Pepperland helped to design and implement an automated cart abandonment program with Shopify and HubSpot. In the 18 months since that followed, the workflow generated a total of $304,708 revenue from 3,105 unique deals and shows no sign of slowing down.
In this case study we cover:
- The challenge presented to our team
- Why HubSpot was recommended
- A detailed overview of the plan we developed and the results it produced.
SALT Society is an online educator offering workshops, tutorials, and in-person classes to professionals in the salon industry. Though their material sold well, they knew that they were leaving money on the table every time a potential customer put an item in their cart but left the site before completing a purchase. Pepperland helped them leverage the power of HubSpot workflows to turn those abandoned carts into more than $300,000 of revenue.
The Challenge
Before working with Pepperland, everyone on the small SALT Society team wore multiple hats supporting both the salon and education businesses, and they were able to achieve amazing results, amassing a massive audience of online followers and dedicated bases of customers and fans that helped them regularly sell out their courses and online tutorials.
But they had very little in the way of marketing automation. What automation did exist included:
- MailChimp to manage their subscribers, whom they would send weekly e-blasts to spur sales
- A simple automated message sent directly from Shopify confirming each purchase made on their website
At the time, this worked. But as the company continued to scale and grow its offerings, this limited marketing stack began to hold SALT Society back. It made it especially challenging to follow up with website visitors who took the initial steps of creating an account and adding an item to their cart, but who failed to complete a transaction during that same visit.
Knowing that a substantial source of revenue was being left untapped, SALT Society sought a solution that would allow them to automate their marketing outreach, re-engage those potential customers, and close sales.
Working With Pepperland
SALT Society originally engaged with Pepperland as they prepared to launch a new educational offering that revolved around live events and ticket sales. The Pepperland team helped them to realize that by deploying a tool like HubSpot and integrating it with Shopify, they could automate much of this customer interaction involved in such a large-scale campaign. Pepperland then provided HubSpot onboarding services and helped SALT Society bring their Paint Party Series to life.
At the same time, Pepperland worked to provide an immediate ROI on SALT Society’s investment in HubSpot by developing and deploying an email workflow designed to re-engage contacts associated with abandoned carts.
Three Emails That Made More Than $300,000
Once Shopify and HubSpot were integrated, it became possible to view a contact’s ecommerce activity directly within their HubSpot record. It was then possible to segment those contacts by deal stage in order to zero in on contacts associated with an abandoned cart.
The Pepperland team then set about creating three simple and straightforward emails, which aligned with SALT Society’s brand voice and which encouraged the recipient to return to the site to complete their transaction.
These were very on text, leveraged fun graphics and gifs, and used eye-catching calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage the recipient to take the desired step, as can be seen below.
To reestablish the emotional connection that is often associated with the purchases that SALT Society sells, we chose to end each email with a look at the items which were left behind in the cart.
Though many ecommerce sites leverage discount codes to close abandoned carts, we chose to forgo that incentive on the initial send to maximize the amount of reclaimed revenue.
The real secret to the success of this initiative was in leveraging an email workflow that automated the entire process. As soon as a contact became associated with an abandoned cart, they entered the workflow, receiving the first email two hours after abandoning their purchase. They then received the second and third email at staggered 5-day intervals after that first send.
If at any point the contact completed their abandoned cart purchase, they were automatically removed from the workflow.
The Results
In its first full-month of being activated, this simple, three-email workflow helped to close $22,334 of revenue that otherwise would have languished in carts. In one month, they recovered more than their entire cost of leveraging HubSpot for the next 12 months.
In the 18 months since (as of June 2020), the workflow has generated a total of $304,708 revenue from 3,105 unique deals. Despite its age, the workflow continues to perform phenomenally well, and it's expected that it will continue generating substantial revenue for years to come.
Looking Ahead
With the abandoned cart workflow in place and the initial project behind us, the scope of our engagement was adjusted to focus on growing SALT Society’s sales funnel. We accomplished this laying the groundwork of an inbound marketing strategy centered around content—blog posts, content offers, CTAs, landing pages—all brought to life using HubSpot and Shopify.
Making It Work For You
Do you currently operate an ecommerce site built on Shopify? We have a deep understanding of HubSpot and the role it can play in businesses of all kinds. We actively leverage that expertise to help our clients utilize HubSpot to its fullest potential. Connect with us to learn more about how HubSpot can power your ecommerce engine and propel your business to new heights.
