Johannesburg, 02 Dec 2004
Global Vision has completed the design and implementation of a comprehensive one-to-one e-mail and SMS e-marketing tool for national leisure and outdoor retailer, Cape Union Mart.
This multi-messaging platform places control firmly in the hands of the brand managers rather than in those of the e-marketing service providers.
Evan Torrance, marketing manager at Cape Union Mart, says: "We were looking for an e-marketing tool that integrated with our digital strategy and could be used in-house. Although we do not sell online, because we believe our customers can make a better selection by physically looking at our products and receiving expert advice from our sales people, Cape Union Mart is committed to integrating technology into the customer`s experience of the store.
"We have in-store kiosks in some our shops which enable our consumers to access highly detailed information about the products within the store," says Torrance. "Global Vision worked with us on that project as well as on the development of our Web site which is completely integrated into our inventory systems to ensure that if it`s on our site, it`s in our store. The implementation of the e-mail and SMS platform is another step in providing our customers with digital sales support to improve the experience of shopping at Cape Union Mart."
The retailer needed a solution that was flexible enough to manage multiple marketing campaigns across many communications platforms with enough inherent security to prevent incorrect or inappropriate communication with customers.
Global Vision implemented its Eureka campaign management application which integrated into the Eureka messaging platform. Both applications come from the Eureka suite of relationship managing tools. The Cape Union Mart implementation is a customer controlled multi-messaging solution which uses built-in intelligence to manage the customer database. Intuitive management tools enable brand managers to accurately assess the success of the communication. It provides comprehensive reports which detail how many mails were read, responded to or remained unopened. These statistics can then be used to measure the success of the campaign, giving Cape Union Mart information that enables it to continually improve on its communication with clients.
To streamline marketing campaign delivery, Global Vision has included an online workflow manager which supports the approval process. Jon Jacobson, managing director at Global Vision, says: "There are a number of security measures built into the software to ensure that all messages sent to customers have been through a strict procedure of sign off. Other key functionality includes a validation tool which removes all incorrect and invalid e-mail addresses cellphone numbers from the list prior to a send. This reduces the number of bounced mails while highlighting database inaccuracies."
Cape Union Mart is careful not to overuse the service. "By carefully choosing when and what to communicate, we ensure that we don`t annoy our customers with a continual barrage of useless information. This would result in alienating our clients which is the complete opposite of what the digital strategy is trying to achieve. The Global Vision multi-messaging platform has given us the tools to creatively, accurately and consistently communicate with our key customers. It has been developed to meet our specific needs, and as with all our other projects with Global Vision, this solution does not disappoint," concludes Torrance.
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