Salesfire &
Lawson's Group
Increasing revenue with multi-channel
retargeting flows.
+25%
increase in
conversion rate
+24%
increase
in AOV
20%
of Welcome Flow revenue attributed to SMS
Introducing, Lawson's Group
Lawson’s Group is a trusted supplier of building materials, timber and fencing products to trade professionals and the public across the South East of England.
With a strong supply chain and well-developed online presence, supported by Salesfire, the company has experienced considerable growth in recent years. Through acquiring brands like AVS Fencing and Oxford Fencing Supplies, Lawson’s Group has strengthened its name in the Repair, Maintenance and Improvement (RMI) sector of the construction industry.
The business has continued to thrive despite the demands of the pandemic, rising material costs, and seasonal industry fluctuations. However, with increasing global instability and online competition, Lawson’s Group seeks to future-proof itself by improving customer experiences and strengthening shopper relationships.
The challenge
Lawson’s Group already had several email marketing flows set up with Salesfire, including the Welcome and Abandoned Cart flows. These flows were highly effective at re-engaging many shoppers, but the company sought ways to further extend its reach and enhance its performance.
To fully understand the specific needs and goals of Lawson’s Group, the company spoke with its dedicated Success Manager at Salesfire. We discovered three main areas that an updated strategy should address:
- Reaching trade consumers: While emails are effective with non-commercial shoppers, trade professionals are often on the go without access or time to check their inboxes. Therefore, a multi-channel approach may be required for campaigns to reach these shoppers.
- Driving long-term engagement: To continue growing, Lawson’s Group would need to both attract and retain shoppers. They could do this by sending campaigns that would help to build and nurture long-term relationships.
- Standing out from the competition: Most RMI brands now operate online and send marketing emails. To stand out from other brands, Lawson’s Group would need to grab shoppers' attention with advanced strategies like personalisation or time-sensitive campaigns.
The solution
Following discussions with Lawson’s Group, Salesfire opted to introduce SMS into the company’s existing email marketing flows.
This decision was based on the fact that tradespeople are much more likely to check a text than read an email. By adding SMS to its marketing strategy, Lawson’s Group hugely increased the likelihood of a recipient seeing its message.
This is especially effective for their Welcome Flow because it means more shoppers see their code before expiry, and make a purchase using it. Ensuring shoppers receive time-sensitive messages like this as soon as possible also helps Lawson’s Group to enhance experiences with its brand.
The SMS strategy
Salesfire’s SMS was integrated into the email flows that Lawson’s Group had already set up on the platform. This enabled the company to benefit from the direct and immediate communication style of SMS while still delivering more comprehensive emails, such as those containing product recommendations.
This combined approach worked well for their Abandoned Cart flow. An email is sent first, displaying the shopper’s exact basket contents to encourage clicks. This messaging is then reinforced with a follow-up SMS reminder. This helps to ensure the message is seen and prompts action from the shopper, making the campaign more effective.
Saving time with automation
After the initial setup, Salesfire’s email and SMS flows require little intervention from Lawson’s Group.
Our technology tracks their shoppers’ behaviour on-site and automatically enrols them in relevant flows. This means Lawson’s Group can deliver highly personalised multi-channel campaigns to their shoppers, without having to spend time manually segmenting their audiences or pressing send.
They can focus on opportunities for growth while Salesfire works to nurture their shopper relationships and enhance customer experiences.
The results
Incorporating Salesfire’s SMS into its marketing strategy proved effective for Lawson’s Group, as following its implementation, the channel was responsible for:
- 12% of their Abandoned Cart flow’s total revenue
- 20% of their Welcome Flow’s total revenue
These contributions are likely to be due to more tradespeople seeing and acting upon the marketing campaigns that they were previously missing through email. However, by supporting their email flows with SMS, Lawson’s Group also saw success on a wider scale across their site, experiencing:
- A 25% increase in conversion rate
- A 24% increase in AOV
These figures demonstrate how sending combined email and SMS flows can be more effective than sending email alone. By aligning messaging across more than one channel, Lawson’s Group reinforced their messaging and created smoother customer journeys that led to increased conversions and upsells.
“Salesfire’s email and SMS flows have revolutionised contact with our trade customers. We previously struggled to reach these shoppers, but this is no longer the case now that we’ve implemented SMS with Salesfire. We can get our message directly to the device these shoppers use for most of their everyday operations, and we’ve already seen some amazing results in terms of revenue.
Sending SMS together with email has also made a huge difference beyond the trade arm of our business. Both our trade and retail customers have become more receptive to our campaigns, and it’s clear that Salesfire’s SMS will be instrumental in our future plans.”
Ciaran Morton, Group Marketing Director at Lawson’s Group