At our 2021 Spring Summit, Kathleen Stockham, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at JTV and Sarah Cascone, Sr. Director of Marketing at Bluecore, led the session “How JTV’s Digital Foundation is Helping it Embrace Its Post Pandemic Future.” Stockham divulged the best marketing and tech investments that helped them make JTV successful during the pandemic and how they’re taking those lessons into the next normal.

Read the recap below or watch the replay here.

SESSION RECAP

JTV’S MARKETING FOCUS DURING 2020

Ecommerce soared during 2020 when consumers began to find solace in online retail as a way to escape from the daily schedule of being at home. While a lot of other jewelry retailers slowed down business, JTV decided to become a “sweet escape” for Covid customers.

JTV marketed their services to their customers as being a 24/7 online and broadcast destination for jewelry when you could not get to stores. JTV immediately invested in all new customers acquired when competitors were pulling back and spending less. Their martech investment allowed them to leapfrog through the Covid-19 period for retail and grow not only their loyalty with core customers, but also entice new consumers to JTV.

JTV’s marketing strategies allowed them the opportunity to reach into homes and shatter every company record during the pandemic: revenue, average order value, new customers, broadcast viewership, etc.

PRE-PANDEMIC VERSUS PANDEMIC CUSTOMERS

JTV’s traditional customers are slightly older with more disposable income than the average customer. Their newer consumer base is skewing younger and proving to be hardcore jewelry buyers. JTV also noticed that newer customers are on trend and shy away from traditional jewelry pieces when searching for accessories.

To better serve this new audience, JTV diversified their content and began sending more non-marketing emails post-purchase about caring for jewelry and styling tips. The next step was then finding more customers who behave and shop similarly through digital messaging and search engine marketing.

THE SECRET SAUCE: AFFINITY LISTS

Using Bluecore’s tools, JTV began creating affinity audiences and building preferences or affinity lists to pivot quickly, e.g. after a major launch. Affinity lists have been most invaluable to JTV during the pandemic, as they direct marketing efforts to individual customers based upon what they looked at, what they showed interest in and what they purchased in the past.

Additionally, affinity lists enable a company to be more customer-led. Through their use, JTV can better understand what customers are looking for based on their web actions. Companies can follow up and immediately get back in front of users, suggesting the next best product the customer might want. Whatever products garner the most revenue can then be automatically marketed more across platforms.

Bluecore helped reframe the way JTV thinks about their customers and how to market to them, allowing them to be even smarter and specific with email sends. Utilizing a wide data set including email opens and search and purchase information, JTV formulated customer journeys and paths, allowing them to quickly dive into segmentation and get the right product in front of the right customers at the right time.

SHIFTING TECHNOLOGY AND EVOLVING WITH THE CUSTOMER

JTV notes that they work collaboratively across all layers of their executive team to invest in digital transformation. They emphasize upgrading and changing email services providers, and look to customer tracking and individual data to power their Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) models. “With personalization changing, the technological needs behind that have to shift too,” Stockham asserts. “A smart organization is going to follow the customer’s wants and demands. The customer should lead the company’s transitions and business decisions should follow the customer.”

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

• JTV’s success was found throughout the pandemic when they decided to heavily invest in their new customers and the digital technologies required to understand them.
• Through the use of Bluecore, JTV was able to quickly pivot after major launches to get back in front of the customer and understand their individual demands.
• Bluecore also allowed for deep segmentation of consumers as JTV was able to track audience web actions across platforms.
• Through the use of affinity lists, JTV was able to direct marketing efforts to individual customers and better understand their demands. This led to their company’s wide success in increased revenue, sales, customer conversions and retention.

Watch the full session and others from the Spring Summit on our Youtube Channel.