Challenge
Iowa State University Bookstore was seeking a better way to market to students as traditional print and newspaper advertising did not allow them to gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. “We were spending a lot on newspaper ads and had no way to track our results,” DeLashmutt said, “We were spending money blindly and just hoping it would work.” When Knowledge Marketing called and presented them with an email marketing solution, they were still a little hesitant. “We knew that email marketing was a big buzzword, but weren’t sure exactly how it could help us,” DeLashmutt added.
Solution
Knowledge Marketing quickly scheduled Iowa State for a demonstration of the Enterprise Communication Network (ECN) online marketing tools to show exactly how email marketing could impact their marketing ROI. “We knew this was something that we needed to do immediately after seeing the demonstration. We didn’t realize tracking reports would be available in this medium, but the most impressive thing was that the tracking is done in real time, rather than waiting for weeks or months to find out if our marketing dollars were well spent.” Interactive links that capture usable demographic information was also a feature that influenced DeLashmutt to use Knowledge Marketing’s services. ECN’s easy-to-use features and exceptional customer service were also deciding factors. “I love that I can put together content right from my desk, very quickly and easily,” DeLashmutt said, “Knowledge Marketing took care of us from start to finish before we sent our first email.”
Results
Iowa State Bookstore realized results immediately after sending out their first email. With their annual graduation apparel promotion, they saw an increase in sales of over 60% from the same promotion the previous year. The email promotion was such a big success that they ran out of free t-shirts that accompanied the email promotion within a week. Iowa State now uses the advanced reporting features to track exactly what campaigns and links students are clicking on. “We have found that email marketing is a more cost effective and targeted solution than print marketing,” DeLashmutt said. Iowa State has been able to cut their newspaper budget $30,000 from the year before. “We couldn’t be happier with the service or the results. I would recommend them to anyone.”
