Case Study | Investing €14,000 to Obtain €300,000 in Turnover Through Spoki: The Case of the Oltresole Food E-commerce

Is it possible to reach an annual turnover of €300,000 with +3,600 active orders? Absolutely yes, even in saturated and hyper-competitive markets such as organic agricultural products where Oltresole.com operates, an e-commerce specialized in the sale of organic food products, founded in 2017. The company focuses on the distribution of products ideal for vegan, raw food and gluten-free diets. Particular attention is paid to the use of organic and local raw materials, with a constant commitment to environmental sustainability, including the use of recycled packaging materials.

The company from Romagna combines the tradition and quality of raw materials with the innovation that only the best experts in the production chain can bring. A genuineness capable of generating bonds that become integral parts of a story. An exceptional result that we want to tell you about.

In this case study, we will retrace all the steps that produced excellent performance in a central business metric such as ROAS: for every euro invested on the Spoki platform, Oltresole.com earned 21. 

And above all, how this was achieved thanks to the significant improvement in the relationship with customers already close to the company, and not only to reaching new contacts. The excellent rate of loyalty with periodic repurchases is, in fact, one of the main indicators of this success story and the positive effect of the introduction of WhatsApp in communication flows.

In numbers, in 2023, an expenditure of €14,400 on Spoki led to orders with a total value of €300,000 in turnover thanks to WhatsApp automation, equivalent to an X21 ROAS.

Goals of Oltresole

From a CRO perspective, it is essential to reduce all the friction that users may encounter along their purchase paths within the e-commerce site. So why not use the most used online messaging channel in the world? Here is the reason for the introduction of WhatsApp.

Promotions, questions, order tracking and customer support: Every aspect of business communication must be handled carefully and promptly, so that it is personalized for all types of customers identified at a strategic level. This is why Spoki seemed like the right solution.

Right from the first conversations, the difference is clear, with Oltresole.com recording a WhatsApp message read rate unprecedented for other channels used previously: 82% of messages read compared to the 26% average of email marketing.

This is why Oltresole.com decided to support and prioritize the WhatsApp channel over the more traditional email.

Strengths

One of Oltresole.com’s strengths lies in its closeness to the end customer. From the beginning, they have adopted WhatsApp as a communication channel because, unlike emails and SMS, it has significantly better performance.

The goal is to build customer loyalty, encourage them to make periodic purchases through monthly promotions, and improve the effectiveness of Customer Care through quick and personalized responses to all types of problems and information requests.

Problems with WhatsApp Business

Oltresole.com’s promotions began to be better structured from the end of 2020, after several attempts.

Based on purchases made on their e-commerce, they began to classify all customers and contacts with various labels on WhatsApp, representing the item or category of items purchased or desired. This method was also used to offer promotions dedicated to specific products. The monthly routine involved the manual uploading of all numbers into the address book, the manual addition of labels on WhatsApp, the creation of messages to be sent, and finally the sending of the same, all manually.

As of December 2022, this process involved:

• Approximately 7,000 (6,879) active contacts to whom promotions can be sent
• At least 300 new contacts added manually every month, including customers and new contacts
• Creating the promotional message
• Sending to groups of 250 people at a time (since WhatsApp Business is limited and allows forwarding the message to only 250 contacts at a time).

The working time required had reached 3 or 4 weeks each month, becoming unmanageable for a small company where one employee was dedicated exclusively to this task. The need to invest in automation was evident.

The implementation of Spoki

Oltresole.com has chosen to follow the path of automation, using Spoki to optimize time and improve both the aesthetics and functionality of its messages, including photos, calls to action, and personalization with the customer’s name in the message text. 

In March 2023, their e-commerce platform recorded that 39% of purchases were made using coupons distributed via Spoki, an increase from 30% in 2022. By March 2024, this percentage had further increased to 47%.

The current situation shows a substantial increase in the number of monthly contacts, with approximately 600 new contacts per month, double the amount of 202, and an active portfolio of 17,519 contacts, more than double compared to before. The time required for contact management has been drastically reduced, from 3-4 weeks to just 2-3 days.

The process remains similar, but the mode has changed:

• Each month, customers and contacts are added to the Spoki address book, with data exported from the management system and uploaded via Excel into predefined lists, after being formatted with the initial capital letter and the name positioned correctly to further personalize communications.
• The graphic template is prepared and the automation for sending is created, including images that previously could not be inserted.
• Messages are sent instantly and massively to the selected list based on the automation and campaign settings.

These innovations have allowed Oltresole.com to significantly reduce management time and personnel costs, and therefore to increase the effectiveness of its marketing communications.

The integration between Spoki and the Prestashop e-commerce platform

The integration of Spoki within Oltresole.com’s marketing plan was a success and, thanks to its incredible flexibility, led the Romagna-based brand to quickly set up acquisition flows and main conversions on Prestashop.

Spoki offers complete integration with Prestashop and provides several ready-made automations, such as abandoned cart recovery. 

Sales and Communication Flows

In order to build the best possible customer experience for all users, Spoki has made it possible to create several automated flows on WhatsApp.

Here are the main ones:

– the presentation of monthly promotions, also taking advantage of the QR Codes created with Spoki, which could involve private customers;

– the integration of Qaplà, Spoki’s partner for shipping management, in order to make the order always traceable by the user;

– abandoned cart recovery, a pre-set Spoki automation with Prestashop.

Results obtained with Spoki’s WhatsApp Marketing

A brief summary of what Oltresole achieved through the use of the Spoki platform during 2023:

• has started new conversations for +16,000 messages, with82% read rate, helping to generate relationships with new customers and strengthening existing ones;
• has received an increase of +300 new monthly orders;
• generated 300,000€ in annual revenue with an average of +25,000€ per month and just under 1200€ of budget invested on Spoki;
• has generated a X21 of ROAS, far exceeding the results of other traffic and customer acquisition channels;
• has Reduced return rate, thanks to a more direct relationship via WhatsApp with Spoki;
• has reduced personnel costs for communication management thanks to Spoki’s automations.
• has finally discovered and integrated a powerful customer acquisition, conversion, and loyalty channel on which to base future marketing strategies: WhatsApp with Spoki.

Given the excellent results obtained and the economic impact of the WhatsApp channel, the Oltresole teams and the customer success team at Spoki are committed to implementing further sales and customer support flows with Spoki, to make the pre- and post-purchase experience even more effective.

Next steps

The goal is to further automate. 

Oltresole.co integrates all contacts directly into Prestashop, automatically assigning them to the appropriate lists to initiate a communication path that maximizes their effectiveness. 

This will reduce communication management time to almost zero, with the sending of templates that can be programmed and created through Spoki’s AI.

Qaplà was also integrated for package tracking, and a communication flow was set up to increase the % of abandoned cart recovery. Furthermore, thanks to Spoki’s flexibility, Oltresole.com integrated Prestashop, Klaviyo, and Spoki to better segment contacts and personalize communications based on interests.

Recently, a business area dedicated to B2B purchases was activated on their e-commerce platform. They are developing a specific promotional funnel for this clientele and those who contact them through their landing pages, which are segmented by product category.

This automated system will provide business customers with a catalog and a dedicated price list, facilitating quick purchases and reducing communication times and obsolete order management methods. Once the first purchase is completed, business customers will be entered into a promotional funnel created to encourage repeat purchases.

CREDITS
Company: Oltresole
Administrator: Luca Giunchi

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