Thanks to the strategy for the reactivation of shopping cart abandonments, the online shop Seventyseven was able to reduce its advertising costs by three quarters. Additionally, the fashion retailer aims to optimize its existing Programmatic Printing campaigns.
Print has had the ability for mass reproduction for almost 600 years. Without books, there would be no book trade, no libraries, and no modern science. Mass media owe their existence to the mass printing of printed materials. However, print also masters individualization, a feature that is not only relatively new but also contradicts fundamental patterns of thought.
Since 2017, the term “Programmatic Printing” has been used, which was coined by printing expert Gerhard Märtterer, who had already been driving the digitization of his industry. In 2022, Märtterer founded the Programmatic Print Alliance to create a hub for publishers where service providers from the emerging industry can come together. Programmatic Printing has evolved into a new sector that brings together digital experts and printing professionals to utilize print as an additional distribution channel for digital marketing efforts. Programmatic Printing leverages first-party data already present in company databases. The precise buyer profiles derived from this data enable personalized printing orders. Similar to how targeting cookies on the internet enable personalized advertising, Programmatic Printing follows a similar approach for mailbox advertising by delivering personalized content based on individual interests.
Reactivation of shopping cart abandonments at Conrad Electronic result in a 20 percent increase in revenue
Programmatic Printing, although technically possible since the mid-2010s, has only recently caught up with competitive prices, thanks to technological innovations in digital printing. The 24-hour time window, now standard for Programmatic Printing from order acceptance to delivery to the post office, is being utilized by an increasing number of innovative companies.
A recent study by the market research institute Baymard shows that globally, 70 percent of all shopping carts are abandoned, with mobile users even higher at 85 percent, according to Barilliance. In addition to technical flaws in online stores, this is mainly due to the absence of a personal wish list, which often leads to the use of the shopping cart. Other reasons include perceived high shipping costs, lack of time, and consumer distraction from external influences. Shopping cart abandonments thus pose a significant problem for the e-commerce industry, necessitating innovative solutions such as Programmatic Printing.
One example is Conrad Electronic: The Upper Palatinate retailer of electronic products has shifted a large part of its business activities to the internet. Abandoned shopping carts therefore mean lost core business. So far, the company has always sent reminder emails to its customers, but this strategy has been less effective lately. Many email inboxes are hopelessly clogged, in addition to spam filters and missing consent for receiving emails from Conrad. This led to even lower open rates and even fewer completed shopping carts. The solution: Programmatic Printing. Selected customers whose shopping carts remain unfinished in their accounts receive a letter from Laudert, Conrad Electronic’s print service provider, reminding them of the abandoned items.
Complete with photos from the digitally stored data in the accounts, they form a contact that many customers perceive as very relevant. The response rate to the print mailings ranges from six to nine percent – a significant value in the electronics industry. The reactivated and ultimately purchased shopping carts are also one-fifth more valuable than the average shopping cart at Conrad. Daniel Blay, Head of Offline Marketing at Conrad, is very satisfied with the performance of the new advertising channel so far: “Programmatic Printing provides us with a very economical and cost-effective advertising medium.”
With Programmatic Printing, Seventyseven reduces its CPO value by 74 percent
The North Rhine-Westphalian online shop operator Styleboom discovered Programmatic Printing as an alternative to social media advertising. Competition from the Asian market and tightened data protection regulations had affected previous marketing strategies. Tomasz Stefanowski, COO of Seventyseven, explored new communication channels and came across Smartcom, which helped him use first-party data for personalized advertising. Through this switch, Seventyseven reduced its CPO by 74 percent and achieved an impressive conversion rate of 21.1 percent for shopping cart abandonments.
The trigger campaign for shopping cart abandonments at Seventyseven operates as follows: Customers have up to two days after abandonment to complete their purchase. Then the campaign starts, which daily generates highly individualized direct mailings using Programmatic Printing and submits them to the post office 24 hours later. Customer data and product information are transmitted directly from the online shop, and a recommendation engine for print calculates additional offers based on the customers’ purchase history.
The full article on shopping cart abandonments by Christian Gehl can be found at www.onetoone.de.