Chapter EightA Case Study: The Gift Experience Cracks the QR Code

A (little) bit about us...

• Founded in 2002

• Full service ecommerce specialist

• Specific focus on multi-channel retail

• Now have over 500 websites under management

• Have an extensive UK reseller network as well as corporate accounts

• One of only a handful of PCI DSS Level 1 Certified providers in UK

• Also now a Payment Service Provider (including acquiring)

Vital Statistics

• Over 70 million visits to Chapter Eight websites in 2010

• Served over 480m page impressions in 2010

• Served over 20m unique visitors in 2010

• Sent over 28m emails in 2010

• Over 500 customers across 25 different industry sectors

• Reseller network of 15 resellers (one with a further 250 resellers)

• Over 2 million pages published on our client websites

• Over 1 million pages indexed in Google

• Over 50,000 page one positions

• Over 10,000 number one positions

• Publish to multiple platforms; desktop, mobile, tablet

• Standards compliant websites

• Naturally search engine friendly

• Processed £194m in ecommerce transactions in 2010

• Over 528,000 purchases made on our websites in 2010

• £457,213,474 of orders taken on our websites

•Will hit £500,000,000 in November 2011

• Hit 1.5m purchases in February 2010

• Over 425,000 product lines (unique SKU’s)

On Cyber Monday 2010we processed £37 per second of transactions

What Are QR Codes?

• A ‘new’ type of barcode

• Actually been around since 1994

• Originally used by a Toyota subsidiary for tracking parts

•Marketing take up began around 2009

• Advent of smart phones and Apps has seen explosion in use

• Seen everywhere and in some places you might not expect

Where Can They Be Used?

• Everywhere!

• From clothing labels, to billboards

• Business cards

• Flyers

•Websites

• The list is endless!

Should I Be Using QR Codes?

• Are your customers likely to be using QR codes

• Are your customers using mobile

• Are your customers reaching you online

• Try it, you’ll never know otherwise

• Limit initial trials if you feel uncomfortable about them

• Then broaden scope of use into wider marketing campaigns

•Mobile is everywhere

• Customers expect you to support it

• QR codes is a great way of driving traffic

• Include them in your mobile plans

• 44% of handsets are smart phones - companies need to respond

• Gives a personalised service to customers coming to you from them

•Mobile marketing - QR codes - bringing web & mobile together

• Fully trackable and can be linked to existing customer profile data

How Do I Create Them?

• Lot’s of websites that do it for you

• It’s free - so create as many as you want

• Not like barcodes - can be generated at will

• http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ - easy to use and understand

The Gift Experience

• Client since 2003

• Privately Held Company

• One of the UK’s top 5 gift websites

• Over 150,000 customers

• Pure play online retailer

•Wanted to reach a mobile audience

• And then drive traffic from mobile in new ways

• Enter:

• A mobile website

• QR Codes

Going Mobile

• Reach a growing mobile audience

• All using the existing website on mobile devices

• Ensure checkout was as seamless as possible

• Try to increase order values and conversion rates over main website

• Had to be managed alongside existing site - same back office

•We developed a mobile website

• Great for product browsing

• The first in the UK to use PayPal Mobile Payments

• Targeted at iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry

• Optimised for 3G networks, fast and lightweight

• Fully integrated with existing website

• Single customer view means joined up customer experience

• Support for multiple platforms (removes App/Web debate)

• Achieves ‘The Martini Effect’ for customers

• 58% increase in mobile traffic since launch

• 123% increase in mobile orders since launch

• 1121% uplift in year-on-year revenue since launch

• Average order value is higher on mobile than full website

• Customers LOVE it!

Cracking the QR CodeWhat We Did Next

•Wanted to drive more traffic to the mobile website

• Using QR codes seemed like an obvious route

• Integrated with the WebGains voucher code tool

• Provided multi-format tracking across web, mobile and print

Cracking the QR CodeHow it Works

• QR Code is generated

• Displayed through active campaigns across

•Mobile

•Website

• Print

• Customer scans QR code with QR Reader App

• App reads code and finds URL information

• App opens web page using mobile browser

•Website detects platform and displays mobile site to customer

• Now for the clever stuff!

• URL in QR code contains unique redemption code

•When customer goes to shopping basket, code is auto-filled

• Code is tracked through WebGains

• Sale is tracked and affiliate commissions are calculated and paid to referrer

Cracking the QR CodeResults

• Customers love QR codes

• Because they are personalised they really engage with them

• A wider range of mobile devices are using the mobile site

• Not just the iPhone generation

• Conversion rates on QR originating orders with custom promo code are 32% higher than non-QR originating orders.

Cracking the QR CodeThe Future

• Extension of use to flyers sent in purchase packaging

•Will play a key part in all collateral (both online and offline)

• All campaigns now consider use of QR

•Mobile engagement key to future revenue growth

Cracking the QR CodeConclusions

• If you’re not mobile - don’t worry, but try and get there soon

• Low cost of entry means anybody can and should try QR codes

• Try a small campaign first to gauge how your customers react

• Try to go mobile this side of August

Thanks for Listening

www.chaptereight.comwww.thegiftexperience.co.uk