How Björn Borg reached a 5% conversion rate by working with SMS

Björn Borg is a Swedish fashion brand named after the legendary Swedish tennis player, Björn Borg. The brand was founded in 1989 and quickly gained recognition for its distinctive underwear.

Björn Borg

Björn Borg have seen

5%
average SMS conversion rate
13.6%
conversion on abandoned cart communication
47%
become members in the after-purchase automation

Automated customer journeys show stunning results

Since 2014, Björn Borg has focused on becoming the number 1 sports brand for people who want to feel active and attractive, while also keeping their share of the men’s underwear market.

It’s no easy feat, but the company continues to grow and is now competing with the big dogs in the active-wear industry. The brand’s core idea is to get people moving and for their customers to become the best version of themselves.

In the early days of this new journey, Björn Borg struggled, like many brands, with cooperation between departments and found themselves often working in silos. Different newsletters were sent out from the physical stores and e-com, customer service kept the feedback they received from the customers to themselves, etc. This has changed massively in the last few years, something which has benefited both the customer journey and Björn Borg’s results. Weekly meetings between sales and customer support have led to better accuracy on-site which in turn has led to greater results, better reviews, and fewer returns.

Björn Borg has a loyalty program that is managed in Voyado. It is currently being reworked to give even more value to the customers. The membership recruitment is mostly handled in an automated after-purchase journey which has yielded impressive results. “We don’t want to bother customers during the purchase. Instead, the new customer receives an invite to earn extra points by joining our loyalty program afterward. We’ve found that an incredible 47% of our new customers want to become members” says Martina Lundberg, CRM Manager at Björn Borg.

HS23 BORG1 (1)

“We’ve found that an incredible 47% of our new customers want to become members”

Martina Lundberg, CRM Manager at Björn Borg

Effective marketing automation workflows

Customers who do not become members continue in the workflow where they’re encouraged to make a second purchase. “We want our customers to have as personalized journey as possible with communication directly targeted towards them.”

“It’s also important for us to create loyalty through our brand’s core values. One of them being sustainability. Our after-purchase automation sends out a care guide 10 days after a purchase. It explains how the customer can take care of their new item, when and how to wash it and so forth.”

Another important automation for Björn Borg is their abandoned cart communication. “We have a 33,5% CTOR on our abandoned cart emails and a 13,6% conversion rate” says Martina. Now, 35% of Björn Borg’s customers are repeat buyers. “We believe this is largely due to our strong brand identity and our automated journeys, and we’re excited to further develop our loyalty program and believe this number will rise even more through that.”

Björn Borg

“We have a 33.5% CTOR on our abandoned cart emails and a 13.6% conversion rate“

Martina Lundberg, CRM Manager at Björn Borg

Growth through economic uncertainty

Björn Borg has noticed the effects of the recent uncertain years but continues to grow, especially through the e-com store. Martina mentions a big source of revenue comes from their email and SMS communication.

“Our newsletters are our most profitable channel. The emails have an average conversion rate of 5%! It’s also our fourth biggest driver of revenue, behind different kinds of paid marketing, which of course come at a higher cost. We’re excited to get to working with Voyado’s Online Ads feature to better target our social ads through the Meta network and Google too.”

Skyrocketing conversion and ROI through SMS

“SMS can be a forgotten channel, especially in the UK. But for us it is awesome, the ROI is incredible with a conversion rate of 5%! We also love that we can automate SMS messages with marketing automation in Voyado” continues Martina.

Björn Borg has a different approach to avoid the stereotypical spammy tone of SMS. They send their SMS “from” local stores and an individual salesperson to create a personal dialogue with the customer when they come to redeem the reward voucher or whatever the SMS has promoted. “To see growth in spite of the tough economic climate it’s really promising for the future and it’s really exciting!” adds Martina.

Björn Borg

“SMS can be a forgotten channel, especially in the UK, but for us it is awesome, the ROI is incredible with a conversion rate of 5%!”

Martina Lundberg, CRM Manager at Björn Borg

Why Voyado

We asked Martina for a few things she appreciates most about Voyado and this is what she said:

All in one place

“We love that we’re able to manage our customer data, loyalty program, email and SMS, marketing automation and more all in one place. If you have the customer data, it’s so easy to segment it and follow up. It’s like an iPhone, it’s easy to use and everything’s in the same place!”

Integration opportunities

“Before Voyado, we had a few complicated years with a bigger solution platform, where we couldn’t integrate with other tech partners, and it only took time away from the team. Voyado just works, and you’re growing so quickly, even as a customer I can see that more and more partners want to integrate with Voyado. Voyado’s also so ahead of the game with a strong future focus. We’re so excited for the future and what we’ll be able to do.”

The support

“Voyado comes with a full team. From the account managers to the support team. We feel like we’re in this together.”

The 360-customer view

“We love that we get a single view of the customer in Voyado. We can see everything we need about our customers, what they’ve bought, etc. and you can really act upon it to give the customer a personalized experience, whether that’s in emails, SMS, or even social channels. It’s the full customer circle.”

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