Multichannel Merchant recently posted this article highlighting what client giggle is now able to do in email with the help of Listrak and Olapic. Stay tuned for more on this and see it in action at our IRCE booth #1113!

May 19, 2015 By Daniela Forte    

Online baby products retailer Giggle is using social media in a big way to personalize the shopping experience for customers.

With the use of Instagram, the retailer incorporates images submitted directly from their customers or tagged on Instagram into their product and email campaigns.

Giggle launched a #gigglepics campaign where customers can share their Instagram and Twitter photo to the giggle website or use the hashtag on their social accounts.   The photos were then filtered through to the website and tagged with featured giggle products.

“This tagging is what allows us to integrate social content with more data-driven programs, like auto-trigger emails,” said Shawna Hausman, vice-president of ecommerce and digital marketing for giggle.

The images help giggle make a personalized email even more personal.

“An auto-trigger email campaign doesn’t have to be restricted to a grid of products. You can alternate between something that is quite functional and something that is more emotional,” said Hausman of the emails. “On the one hand, you have auto-trigger emails that are highly personalized and functional – but also quite sterile. People like the fact that they are tailored to them, and that they do make their lives easier. I’m sure we have all received an abandoned cart email and thought – ‘oh yeah, I wanted to buy that!’”

Hausman said on the other side of the spectrum, you have batch and blast emails, which are highly designed and highly emotional, but they are the opposite of personal – they speak to millions of readers the exact same way.

“We are trying to do something that sits directly in the middle – giving people the personalization they appreciate, with the emotional connection they crave,” said Hausman.

Giggle also has incentivized social sharing across the site, where it asks customers to share their favorite products with their friends and followers on social media. This activity powers the “Trending Now” gallery where customers can view Top Trending product based on number of shares, comments and purchases.

“We have also taken the trending module and created an email version of it, which we incorporate at the bottom of every email we send out.” said Hausman. “With email, people are no longer afraid to scroll, which is why we use the length to provide our customers with additional relevant content.”

The company incorporates images submitted directly by their customers or tagged on Instagram into their product pages and email campaigns.

“We have been working our email service provider Listrak, to build a robust auto-trigger email program.  Most recently, we integrated product recommendations into our email program as well,” said Hausman.  This is not new news. But what is new is combining the power of algorithms and data with the richness of user generated content within the email.  We are using the framework of our auto-triggered email campaigns and layering in Instagram images, which are already tagged and cataloged via Olapic.”

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