Managing a multi-brand platform is a breeze with Dotdigital

In 1965, Sportif USA began as a small business in Southern California, headed by John G. Kirsch. In true entrepreneurial style, Kirsch sold tennis shorts from the back of his family’s station wagon, gradually building a reputation for quality and comfort.

As this reputation flourished, so too did the market for high-quality outdoor clothing. To reach a wider customer base and deliver products that met their unique needs, Sportif USA acquired new brands over the years, including the conscious clothing line, Aventura Clothing. Today, the family-owned business is a leader in the outdoor apparel industry and offers a diverse range of comfortable, functional, and sustainable clothing.

Searching for an advanced marketing automation and customer data platform

As Sportif USA knows, managing multiple apparel and footwear brands all under one roof can be tricky — especially amid stiff competition in the clothing industry. This was made even more challenging by a suite of marketing tools that lacked flexibility when it came to segmenting diverse audiences and delivering content that truly mattered. As a result, the marketing team struggled to bolster engagement, increase sales, and drive ROI.

As Ken Holden, Digital Marketing Manager with Sportif USA recalls, it was clear that they needed a more reliable platform as the company grew — one that would empower them with advanced cross-channel marketing automation and better customer intelligence.

“Having multiple brands within our company created the need to move to a more reliable and secure platform,” Ken says. “When we realized that our previous provider, StreamSend, wasn’t capable of managing this multi-brand platform, we knew it was time to move on.”

Leveraging Dotdigital's advanced features to drive engagement and personalization

Sportif USA set out on their search and met with several potential providers. They quickly discovered that Dotdigital was the best fit thanks to its seamless integration with Magento and advanced capabilities like dynamic personalization and product recommendations. When they began the implementation process soon after, they were delighted by how Dotdigital went above and beyond to ensure they were set up for success.

“One of the biggest advantages of onboarding with Dotdigital was that there was always someone by our side,” Ken explains. “They took the time to walk us through their process, which seemed complicated at the start, but they worked hard to simplify it, sharing their wealth of knowledge at every step along the way. They wanted to ensure deliverability from the very get-go.”

Backed by a dedicated support team, Sportif USA’s transition to a new cross-channel marketing automation set-up was fast and seamless. Once they were up and running on Dotdigital, the team was able to focus on building innovative strategies that weren’t possible with their previous provider. As Ken explains, segmentation was one of the most powerful solutions for the team — and one that they embraced right off the bat.

“Segmentation has been pivotal in helping us gain a more granular understanding of our customers, improve deliverability, and increase open rates, so we’ve put a lot of attention into our segments and how we use them,” he says.

As Sportif USA gained more insight into their audiences, they began to better understand their customers’ unique reasons for shopping with the company, which ranged from the look of a product to its impact on the environment. This revealed that generalized messages weren’t always the best strategy to engage their varied audience. With Dotdigital’s segment builder, Sportif USA was able to group their customers based on certain criteria and target them with relevant messages. Dotdigital’s automation tools then let the team understand which content resonated most with their audience so they could create triggered campaigns.

“For instance, if we are talking to someone who is very passionate about fair trade, we have the ability to discover that within Dotdigital and create an automation program that builds on that message to educate the consumer on how we can help them in that area,” Ken adds.

Dotdigital’s landing pages and forms have also been incredibly useful. Sportif USA used these tools to promote a new online catalog offer. This made it easier than ever for customers to both order their catalog and browse a digital version that syncs to Sportif USA’s ecommerce site.

Sportif USA also created an online survey for customers who had made purchases, using simple building blocks in Dotdigital’s design tool. The team used their automation program to determine who to target and incentivized them to complete the survey to ensure a high response rate. The aggregated results were then exported into Google Data Studio, providing a strong visual representation of their customers that allowed them to more easily personalize future content to their preferences.

Using the vast amount of data collected through the platform, Sportif USA also created a variety of product recommendations through Dotdigital, enabling them to send personalized recommendations to their customers at the most optimized time in their journey. By suggesting relevant items based on shoppers’ browsed products, bought items, and more, the tool has made a huge impact in driving revenue.

Success with Dotdigital in driving ROI and revenue acceleration

Sportif USA was thrilled at the success they saw by partnering with Dotdigital. By sending meaningful messages that resonate with their audiences, their ROI in 2018 increased by over 35% and their revenue jumped an impressive 38%. Conversion rate on previously abandoned carts also rose 24%. Additionally, the team has saved time and worked more efficiently with automated campaigns, allowing them to focus on the bigger picture.

The massive impact of the partnership has been felt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. With customers stuck at home and turning to online shopping in droves, Dotdigital helped Sportif USA maintain a connection with their audience when it mattered most. As a result, the company’s revenue grew by 100% in 2020. The use of the landing pages and forms has been invaluable, so much so that revenue is still up 20% this year.

Enhancing customer insights and campaigns with Dotdigital's tools and strategies

In the months to come, Sportif USA plans to continue to gain deeper customer insights and deliver more relevant campaigns through the data collected by Dotdigital’s landing pages and forms tools. In addition, they are continually growing their automations on a weekly basis, and discovering new strategies to build these in areas like product abandonment, cart abandonment, and more.

“There are so many things that we can do now, thanks to Dotdigital,” Ken adds. “The hardest part is choosing just one area to focus on and grow, because all of it is so exciting.”