The UK’s 2nd largest retail department store by market share implements Neolane to boost customer direct marketing and build loyalty in a competitive market Business Need: Improve loyalty and sales by moving from mass communications to personalized relationship marketing

1. Debenhams Maps In-store Service to Customer
Communications, Boosting Loyalty & Sales
Customer name: Debenhams
The UK’s 2nd largest retail department store by market share implements Neolane Industry: Retail
to boost customer direct marketing and build loyalty in a competitive market Business Need: Improve loyalty and sales
by moving from mass communications
to personalized relationship marketing
Debenhams is a British retailer with Neolane conversational marketing “Our email conversion
annual sales of designer clothing, beauty, technology
homeware, gifts and electrics exceeding
rates are up 75% and
Debenhams considered implementing
£2 billion (approximately $3.2 billion). The enterprise marketing software. In trials, email-driven sales
company operates 167 department stores
in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, has 61
response-rates and re-activity rates improved volumes are up 200%.”
significantly and opt-outs fell; all enabling
franchised stores across 24 other countries marketing to prove its business case.
and also offers customers fully transactional Robert Unsworth, head of
websites at http://www.debenhams.com and trading finance and commercial
“We selected Neolane because it offers one-
at http://www.debenhams.ie. insight at Debenhams
to-one, cross-channel customer marketing
centralized for the entire enterprise on a
The retail sector is highly competitive and single platform, said Unsworth. “Neolane
”
Debenhams is committed to offering greater had everything we sought and proved it in
value, a wider choice and excellent service. the trials.
”
So when it comes to customer marketing
communications, shouldn’t they too reflect One concern Debenhams had in investing in a
the same standards of service—and be solution was the up-front IT and licensing costs.
personal, relevant and engaging? Available in SaaS mode, Neolane enabled a
low-cost, low-risk entry with the advantage of OBJECTIVES
The challenge: falling campaign results offering scalability to full implementation. • Move from mass customer
Debenhams has for many years offered campaigns to individualized,
customers the opportunity to receive direct Full implementation included integration of relevant communications
marketing communications. But its customer the Neolane datamart with the Debenhams
• Improve brand loyalty, design
data was held in multiple siloed databases. customer data warehouse, some 18 additional customer journeys and influence
There was limited integration. Segmentation, departmental databases and a number of behavior
targeting and reporting capabilities were third party feeds. This historical data enabled
• Increase sales and the return on
simplistic. basic content personalization to commence marketing investment
almost immediately. Today, Neolane holds
“We had lots of data, but limited visibility into some six million customer records and RESULTS
the behavior and preferences of our customers, ” is used to generate some two million
said Robert Unsworth, head of trading finance • Customer communications
personalized content communications per
managed from a single,
and commercial insight at Debenhams. “As week. The platform manages the frequency of centralized point of control
a consequence, our customer marketing communications sent to any single customer
campaigns were really just mass-messages • Designed and launched a new
(across all channels) to avoid either over- or
loyalty scheme in just 12 weeks
such as in-store sales and promotions. ” under- solicitation. Online and text opt-ins and
opt-outs are handled automatically. • Over 75% increase in email
“The impersonal nature of the content conversion rates
wasn’t consistent with the brand Cross-channel, customer response behavior • Over 200% increase in email-
experience Debenhams stands for. Also, is captured and tracked by the Neolane driven sales volume
falling response rates were undermining platform. This intelligence adds to the • Mobile marketing took just 4
marketing effectiveness, said Unsworth.
” customer’s profile, possibly triggering follow- weeks to define and ready for
“We needed to improve the service value of on campaigns and in any case, supporting launch
our communications by making them more more relevant cross-channel conversations in
personal and worth reading. ” the future.

2. “We ultimately selected Neolane because it offers one-to-one, cross-
channel customer marketing centralized for the entire enterprise on a
single platform.”
Mobile campaigns Members earn points for purchases and
When Debenhams chose to launch mobile other loyalty behaviors when they use their
campaigns, enabling it as an additional card. Once registered, they can redeem
channel on the Neolane platform was points for rewards, which can then be used
relatively simple and swiftly successful. as full or part payment against new health
and beauty purchases.
“It took just four weeks from go to define and
be ready to launch mobile campaigns, said
” “Customers are keen to follow their loyalty
Unsworth. points balance and see them turn into
rewards, said Unsworth. “Within regular
”
Email campaigns and advertising tempts statement emails, we use Neolane to generate
customers to text a short-code to claim a and present tempting offers and messages
voucher. They then receive a texted code appropriate for the customer. These messages
unique to their phone number, which they can get through. We use them to drive preferred
show and redeem in store. Mobile campaigns customer journeys and encourage deeper
have alerted customers to in-store events, the engagement in the scheme, further purchases
Debenhams Sale, key promotions and have and other loyalty interactions.
”
also offered further discount vouchers.
“We know that a Debenhams Beauty Club
“As customers request their own mobile voucher, member redeeming rewards spends five
we are experiencing a higher redemption rate times as much as our average non-member
than the average for printed vouchers, said
” customer, said Unsworth. “We also know
”
Unsworth. “As the mobile voucher expiry date that on average, once customers become
approaches, automated reminders are sent to members, they significantly increase their
customers who’ve not redeemed them. ” spend with us over the next 12 months.”
Debenhams Beauty Club – a clear winner For all campaigns, clear analysis and reporting
The value of Neolane is illustrated by specific allows marketers to prove which campaign
reference to Debenhams Beauty, a core ideas and customer journeys are delivering
department store offering led by internationally the best results; enabling optimization of the
branded products. In store, health and beauty Debenhams marketing investment.
consultants provide customers with one-on-
one advice and consultations. Through regular “It’s easy to show that marketing automation
acquaintance they often develop personal and personalization is improving the
knowledge of loyal customers’ preferences. returns we gain from customer marketing
investments, said Unsworth. ”Our email
”
“Beauty is a highly competitive market. To conversion rates are up 75 percent and email
driven sales volumes are up 200 percent.” Neolane, Inc.
add to the personal in-store experience, and One Gateway Center - 7th Floor
differentiate ourselves from competitors, 300-334 Washington Street
In its first year of operation, Debenhams Newton, MA 02458
we elected to launch the Debenhams Beauty
Beauty Club attracted two million Office: +1 617 467 6760
Club, said Unsworth. “Our core objectives
” cardholders. This is still growing. Revenue Fax: +1 617 467 6701
were to build and reward customer loyalty for its health and beauty department is info@neolane.com
and increase long-term sales. ” ‘significantly up’ as a direct result of the www.neolane.com
loyalty initiative. It’s now one of the store’s
United States
He continued: “We took the Debenhams best performing departments.
United Kingdom
Beauty Club loyalty idea from conception
France
to implementation in just 12 weeks. This Looking to the future, Debenhams may add
Scandinavia
was only possible because we’d already additional channels to its marketing strategy.
implemented Neolane across the enterprise, There’s the integration of its iPhone app and Neolane and the Neolane logo are trademarks or registered
making it easy to design customer journeys its Facebook and Twitter communications trademarks of Neolane Inc. in the United States and other
countries. All other trademarks contained herein are the
with Neolane for example. property of their respective owners.
and add new campaign workflows. ”
© 2011 Neolane, Inc.