Aviation test equipment manufacturer
gets back on customer radar using Campaign Enterprise
Ideal Aerosmith, a manufacturer of aviation-based
test equipment for gyroscopes, avionics, automotive
sensors, and navigation sensors, has such a deep
history within its industry that it soon found
itself in need of an image "reboot"
with its customers. Ideal Aerosmith was founded
in 1938.
"For the past year, we've been building
a more professional persona," said Lisa Bernhardt,
sales and marketing coordinator for the East Grand
Forks, Minnesota.-based firm. "We design
and manufacture a variety of test systems for
the military and many large aerospace industry
customers," she said. "We felt it's
time to step up and make our technical image match
who we really are."
Challenge: Newsletter to technical audience
Ideal Aerosmith decided to begin delivering email
newsletters to customers — but to offer
a little more than a regular newsletter. Several
customer communication goals set for these campaigns.
The first goal is to notify customers in a timely
manner when Ideal Aerosmith is launching new products
and support services.
The next goal is to notify industry customers
of new company employees, recent acquisitions,
and any accolades earned by veteran employees.
Thus the Ideal Precision newsletter was
launched using Campaign Enterprise email marketing
software and the company's existing customer database.
The inaugural edition of the Ideal Precision
newsletter announced the addition of 41 new employees,
the expansion of two facilities, the expected
launch of a new product, the existing lineup of
new products, product updates and more. (A sample
of one of Ideal Aerosmith's newsletters can be
viewed here: http://www.ideal-aerosmith.com/newsletter/index.html.)
"The newsletter reminds our customers that
we're still here, we can build whatever you want
us to, and we still have all this great equipment,"
Bernhardt said. "With this newsletter, we
hope to increase sales to existing customers and
begin targeting new customers as well."
Solution: Integration leads to automation
Integrating Campaign Enterprise software
with Ideal Aerosmith's customer database allowed
the company to create a nearly 100% automated
email system, said Colin Cutler, marketing consultant
for Ideal Aerosmith. Newsletter subscribers and
unsubscribers are each handled on the web, and
then directed to Campaign Enterprise software.
"We can also handle new subscribers through
our automated system, making it easy to send email
to prospective customers," Cutler said.
As a bonus, Campaign Enterprise's email bounce
back and bad address handling automatically marks
bad email addresses in Ideal Aerosmith's customer
database, allowing staff to identify out-of-date
customer contacts, update their information, and
keep their customer list current, Cutler said.
Results: Record-breaking customer response
The customer response to Ideal's inaugural newsletter
was, as Bernhardt puts it, "excellent."
"We were very pleased," she said. "We
monitored the number of (website) hits we had
following its release. On the day the newsletter
launched – we sent it out approximately
1 p.m. local time – by midnight our website
had the highest number of hits in its history…
and that continued for the next five days."
"We had a number of customers who said,
'Hey, I saw your newsletter!' We also took comments
from the customers we were working with and talking
to. They were bringing the newsletter up to us,
which is a very good sign," she said.
The inaugural issue of Ideal Aerosmith's email
newsletter had an open rate of over 70%, resulting
in a 97% increase in web traffic, according to
Cutler. Ideal Aerosmith's customer list, formerly
stored in an ACT database, is now a list surpassing
2,000 companies.
In terms of successfully contacting customers
and growing the customer list, Cutler said the
email newsletter sent using Campaign Enterprise
is taking Ideal Aerosmith to a customer relationship
level not achieved before in company history.
"The combination of positive website reports,
new subscribers, and an increase in customer response
has made sending our newsletters a top priority,"
Cutler said. "Before Campaign Enterprise,
we had no way of contacting all of the customers
at the same time. Now we do."
About Ideal Aerosmith
Founded in 1938, Ideal Aerosmith (http://www.ideal-aerosmith.com)
is a leader in providing precision motion simulation
test systems to high-tech companies around the
world. Ideal provides test hardware and software
design, as well as build-to-print electromechanical
assembly. Colinstudio (http://www.colinstudio.com)
is Ideal Aerosmith's marketing, web and email
design firm.
About Arial Software
Arial Software LLC is widely considered the industry
leader in email marketing software designed exclusively
for relationship building through personalized
email messaging. More information on Arial Software
can be found at http://www.arialsoftware.com
If you are interested in a Campaign Enterprise
email best practices case study, contact the Arial
Software Media & Press Relations department
here. |
