Recently, I wrote an article on the Top 5 Causes of Customer Drop-off in Microsite Marketing. As the article outlined, microsites are a vital tool in the marketer's arsenal, providing a doorway to trackable data on customers entering your promotion. Though it was well received, I have since gotten a few requests for examples that illustrate what makes a microsite have a low customer drop-off rate. So Team Dukky has compiled a list of our 5 favorite microsites we've had the pleasure of working on and why they work. Enjoy!
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
This microsite was launched for a handful of Ruth's Chris franchise owners. Clean, tasteful and to the point, the site was in keeping with the nationally recognized restaurant chain's branding and image. More importantly, it had a great offer - two offers in fact. For filling out the form all customers enjoyed a complimentary appetizer (with the purchase of an entree) through a printable coupon. Customers were then encouraged to share the offer with their friends via email, social networks and SMS for a chance to win free steak for a year. In total the campaign allowed the franchise owners to add 3,419 new customers to their databases. Their response rate was a mind blowing 33.88%. And of course we all know why. Who doesn't want free steak for a year?
NewEgg.com
NewEgg is a very popular, highly recognizable reatil website for all things technology related. This campaign was a huge slam dunk, bringing in a total response of over 870,000 hits. There are two reasons for this level of success. First, their offer rocks. Just in time for March Madness, the company offered the chance to win the Ultimate Man Cave which included everything from a massive flat screen TV and surround sound set-up, to a grill, XBOX and a computer. What guy doesn't dream of owning that? The second factor was how they marketed their promotion. Combining email marketing, ads on their website, ESPN.com, CBSsports.com and Turner Sports with national and satellite radio mentions from Howard Stern and Dan Patrick as well as a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter, the campaign was unstoppable. Nearly a quarter of the people who hit the site input their information and shared, bringing NewEgg over 208,000 customers into their database. The campaign was recognized as the winner of AdWeek's Media Plan of the Year for integrated campaigns.
Educate Now!
This is one of our favorite campaigns by a small to medium business client. Educate Now! is a non-profit in New Orleans working to bring effective and sustainable reform to local public schools. Their campaign capitalized on their target audience's love of all things NOLA by including a partner in their campaign - The Maple Street Book Shop. The shop, is a favorite independent book store in the community. The microsite invited those who entered to enjoy the spirit of giving and send their favorite public school classroom on a shopping spree at the store. All in all, the organization received close to 500 entries, which was a 20% response rate from the total number of visits to the site. For a small organization with limited funds this was a highly successful way of adding to their database without breaking the bank.
Sucré
Another New Orleans small business, Sucré is a gourmet desert shop that has exploded on to the local food scene. One of the sweet boutique's greatest assets in its marketing arsenal has been it ability to be instantly recognizable by the design of the store fronts themselves, the packaging of the sweets and their collateral. Their brand image is synonymous with colorful, lively, delicious sweetness throughout the city. The company makes a concerted effort to keep customers aware of their behind the scenes activities too, branding their gourmet kitchen as the Sucré Confection Studio. The offer for this campaign was right in line with that branding, offering those who entered the chance to win a day in The Sweet Life where they could go behind the scenes, tour the studio and make their very own confection creations with their renowned Executive Chef. With this campaign, the local store gathered over 400 new customers to their database and increased the likes on their Facebook page as well. Sweet life indeed.
Designer Social
Designer Social, an online community where stylish users can buy and sell luxury designer goods, has launched several successful campaigns using microsites. By running multiple campaigns, they've found that partnering with a designer brand in their offer has brought in a much higher response rate. With this campaign they hit their stride. By offering 1 of 3 designer looks from popular beachwear brand Vix to those who shared they were able to bring in a 22% response rate from the 8,497 people who hit the site. Considering they were only offering a sweepstakes and not a coupon or discount to every customer this was a very high response rate. The design of this microsite played a major part in the campaign's success. Knowing their target audience is a fashion minded, highly sophisticated bunch, they ensured the microsite reflected the look and feel of marketing collateral from a high end retailer. In the world of fashion first impressions are everything and Designer Social made a huge splash with this summer campaign.
This post originally appeared on the Dukky blog.