A year of free digital marketing, marshmallow giveaways and email foundations. We kick off our journey with Sweet Darl’n, as we help increase sales and record every step along the way.
Did you say a YEAR of free marketing?
If you’ve been following Wynne Digital over the past few weeks, you’ll know we’ve been spruiking a pretty ambitious offer. Yep, one year of free digital marketing. The only catch? We get to record and share everything. All the planning and strategy calls, baseline numbers, results along the way, the wins and any (hopefully minor) setbacks.
After shortlisting and talking to a bunch of awesome small businesses, we got things underway last week with Amanda from gourmet sweet treats store, Sweet Darl’n. As a first point of call, we sat down with Amanda to get the lay of the land and put together a plan for how we can help.
Introducing Sweet Darl’n
Sweet Darl’n started as a lockdown passion project where by night Amanda turned her kitchen into a mini bakery, whipping up batches of gourmet marshmallows for her friends, family and neighbourhood. They were such a hit that within a year, she quit her job and went all in.
Today she operates out of a store in Cheltenham, supplying a full range of products to thousands of customers through in-store and online sales, as well as through stores and cafes across the country.
And when she’s not baking (or looking after her two year old), she’s producing social media content, trialling Google ads, sending out email promos and running seasonal campaigns. Naturally some things slip through the cracks and Amanda would be the first to admit her skills are much better suited to handcrafting wagon wheels than tracking click-through rates and optimising CTAs.
Luckily, that’s our bread and butter (or in this case, batter and sprinkles). Amanda was understandably pretty excited to add us to her Google account.
The lay of the land
We started where any good marketing approach should – with a look under the hood and setting some benchmarks. Our benchmarking will not just compare results month-on-month, but also against the same time last year given the seasonal spikes Sweet Darl’n sees around events like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
Through online sales (the main focus of our efforts), Sweet Darl’n sees 957 average monthly sessions, 17.5 orders and $1,118 average monthly revenue, based on the last 12 months.
Something that caught our eye was the fact that email converts at over 8%, but was significantly underused.
Amanda agreed, sharing, “I feel like it’s been so neglected… I barely send any emails, so imagine if we were actually using that channel.”
Our thoughts exactly.
Setting up the framework
One of the first steps on our journey with Sweet Darl’n will be to get the basics right so that we have a solid platform to drive future growth as our efforts expand.
As Caleb (Wynne Digital Founder) explains, “setting up a really strong email automation foundation means that when we do start to pay to acquire customers later, they’re falling into an ecosystem of conversion.”
So we set about planning how we might approach this and what a solid framework would look like for Sweet Darl’n.
The welcome series debate: discount vs giveaway
Any good email framework is built on a reliable welcome series. It’s how you encourage a website visitor to subscribe and then capitalise on their immediate interest by building trust, delivering on signup incentives and guiding them toward their first purchase.
We explained to Amanda that typically the first step in this process is offering a discount to new customers, such as 10% off your first order.
However, this raised two interesting points. Firstly, the usual conundrum that comes when introducing an offer like this to new customers – the potential to upset loyal existing customers who might see the deal but aren’t able to claim it.
Or as Caleb puts it, “a f*ck you to existing customers.”
When we debated whether to expand the offer to all customers, Amanda explained that an important part of the Sweet Darl’n brand is a no-discount policy.
“We price knowing that we don’t discount, so we’re able to price fairly with that in mind,” Amanda explained. “I just want my customers to feel like they can come to the website at any time and they’re receiving the value that they expect.”
And we love this. It’s a solid approach and a cornerstone of the brand. Who are we to come in and change that?
So we floated the possibility of offering a small giveaway instead. What’s something we can throw in with a customer’s first purchase that would offer the same incentive as a discount but not compromise Amanda’s no-discount policy?
The answer: a marshmallow.
Not only is it what Sweet Darl’n is known for; but at roughly $4 each and with an average order value of around $40, it’s the same cost to the business as offering a 10% discount. The incentive is a nice bonus for the purchaser, given most items come in share packs.
As Caleb notes, “say I’m ordering a box of Wagon Wheels to share with the office as a treat, and I go, oh, I get an extra marshmallow? That’s a little treat for me, the person ordering.”
Plus, it’s hard to argue with Senior Account Manager Maddie’s assessment – “people love free sh*t”.
What’s next?
So we have a plan. We’re off to Kaviyo to build out the welcome flow and set up our free marshmallow offer (already live on the Sweet Darln’ website!)
We’ll track how our first month performs against our benchmarks and start to move the needle from $1,118 in sales a month to hopefully plenty more.
Keep an eye out here and across our socials to stay up to date with our journey with Amanda and Sweet Darl’n, and step behind the curtain as we share how we plan, execute and measure our approach to helping a small business grow.
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Alternative title option:
A Year of Free Marketing Starts With… a Marshmallow?
Meta description (156 characters):
We’re spending a year helping gourmet bakery Sweet Darl’n grow, completely free, and sharing every step. First up: why we chose marshmallows over discounts.
