Dreams unlocks 20X ROI with AI recommendations and unified customer data
For over 30 years, Dreams has been the UK’s leading bed retailer, with stores across the country and a growing online presence. But here’s the thing about selling beds: people don’t impulse-buy them. It’s a considered purchase that often involves multiple touchpoints before someone commits.
About
Dreams needed to strike a delicate balance. Their in-store presence is core to who they are, but online customers want something different. Online shoppers love a bargain and quick purchases. In-store customers want the full experience. Email sits in the middle, sometimes driving online conversions, sometimes reminding people about that sale before they head to a store on Saturday.
Dreams were using Fresh Relevance for website personalization, but it lived separate from their email platform. When Dotdigital acquired Fresh Relevance, Dreams saw an opportunity: bring everything under one roof and set themselves up for the sophisticated cross-channel personalization they needed.
“We needed a platform that could handle the complexity of a big-ticket purchase without slowing us down,” Campaign Marketing Manager, Lucy Gaughran explains. “Buying a bed isn’t impulse, it’s considered.”
One platform, endless possibilities
In 2024, Dreams moved their marketing automation platform to Dotdigital. The decision came down to flexibility, easier creative execution, deeper AI capabilities, and seamless data integration.
1. Product recommendations that doubled conversions
With their email and website personalization under one roof, Dreams were able to redesign their entire recommendation experience to align with what customers see on the website. They use AI data sources like “People Like You Buy” and “People Like You Browse,” and they go one level deeper with category and size attributes.
“If we’re sending an email about mattresses, we don’t want to recommend pillows at the bottom,” Lucy says. “It has to feel cohesive. Now everything we recommend is relevant to what we’re actually talking about.”
Now, if the email is about mattresses, the recommendations are for mattresses. If it’s about single beds, you’re not getting recommendations for king-size frames.
The results? They tested AI data sources against crowd-sourced data points like “most carted” and “most browsed.” The AI sources delivered roughly twice as much revenue with similar click-through rates.
2. Triggered programs that work around the clock
Dreams runs abandoned browse and cart programs which now include the AI-powered product recommendations blocks. Since redesigning these programs, they’ve seen meaningful uplift in clicks and engagement and are able to attribute £1.7m revenue per year directly to these campaigns.
Up next? Moving to category-based abandoned browse programs. Instead of one-size-fits-all, customers will get tailored follow-ups based on which product categories they explored.
3. Data that flows online and offline
Every day, Dreams imports offline store purchase data into Dotdigital. When someone buys a mattress in-store on Tuesday, that data connects to their online profile by Wednesday.
This means smarter customer journeys. The team knows who’s already purchased, can exclude recent buyers from certain campaigns, and can trigger post-purchase journeys that feel relevant whether someone bought online or in-store.
Dreams is also exporting Dotdigital data to build lookalike audiences for paid campaigns, making advertising spend more effective and stretching the ROI of Dotdigital much further than the platform itself.
4. On-site data capture launching in 2026
Dreams is rolling out data capture forms across different site sections, each with different creative and objectives. The “Inspire” hub gets one approach with a split test. The “Sleep Matters Club” hub focuses on sleep tips. The rest of the site highlights offers.
The goal? Understand what customers actually want, then build automated journeys tailored to each mindset.
“We’re gathering the data first to understand appetite, then we’ll build the automations,” Lucy says. “There’s no point setting up complex journeys if we don’t know what our customers are actually looking for.”
Campaign Marketing Manager at DreamsThe support is exceptional. You always get quick answers. But more than that, the platform just works. It's intuitive, powerful, and it's helped us build the kind of personalized experiences our customers deserve.
Results that prove the value
Dreams’ triggered campaigns have delivered a 20x return on their Dotdigital investment over the past year.
Since redesigning their product recommendation strategy, they’ve seen noticeable uplift in clicks and engagement with abandoned browse and cart emails.
Best of all for the marketing team? The business has taken notice. The e-commerce team is actively collaborating on the roadmap, pushing for more personalization features like dynamic “your nearest store” banners in emails.
“Everything we’ve put forward has been well received,” Lucy says. “The business sees the impact. Nobody’s questioning whether this is worth doing.”
Taking personalization further
- Expanding the welcome journey from a single email to a full multi-touch program
- Category-based abandoned browse programs with personalized follow-ups based on what customers were viewing
- Lifecycle automations that nurture customers through the entire buying cycle
- Dynamic store locators with “your nearest store” banners bridging online and in-store experiences
- More AI testing to find what drives the most revenue for their customer base
The team might be small, but their ambition isn’t. With Dotdigital and Fresh Relevance working together seamlessly, Dreams has the tools to build the sophisticated, personalized customer experience their audience deserves.
Want to see what Dotdigital and Fresh Relevance can do for your customer experience? Let’s talk.
