Unreachable Skin Seekers
Boots has a best-in-class digital strategy for delivering lifecycle CRM for their number one skincare brand, No7, with sophisticated email and app programmes driving customer engagement and repeat purchase. However, a larger proportion of their Advantage Card base only had direct mailable consent, leaving a significant untapped audience for customer contact and lifecycle marketing. They wanted to test an innovative, new dynamic, customer-responsive automated mail journey to further enhance their CRM programme and unlock new sales from this hard-to-reach segment, particularly for their scientifically-backed No7 Retinol range which requires education and replenishment reminders.
Beauty Treatment Plan
In collaboration with Paperplanes, Boots initiated a trial on their No7 Retinol range, leveraging their existing purchase-triggered CRM email and app programme structure and replicating it as a 3-stage, customer-responsive automated mail customer journey. Each envelope was different but recognisably part of the same journey, using letter format in clear address carrier envelopes with strong Boots Advantage Card and No7 branding to differentiate from traditional one-page mailers. The creative fully integrated with the No7 Retinol brand campaign, weaving scientific hexagon elements into succinct callouts alongside lifestyle imagery across 2 sides of A4 with clear visual hierarchy including personalised titles. The third and final mailing included an optimised offer with both barcode and media code, giving customers freedom to shop in-store or online, whilst additional nudges encouraged email opt-in and app downloads via QR codes.
Youthful Returns
Boots’ targeted 3-step mail customer lifecycle programme successfully drove both product replenishment and cross-sell of the No7 Pure Retinol franchise, generating a 114% uplift in spend per mailed customer and a remarkable 195% uplift in No7 Skincare incremental sales. Most impressively, the programme paid itself back within the first 4 weeks of launch, proving the commercial viability of investing in automated mail journeys for customers with mail-only consent. The success demonstrated that programmatic direct mail could effectively replicate sophisticated digital CRM journeys whilst unlocking a previously untapped customer segment, providing Boots with a scalable model for expanding their lifecycle marketing beyond email and app to reach their entire Advantage Card base with personalised, purchase-triggered communications.
