Background & Overview
DIY Craft Warehouse, a family-run eCommerce business from Brecksville, Ohio, is passionate about providing hobbyists and professional makers with affordable, high-quality materials. This woman-owned venture quickly enlisted OuterBox in early 2024 to boost their launch with integrated services, focusing on email marketing, SEO, and Google Ads management. The challenge for DIY Craft Warehouse was to make a significant sales impact in November using Black Friday promotions, despite facing the shortest shopping window between Black Friday and Christmas in five years—a challenge felt by both new and established eCommerce players.
30.73%
Open Rate
180 Day
Recipient Engagement
2.21%
Total Website Traffic
Approach
OuterBox created four promotions using a three-tiered approach to offers. Before November, the brand sent four campaigns a month to varying segments. Then we upped the ante to 28 campaigns without a change in budget. How? Using a super-targeted approach focused on engagement. The teams utilized Klaviyo and Shopify to create these segments and the automation sequences.
Result
The November campaigns brought in 25% of the year’s total campaign revenue. They understood the value of the integration of SEO, paid media, and email – and it paid off. Literally.
Weaving Together an Email List
As a new company, list building was crucial to kick off a successful email program.
Once SEO and paid media were bringing visitors in, a 10% off pop-up helped collect email addresses of current and prospective customers. It’s a common practice in eCommerce for a reason. It works. For DIY Craft Warehouse, this pop-up shines, converting at 6%.
With emails starting earlier in the year, a healthy list was available by November, thanks to the pop-up offer. Their list receives 3,000 new contacts monthly, a staggering growth for a new operation.
Segmentation for Messages that Stick
From there, engagement dictated what customers received in which campaign. This way, customers got messages that resonated with them.
Big announcements equaled a big audience. However, more minor things like exclusives and reminders were smaller. The tracking engagement started with that more prominent announcement, using opens and clicks to inform the rest.
Segment Breakdown:
- VIPs (ordered 1x in last 60 days and 2x all time)
- Engaged at some point in the last 180 days
- Engaged at some point in the last 30 days
- Engaged at some point in the last 4 days
Each segment served a different offer, rewarding loyal customers while attracting newer ones. Klayvio’s automation capabilities placed these users into these buckets and served the relevant messages to customers without the company having to DIY. With targets in place, it was time to get creative.
Wrapping Up the Year with a Big Bow
The campaigns built up urgency in the messaging based on engagement, then added a little glitter. There’s no hodge-podge design here—just clear messaging with bold offers. Offers utilized included free shipping, various discounts, and double rewards points.
The step-by-step of Black Friday success starts early. Use smart SEO and paid media to bring in prospective customers, then engage with them all year through email marketing. This way, holiday budgets don’t have to explode. You have the baseline to create targeted email campaigns with special offers that boost your EOY revenue.
58.24%
Open Rate
30 Day
Recipient Engagement
1.79%
Click Through Rate
