Create My Keepsake

Constant Contact Customer Since: 2005
List size: 500+
Open rate: 56%
Favorite feature: Reporting
Website: www.createmykeepsake.com

Constant Contact customer Rebecca Cross wants to meet all of your scrapbooking and papercrafting needs. Rebecca started her company, Create My Keepsake, with a plan to provide custom scrapbook design services, and after three months, decided to take the next step and become a retailer for scrapbook and papercraft supplies. Retail sales through her website now account for 99% of her total revenue. Rebecca has also developed an active online community of scrapbookers from across the U.S. and abroad who share ideas and designs with each other on her website.

Rebecca's background in brand marketing equipped her to promote her own business. "I knew a key aspect of running a web-based retail store would include email marketing, and I wanted to have that presence from day one."

Rebecca searched the web for email marketing services, found Constant Contact, and signed up for a free trial. "Constant Contact had everything I was looking for - an HTML-based newsletter that would allow the customer to view the campaign without any extra clicks and statistic reports so I could see who was viewing the emails."

"We launched our online store on December 1, 2005 and we have used Constant Contact for all of our email communications. With the help of these campaigns we have increased product sales an average of 39% each month. I attribute a big portion of our success to my ability to quickly reach our customers and community members using the Constant Contact tools and services."

In her email communication, Rebecca provides tips and techniques, industry news, and, of course, information about new products.

"We send out a monthly newsletter called The Chronicle and often send one to two special promotions each month. I love that, in just minutes, I can create a professional newsletter or store announcement that has a consistent look with our store."

Rebecca had a small list in the beginning but grew it rapidly. "My list started with 25 people and is now 500+ and growing daily. I started building my list with family and friends' addresses, and asked them to spread the word. The list grew as my customer base increased and as more people became aware of our site. Most of the members on our list are not current customers, but they have an interest in our products and services. We hope to convert them to paying customers." Email marketing has been a great way for Rebecca to communicate with her existing customers and to acquire new ones.

Rebecca says that her email correspondence is the primary way she lets her customers know about sales and specials. And she has experienced great results.

"We ran a four-week campaign in March to celebrate National Craft Month and we sent weekly sale offers to our newsletter members only. I am happy to report that we experienced our busiest month ever and our highest sales revenues over a 30-day period."

Rebecca loves that she can get such a great return on a minimal investment of time. "I run the business by myself and that doesn't leave me with a lot of free time. Constant Contact is such a timesaver. I have never experienced any technical difficulties, the service is low-maintenance and I love the immediate results."

Rebecca is using Constant Contact's email marketing service to provide her customers with valuable information about their favorite past-time, to connect them with each other, and to promote her products and services. Rebecca's email marketing practices combined with her innovative online scrapbooking community, work together to help her build a strong customer base, something every small business needs to succeed.