Interview: Bexley talks CRM strategy, omnichannel campaigns and Tinyclues!

Interview with Capucine Boutin, Marketing & Communication Manager and Ludivine Liagre, E-commerce and Customer Service Manager at Bexley.

10 min | 8 questions

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Capucine Boutin – Marketing & Communication Manager

Bexley.com

“We wanted to reach out to our customers without fatiguing our database and get the most out of those who were ready to buy. We chose Tinyclues to maximize our CRM efforts and increase our sales.”

Ludivine Liagre – E-commerce and Customer Service Manager

Bexley.com

“We had some concerns about the setup… In the end, we were pleasantly surprised at how fast and easy it was! I’m not an IT person, I’m more of a salesperson with an appetite for data and technology. But still, I was easily able to provide Tinyclues with everything they needed.”

Capucine Boutin – Marketing & Communication Manager

Bexley.com

“Tinyclues takes us back to the basics of marketing: pushing the right product to the right person at the right time. Tinyclues’ technology allows us to do just that. We used to think that the product mix is not easy to do with a classic CRM solution, but Tinyclues might be a solution for this on the email channel.”

Ludivine Liagre – E-commerce and Customer Service Manager

Bexley.com

“Within a few days, we were able to reconcile the data and automate the exchanges. For this type of project, we usually bring in a specialized consultant. For Tinyclues, we didn’t even need to ask her to step in!”

Can you tell us a bit more about you and Bexley?

Capucine: I’m Capucine Boutin, I’ve been a Marketing & Communication Manager at Bexley for little over 7 years and I manage topics around loyalty, traffic acquisition on all off and online channels. I also manage everything to do with CRM.
Since its creation in 1985, Bexley has had only one objective: provide men with quality and elegant shoes for a reasonable budget. Beyond shoes, Bexley has extended its savoir-faire to include the entirety of men’s wardrobe: shirts, suits, trousers, sweaters, jackets, accessories, etc. All our products are designed and made in France by our teams and distributed exclusively in our 23 stores and on our e-commerce website.

Ludivine: I am Ludivine Liagre, e-commerce and Customer Service manager. I arrived a year and a half ago to finalize a major overhaul of our e-commerce platform. Since I’m also in charge of monitoring and maintaining data flows between our different systems, it’s normal that I headed up the technical integration of Tinyclues into our stack.

Tell us a little about CRM at Bexley …

C.B: At Bexley, email is a very important channel, as it generates more than 30% of the revenue on our website. Half the customers who buy in-store have opened at least one of our emails. We are fortunate to have loyal clientele and a responsive base. It’s a real treasure! We are aware of the quality of our database, and we try to leverage it the best we can, to avoid fatigue.

Three years ago, we set up a new CRM tool called “Probance,” which allowed us to create around ten classic trigger scenarios, as well as a few triggers specific to our market as shoemakers with maintenance tips for example. We send about 2 generic campaigns to our openers and recent customers, and we also send SMS campaigns.

What are your CRM challenges ?

C.B: First, it’s to engage clients. It’s easy to do using promotion and discounting. The real challenge is to create interesting campaigns that are not promotional, as well as increase open rates for emails that present  new products and key items.

The second challenge is to cross-sell. Basically, we’re shoemakers, so part of our database only buys shoes. We now have a large catalog that covers the entire male wardrobe, so we need to convert shoe customers to clothing buyers!

And thirdly, it is to increase repeat purchases both online and in-store: increase footfall in-store AND boost purchases online. If purchase frequency increases, revenue follows!

Why did you choose Tinyclues?

C.B: We wanted to reach out to our customers without fatiguing our database and get the most out of those who were ready to buy. This is something we haven’t been able to do until now, since we always reached out to the same people with generic campaigns. We chose Tinyclues to maximize our CRM efforts and increase our sales.

In addition to this, we were able to test the solution free of charge for 3 months through the Customer Marketing Accelerator Program. This was ideal for us to accelerate our CRM post-crisis!

Did you have any fears before the implementation?

L.L: Oh yes! We had some concerns about the setup for several reasons: first, because our data flow mapping is not standard for an e-commerce site. The rules around our pricing policy are very complex. And, around the time we wanted to integrate Tinyclues, we had just managed to stabilize data exchanges between our ERP, our e-commerce platform, our CRM and our partners. We were afraid that bringing a new partner into our systems would mean spending a long time checking, testing, automating and monitoring new data exchanges.

In the end, we were pleasantly surprised at how fast and easy the setup was! I’m not an IT person, I’m more of a salesperson with an appetite for data and technology. But still, I was easily able to provide Tinyclues with everything they needed.

I received the technical and detailed specs on the day of our kickoff, made some models and exported everything. Within a few days, we were able to reconcile the data and automate the exchanges. For this type of project, we usually bring in a specialized consultant. For Tinyclues, we didn’t even need to ask her to step in!

Beyond the clarity of the documentation provided, I have to acknowledge how reactive and understanding the Tinyclues teams were, even on very specific Bexley topics and data models, such as unique prices per product category, discounts on cross-lot purchases, tax exemptions, etc.

C.B: And once the platform was delivered, we were ready to go in no time! The planets were aligned for this one, and I must say, it’s something we’ve never seen before!

What does your marketing plan look like with Tinyclues and how do you use
the solution?

C.B: Before, we were pushing commercial operations, new products and seasonal products via generic campaigns. In order to satisfy everyone, we used to send multi-product campaigns, including both textile and footwear. Tinyclues allows us to go even further in how we choose our topics and audiences, by focusing on a single product in each campaign.

The marketing team at Bexley is quite small, I’m the only one using the solution because we don’t have a dedicated CRM team. I have help from a graphic designer, who creates and integrates the newsletters.

The solution is easy to use and intuitive. I use the Efficiency Map feature to find specific topics, and sometimes I pair it with the Audience Mapper to identify complementary products. Then, I plan my campaign and let Tinyclues find the perfect audiences! This allows me to identify relevant topics that we would never have promoted in a generic campaign because they rely too much on segmentation.

Typically, for a product like “comfort cut” shirts— it’s a niche product that we would never put in a generic campaign because their target audience is generally an older population. This is where Tinyclues comes in handy—it allows us to find the right audience for this specific type of product. We found that the first few campaigns worked very well!

If you had to describe Tinyclues in a few words, what would you say?

L.L: Since I managed all the technical aspects, I’d say a simple integration!

As a marketer, I would also say an opportunity creator. It’s a solution that has challenged us to dig a little deeper and rethink our marketing preconceptions.

C.B: I agree with Ludivine, for me, Tinyclues takes us back to the basics of marketing: pushing the right product to the right person at the right time. Tinyclues’ technology allows us to do just that. We used to think that the product mix is not easy to do with a classic CRM solution, but Tinyclues might be a solution for this on the email channel.

How do you see your collaboration evolving with Tinyclues?

C.B: Long-term, our ambition is to use Tinyclues to reactivate dormant customers. We are very cautious with this topic and we try not to over-solicit them  with our current tools, for deliverability reasons. We are excited to see what Tinyclues can bring!

We also plan to accelerate usage on the SMS channel to be more cost-effective. The idea is to be more efficient in our campaigns in order to maximize ROI on this expensive channel.