Online book store buch.de relies on professional email marketing

Effective content integration for up-to-date email information

The challenge
buch.de is one of the leading Internet book and media retailers in the Germanspeaking world. The company specialises in the online sale of books, music, films and software as well as office and electronic articles. It currently operates some 18 online shops in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. They include buch.de, bol.de, buch.ch and lion.cc, while the Thalia bookshops have a web presence at thalia.de, thalia.at and thalia.ch.

In 2007, the company decided to professionalise its email communication with existing and potential new customers. It looked into the possibility of outsourcing its technology to an email service provider. Apart from wanting to use its workflow more effectively and make its mailing creation more user-friendly, buch.de was looking to optimise the connection to its own enterprise resource planning system and achieve the highest possible delivery rates.

The solution
The decision was taken to outsource to the email specialist optivo. Since 2007, buch.de has been regularly broadcasting mailings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland using the professional email marketing solution optivo® broadmail. As Markus Grage, Head of Marketing at buch.de, explains: "The decision to choose optivo was an easy one for us. optivo® broadmail is a complete solution for professional and effective email marketing. Our assessment has been confirmed by the results achieved."

Effective content interface
A special feature is the seamless integration of optivo® broadmail with the enterprise resource planning system used by buch.de and the various online shops. It makes creating content for mailings extremely simple: by entering a short article code the newsletter editors import all product information (article name, description, image, price and URL) from the relevant e-shop or ERP system directly into the email. In addition, staff can carry out manual adjustments by, for example, adapting article information manually or uploading images into the newsletter.

The entire mailing content is created in a WYSIWYG editor. As with a text processing programme, the mailing is displayed during processing as it will appear to the recipient. No previous knowledge of HTML is required.

All product descriptions and prices are automatically checked - and any necessary updates carried out – before each newsletter is broadcast.

Consistent design
The various newsletter templates were set up once based on the relevant corporate designs. This ensures that only correctly formatted emails are broadcast. The design-compliant content templates can only be adapted by specially authorised users.

Split testing increases response
Another highlight is the test broadcast to small groups of the distribution list in advance ("split testing"). It involves sending different versions of a mailing, with key data such as opening and click rates being collected before going ahead with the "real" broadcast. Even minor adjustments to the subject line, text or article graphics can cause a major difference in performance. After sending the test mails, the "most successful" version is sent manually or automatically to all of the remaining recipients.

Ensuring high delivery rates
Preliminary deliverability and spam checks give buch.de an extraordinarily high guarantee that mailings will reach recipients. Before broadcasting, editors can check whether the newsletters will reach the inboxes at relevant providers and freemailers, or whether they will be caught by a spam filters. Where delivery problems can be foreseen, editors are given clear advice and tips on what adjustments are necessary before broadcasting. In the majority of cases, only minor details need to be adjusted. For example, an indexed word may have been used in the newsletter, or one of the many rules employed by popular filter software has not been observed. To achieve the highest delivery rates possible optivo supports buch.de through a comprehensive and regularly updated email marketing strategy.

Customer feedback
"optivo® broadmail has allowed us to expand our email marketing activities significantly. Highlights are the effective integration with our ERP system and online shops and the automated checking of newsletter content before broadcasting. Overall, we benefit from a very efficient and professional solution. Additionally, the optivo support team provides assistance at any time."