Website: www.capabilities.com
Kathryn Arbour and Pam Pressel had a vision to create an innovative healthcare department store where people could come in and experience their products first-hand, rather than just have them delivered to their door. That's what led them to Capabilities.
Located in Westminster, Colorado, Capabilities carries a wide selection of products designed for mobility, comfort, and independence for aging adults and people with physical challenges. It's a unique shopping experience for these types of products. "We do it in a way that people really enjoy shopping," says Kathryn.
CHALLENGE: GET THE MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE
Capabilities' biggest challenge has been informing people that now there's a place where they can experience the products they would ordinarily get through catalogues or a medical supply store. "Medical supply stores are routinely insurance driven. So there's not much customer service," Pam says. "And we really wanted to have a place where people came first, where it was the customer's choice, rather than what an insurance company was going to pay for."
Before turning to Constant Contact®, Pam and Kathryn were using email in the traditional way—sending out 30 emails at a time and blind-copying them. "It was really becoming very cumbersome and taking up a lot of time," Pam says. "It really forced us to start looking at other ways to get our emails out there."
SOLUTION: THE BENEFITS OF EMAIL MARKETING
Pam and Kathryn chose Constant Contact as their email marketing provider because of the great referrals they received from Constant Contact customers. "They had a great reputation."
Pam emphasized how much time email marketing saves her. "The more people we can reach through Constant Contact, the less I have to do one on one. It's getting to the point now with our growth that it's harder and harder for me to make all those appointments and get out there. Being able to reach thousands of people in one shot is just huge."
Constant Contact's flexible templates make it easy for Pam and Kathryn to add new content to their newsletter each week, without having to start from scratch. "We can easily change articles," Kathryn says. "So it makes it so much quicker to get it done."
The founders' goal is to increase sales through Constant Contact email campaigns. "The e-commerce piece is going to be much more robust in this next month," Pam says. "And I really look at the capability of sending out customized emails to people, targeting different audiences with different messages. I know we'll be able to reach a national audience much easier."
These entrepreneurs advise small businesses to take full advantage of email marketing. "Jump into it—email marketing lets you expand your reach so quickly and more effectively. It's not expensive and the benefits you get back pay off immediately."
RESULTS: CAPABILITIES GREW INTO A HEALTHY BUSINESS
After several years of hard work, Capabilities reached one million dollars in revenue to become a Make Mine a Million $ Business. Co-founded by Count Me In and American Express OPENSM, the program's goal is to inspire one million women-owned businesses to reach one million dollars in annual revenue by 2010.
Pam and Kathryn are grateful to American Express OPEN for helping them get through their growing pains. "When we needed to get a very large, specialized wheelchair (in the $5,000 range) for one of our customers, we were able to get the cash immediately."
Today, with the help of American Express OPEN and Constant Contact, Capabilities continues to grow strong. "It's very hard to run a business in this economy without acknowledging the importance of the Internet," Kathryn says. "Email marketing is a very valuable partner in your business."
» Watch Hands on Gourmet success story
