Leading DTC deodorant brand drove revenue growth through identity resolution and email automation

How a growing deodorant brand seamlessly connected customer data points to personalize millions of automated messages.

22%

Total email revenue from automated messages

4x

Revenue from abandon browse campaigns

Arrow pointing up271%

Revenue per email generated compared to batch emails

Company

A doctor-developed, aluminum-free, direct-to-consumer deodorant brand.

Key Channels Used
Email
The challenge
Key Issues
  • Severe lack of testing functionality
  • Limited access to customer data
  • Poor open rates due to deliverability issues

When this leading DTC deodorant brand started experiencing inefficiencies in testing, limited access to customer data, and drops in deliverability, the marketing technology team began evaluating Cordial as an alternative to their current provider. As their VP, Technology & Analytics explained, “Our previous ESP had pretty severe limitations on what, when, and where you could test. We had to do hacky workarounds to test even the most basic things, like a subject line for example.”

Fielding thousands of web visitors who browse and submit email addresses each day, the brand also needed a scalable way to handle contact tracking and identity resolution. The D2C brand sought to find a next-gen technology that would backfill and connect all of the web visitors’ previous interactions, as well as mobilize that data for future marketing campaigns. For example, “if someone browsed the site and submitted an email address, we wouldn’t have a way to send them an abandoned browse message.”

Poor open rates due to deliverability were also negatively impacting the brand’s email marketing goals. “The week of Cyber Monday, our open rate dropped from around 20% to 2%, and naturally we panicked. We looked to see that all of our DNS records were installed correctly, thinking we’d done something wrong. Our previous ESP was zero help.”

"It’s really important that when customers finally identify themselves to us, we know whether they’re just signing up for an email or making a purchase. Since switching to Cordial, our automations have resulted in tens of thousands of dollars every year in additional revenue, simply from the identity resolution piece."

VP, Technology & Analytics

The solution

Through the vendor evaluation process, the brand was primarily looking for flexible technology and deliverability expertise. To continue driving business growth, they needed to build out custom coupon code programs, personalize emails based on historic purchases (using all available customer data), and ensure messages were to be delivered as expected. “Identity resolution ended up being the deciding factor for us,” they shared. “When we were evaluating and comparing vendors, Cordial had an enterprise approach to identity resolution.”

Guiding the brand through DNS record implementation, meticulous testing, and tailored recommendations, Cordial’s deliverability team ensured that email deliveries remained steady through the migration process. “It’s tough to quantify the impact because since switching to Cordial, we haven’t had any deliverability issues,” their team explained. “If deliverability tanks, that could be $50,000 of lost revenue, but peace of mind is priceless. With our previous ESP it was, ‘let’s send and cross our fingers’ but with Cordial it’s, ‘we’ve got this, we have a finger on the pulse’ and that’s massive for us.”

The result

Seven months after switching to Cordial, the brand had seen a significant increase in revenue tied to automated emails. Currently, only 7% of their messages were automated, but those messages generated 22% of total email revenue, and brought in 271% more revenue per message than batch sends. The marketing team embraced the opportunity to optimize their email growth—they hired a full-time employee dedicated to testing automations and maximizing the Cordial platform. “For example, with dynamic content blocks, we’re populating images based on a customer’s favorite scent. That level of personalization has an incremental impact on revenue.”

The brand generated thousands of dollars every month from being able to identify web visitors and connect all of the data points to truly personalize the customer experience. “When we talk about the quantifiable impact that Cordial has had, identity resolution was a central driver for our evaluation and we’ve already seen significant results simply from that one piece. Cordial quadrupled our revenue generated from Abandon Browse campaigns.”

"When we talk about the quantifiable impact that Cordial has had, identity resolution was a central driver for our evaluation and we’ve already seen significant results simply from that one piece. Cordial quadrupled our revenue generated from Abandon Browse campaigns. "

VP, Technology & Analytics

4x

Revenue generated from Abandon Browse campaigns

7%

of messages were automated