
forms for customer data capture and integrated the customer records and data attributes
into a central database. This enabled AEO to deliver targeted messages during and after
the program.
CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGN EXECUTION AND CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
Customers that opted in to the sweepstakes had the ability to receive daily emails and SMS
alerts to verify if they had won a Legendary Gift prize or a discount on select merchandise
throughout the promotion. Each participant was dynamically served a personalised URL
(PURL) within the email or text alert.
Prelaunch
message
to existing
database
Web opt-in captures
customer profile data
First daily
message
“Thank you for
signing up“
message
Daily email alerts were an integral part of our holiday campaign that provided customers
a natural way to connect and keep updated on the sweepstakes and various promotions
that were offered. Experian Marketing Services’ cross-channel marketing technology
and expertise helped us seamlessly integrate email into our cross-channel program,
which allowed our customers to easily interact and consume relevant information on a
consistent and daily basis from their desktops and/or mobile phones.
Erica Dudash
Director of Marketing
American Eagle Outfitters
Customers that clicked through the PURLs landed on a unique Legendary Gift prizes
Web page where they would receive their special offer instantly.
Examples of interactive PURL content:
By clicking on the play button,
participants unwrapped
the present, revealing prize
win or coupon.
Coupon offers were
displayed with a link
leading to a
redemption code.
The redemption code would
then display with social
integration and a full
scroll-down product page.
Experian Marketing Services and Archer Mobile provided strategic guidance through all
phases of the program, including best practices for mobile optimisation of messaging across
channels and regulatory compliance.
The consumer excitement around this campaign was demonstrated clearly, with
nearly 60% of the mobile subscribers reached engaging with the prize pages just
minutes after receiving their text messages. That excitement didn’t seem to fade either.
The engagement continued to increase daily from every channel as the prizes increased
in value. Experian Marketing Services brought the cross-channel expertise, processes and
technology that we needed to achieve our goals. Our account team’s knowledge of the
retail consumer and best practices makes Experian Marketing Services a trusted
AEO solutions provider.
Erica Dudash
Director of Marketing
American Eagle Outfitters
RESULTS
The customer-centric campaign resulted in exceptionally high engagement, with millions of
participants on a daily basis and a 60% SMS click-through rate.
Overall campaign performance:
•Connected with more than 8 million total email and SMS subscribers in the U.S. and
Canada in less than two weeks
•Drove unprecedented customer engagement in email and mobile throughout the
12-day campaign
Daily customer engagement metrics:
•Daily SMS alert: 50% to 60% click-through rates
•Daily email alert: 1.7% to 7.8% click-through rates (an average of 4.3% throughout
the campaign)
•In-store redemption —
­ Total conversion rate as high as 1.5% of all participants
The program also was honored by eTail and won its prestigious Mobile Best-In-Class Award.
Keys to American Eagle Outfitters’ success:
•Designed the optimal customer journey to engage the target audience throughout the program
•Created comprehensive cross-channel integration with a consistent customer experience
through every touch-point
•Delivered a “surprise and delight” experience that drove excitement and sharing
•Chose vendors that have the expertise, technology and processes to ensure success
For more information on how Experian Marketing Services can help your brand
develop and deliver exceptional cross-channel customer experiences, you can
contact us at info@au.experian.com, +61 (3) 8699 0100 or visit us
online at www.experian.com.au/marketing-services.
Experian Marketing Services is a leading global provider of consumer insights, targeting, data quality and cross-channel marketing. We help
organisations intelligently interact with today’s empowered and hyperconnected consumers. By helping marketers identify their best customers, find
more of them, and then coordinate seamless and intelligent interactions across the most appropriate channels, Experian Marketing Services’ clients can
deepen customer loyalty, strengthen brand advocacy and maximise profits.
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06/14 | www.experian.com.au/marketing-services
Images courtesy of American Eagle Outfitters