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Overview This company is a U.S. national retailer of woodworking equipment. Its sales are primarily generated via their e-commerce, printed catalogs, and distributers. Shortly after the client launched a new product line, sales started to increase. Although the unexpected occurred: some of their newly released products started to present specific defects after certain duration of use. Our customer immediately eliminated these models from sale and asked all affected customers to return the product, refunding them for the purchase amount. The inefficiency in quality and design was improved, and exhaustive testing proved the products were ready to be re-launched. However, an entire process was being developed in the meantime. Sales on the newly-redesigned elements were practically nonexistent after one month, while general sales declined by 15 percent. At that point, the company turned to AddReal. Objectives After a complete analytics campaign, AddReal came up with an aggressive strategy proposition to turn the situation around as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, as the company returned the product to its manufacturing plant and did the redesign and re-launching process, news spread to online communities and other websites that provide key industry word-of-mouth. The reality was that the company's recent mistakes had prompted a bad reputation for its well-known brand and products. Although the company made the correct decision and provided compensation for the damage, the system was now working against it, and competitors were helping fan the flames. Solution At the outset of the campaign, AddReal worked closely with the client and its third-party design firm to learn all the technical defects of the first product design, as well as the solutions to the problems. AddReal then used its knowledge of social media, online communities and word-of-mouth marketing to repair the damage from the core of the situation. We created a representative profile with which to respond to the online audience. The AddReal team managed a comprehensive strategy by accepting the accusations made regarding our customer's brand. We reacted with the measures taken during the re-launch, including the new advantages and benefits developed during the redesign process. We closely monitored the online communities for questions and comments about the products while rebutting the accusatory arguments created to permanently harm our customer's company. At the same time, we created new business pages on Facebook and Twitter to increase direct communication with the company's audience. When the negative marketing slowed down, the AddReal team implemented a recovery strategy by promoting an extensive guarantee and stating beneficial conditions about the product line. We included attractive price discounts for the reintroduction campaign through some of the most influential woodworking communities and social media. The customer successfully re-launched the products and eliminated the complaints. AddReal’s strategy helped to re-incorporate the brand's reputation and guaranteed the new product line’s success. AddReal also developed a reinforcement campaign to ensure a short-term competitive edge. This helped our client to increase sales, recover from its financial loses and take the leadership with its new product range. Results - Two months after the campaign’s implementation: Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. New product owners provide good reviews on the product. Malicious activities had been completely eliminated. - Four months after the start of the reputation campaign: The client realized a couple of key successes. First, the client was actually netting sales of products that were not being located or purchased via the web prior to working with AddReal. Secondly, as a result of subscribing to AddReal’s Web Analytics Service, the company was able to identify unproductive strategies and eliminate some of its advertising expenditures, thereby increasing company ROI. - Eight months after the start of the campaign, the number of monthly search referrals to the website almost doubled. As a result of this increase, overall website visits increased by 197% during the same eight month period. - For the first time during the first quarter of the year, corresponding to six months after the campaign launch, the client increased average product sales by more than $2 million just through online sales. This increase amounted to 63% more than initial expectations.  |
