maurices Mobile Style Club

September 24, 2010

Submitted by MSLGROUP Americas

Brand:

maurices

Agency:

MSLGROUP Americas

Campaign/program name:

maurices Mobile Style Club (Integrated Mobile Marketing)

Timing:

January 2010 to present

Background

What started in 1931 as a small women's fashion shop in Duluth, Minnesota, has grown to more than 750 stores in 44 states across the United States. maurices is the leading small town specialty store and authority for the savvy, fashion conscious customer with a twenty-something attitude, For seven decades, maurices has stayed true to high fashion standards, value and great customer service, and its styles are inspired by the girl in everyone, in every size, with adorable, affordable fashions in sizes 1-24.

In its marketing efforts, the boutique has known the potential that social media presents. The company has achieved massive success with its involvement in Facebook with dramatic organic page growth and steady consumer engagement to generate brand awareness.

Business Problem

As soon as the brand launched its official brand page on Facebook, maurices realized their customers are extremely passionate about the brand in social media. The maurices Facebook page quickly gained visibility, driving brand awareness and consumer engagement. With this presence established, the brand wanted to expand its digital presence.

Mobile marketing presents the unique opportunity to engage target audiences while they are making their purchasing decisions, thereby generating in-store traffic amongst existing customers, along with gaining new customers and potentially increasing sales.

With maurices target audience, women 16-35, living in a fully customizable and digital world, it was necessary to update the traditional by molding it to fit their lifestyles and interests. Knowing that this target audience is digitally savvy and always on-the-go, maurices established a mobile texting program to spread key messages, facilitate word-of-mouth conversation and harness brand advocacy. The maurices Mobile Style Club is a text messaging program that involves exclusive promotions, style tips, select Q&A options and other exclusive content.

Mobile program information was integrated throughout all brand communications, including the following:

In-store collateral, (i.e. posters, window clings and lanyards worn by associates)
Facebook fan pages
Facebook advertising
Direct mail
Print advertising
maurices website

By developing scheduled messaging to promote trends and in-store promotions, the brand stayed top-of-mind with consumers while directly driving purchase.

A holistic integration of opt-in strategy through varying channels was crafted, including Facebook fan pages, Facebook advertising, maurices’ website, direct mailings, advertisements and in-store promotions. By designating key words for each channel, maurices was able to track the effectiveness of each channel.

Launching maurices Mobile Style Club

The maurices Mobile Style Club is a mobile alert campaign that provides SMS text messages with coupons, exclusive content, including style advice, fashion tips, Q&A options and announces in-store promotions. To give incentive to opt-in to the group, consumers received an instant mobile coupon for 20% off any in-store item.

In-Store Promotions: To encourage people to sign-up for the Mobile Style Club, in-store signage and window clings as well as lanyards with opt-in information for employees to wear were developed.
Online Channel Integration: Build engagement through maurices’ existing site (maurices.com) along with its Facebook fan page (Facebook.com/maurices).
Advertising: Both traditional advertisement placements, along with placements on social media sites, including Facebook.
Direct Mailing: Build engagement trough direct mailings and flyers.

Direct Message Feature

The maurices Mobile Style Club is a dynamic community, and surrounding specific messages from the brand, Club members have the option to text back to the brand with feedback or questions. Below are some of the aspects of this integration with the maurices Mobile Style Club:

Using the OMG keyword, members of the maurices Mobile Style Club can reply to messages and get individual responses
Questions can be posed to the group for collective feedback
Responders can also be directed to the mobile version of the brand’s Facebook Fan Page
Enhances ROI on the group and adds value to members through increased interactivity
Community can be monitored online and feedback can be moderated and published (on maurices.com, in store via digital displays, etc.)
Roughly .5% of group members will respond to brand messages
Of those who get a personal reply, roughly 25% will send a follow-up responses

Business Results

This program was remarkably successful. Within the first month, more than 5,000 customers opted-in to the maurices Mobile Style Club, and after four months of the campaign, there were more than 20,000 opt-ins.

Since they opt-in keywords were specific to each driving channel, maurices was able to determine how many opt-ins were generated from source.

maurices.com: More than 8,600
In-Store Promotions: More than 7,000
Facebook: More than 1,500
Direct mail integration: More than 1,200

The overall redemption rate for the coupons was more than 60 percent. The effort directly drove more than $1MM in sales through mobile couponing in the first four months. Additionally, the average amount spent by each customer was more than $70 per redemption.