When customers who used to shop loyally at your online store suddenly stop and are no longer reachable, you’re leaving revenue on the table. Tom Meijer, marketer at XXL Nutrition, recognized this too.

"I first try to win people back with email, but it’s much less personal. Plus, not everyone is subscribed to the email newsletter, and of those you do reach, more than half don’t even open the email. Of the people who do open it, less than 2,5% clicks through. In short, with email alone, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities."

In addition to missing opportunities, you also risk losing customers with this approach—customers you may have already invested significant advertising budgets into, and who have proven their value by generating over €200 in revenue. These are not the customers you want to let walk away. It quickly became clear that customer retention needed to be the first priority for XXL Nutrition.

With a clear customer segment in mind, the next steps could be taken:

• Designing a card with an appropriate message

• Activating the API integration between Spotler Activate and Print.one

• Sending out the first cards and evaluating the results

The first mailing is always an exciting moment. After all, the big question is: will it work or not?

It quickly became clear that this channel was a valuable addition to the mix. Tom explains:

"When I joined XXL two years ago, we weren’t using direct mail yet. I had good experiences with it before, but XXL’s target audience was completely new to me. I was quite skeptical because our audience is relatively young. My assumption was that they’d be less receptive to offline media. But then we discovered that direct mail is a perfect tool even for a younger audience."

"The results were immediately impressive. We saw incredibly high conversion rates and an amazing ROI of 380%. That’s when I said: we need to expand this further," Tom adds.

Over time, various optimizations have driven the ROI even higher. Tom shares:

"I really enjoy how Foppe (CEO of Print.one) collaborates with us, because without his input, I wouldn’t have been able to implement so many optimization opportunities. The ROI jumped from 380% to 540%, and we’re currently at an ROI of 718%."

The adjustments that contributed to these leaps in ROI and conversion? Consider:

• Refining the message on the back of the card

• Adding a personal touch, such as a handwritten note from owner René

• Removing unnecessary design elements

• Adjusting the mailing schedule

Het einde van de stijging lijkt nog niet in zicht, want er zijn nog meer optimalisaties door te voeren. ‘In de toekomst willen we ook productsets gaan koppelen, zodat we het aanbod aan onze klanten helemaal kunnen toespitsen op hun behoefte. Op die manier kunnen we bijvoorbeeld een foto van hun favoriete eiwitten op de kaart printen, of producten die vaak gekocht worden met hun favoriete producten benoemen. Ook is de verjaardag een perfect moment om weer even in te spelen op het individu.’

When asked what he’s most proud of since joining XXL Nutrition, Tom doesn’t hesitate:

"I’m primarily a CDP and email marketer, and direct mail was added simply because it works incredibly well. We were already using email before I joined and have implemented many optimizations there, but direct mail was a channel we hadn’t used at all."

Now, this campaign runs almost entirely on autopilot, requiring just 15 minutes a week to check the shipment. "And when you see how much revenue it generates now, that’s what I’m most proud of," Tom concludes.