Customer Retention: Effy Jewelry Uses Predictive Marketing to Retain Customers

Effy Jewelry is an omnichannel retailer that has a strong brick-and-mortar presence in the Caribbean and Alaska, catering to consumers on cruise ships. The problem was that customers would get off the ship, make a purchase in one of Effy's retail stores and the brand would never hear from them again. The retailer didn't have a system in place for effectively collecting customer data in-store, making future communication a challenge.

Furthermore, while Effy has enjoyed success at its brick-and-mortar stores, the company's website hasn't been as effective generating sales. Of the 25 percent of Effy's total revenues that come from its retail operations (the other 75 percent comes from wholesale partnerships with retailers including Macy's and Lord & Taylor), only 3 percent are generated via its e-commerce site. Effy views the web as an untapped opportunity to bring repeat, high-value customers back to the brand.

"It's essential for us to be able to take the data that we get at our retail stores and transfer it to our web customer to help grow our website," says Jennifer Pearson, vice president of marketing at Effy Jewelry.

To help in that regard, Effy partnered with AgilOne, a cloud-based predictive marketing company. The jewelry retailer is using AgilOne's Enterprise Edition to help it create targeted, high-touch email campaigns. Now instead of sending its customers generic email campaigns promoting a randomly selected product and hoping it works, Effy can personalize its emails based on purchase history or a consumer's behavior on its website.

"I don't need to be sending an email promoting cufflinks to a woman," says Pearson. "AgilOne sends us data — e.g., who's a full-price shopper, who's a discount shopper, who clicks once a week, who hasn't bought in a year — which enables us to put together campaigns that are targeted to certain groups."

In place of the batch-and-blast campaigns of the past, Effy now sends matching product emails, abandoned cart emails, and other customized campaigns around holidays and events. As of press time, Effy had only been using AgilOne's technology for a little more than a week, so results weren't available. However, Pearson said the company expects to see a higher return rate of customers, as well as increased open and conversion rates for its retargeting campaigns.