Bonobos

How does a retailer make room for new inventory with a hugely successful sale?

Challenge

Quickly make room for new inventory and entice customers to buy Bonobos signature washed chinos.

Solution

Used an exclusive Twitter sale centered around the “Flock to Unlock” method. Followers spread the message by retweeting the offer and, after a certain number of Retweets, they were rewarded with a discount.

Results

  • 100 first-time buyers
  • 1,200% ROI
  • 13x more cost effective than Bonobos’ other marketing efforts
Tweet

One of the largest online men’s apparel e-tailers in the U.S., @Bonobos launched in 2007 with the goal of providing better-fitting men’s pants and now carries a well-curated line of men’s apparel.

Their challenge

@Bonobos wanted to quickly make room for their fall season line and recruit new customers at the same time. The company receives roughly 25% of their customer service inquiries from social channels and their “customer service ninjas” respond within the hour. @Bonobos decided to capitalise on their strong social following and offer spring/summer washed chinos at a big discount. They turned to Twitter to help them with the sale.

Their solution

@Bonobos held a “Twixclusive,” a 24-hour sale exclusively on Twitter. With minimal effort and low cost, the company drummed up anticipation by teasing the sale with Tweets for a couple of days in advance.

On the day of the sale, @Bonobos used Promoted Tweets in timelines to announce an exclusive Twitter deal for $49 chinos. The deal was only available through Twitter and not advertised anywhere else. They encouraged customers to spread the word to unlock the deal. After a total of 49 Retweets, the sale went live.

Tweet-by-Tweet: The Bonobos Sale

 

 

 

Their results

With more than 80 Retweets in eight minutes, the deal unlocked almost immediately. @Bonobos’ followers were happy and so were the new @Bonobos customers who learned about the deal through Retweets. The strategy netted nearly 100 first-time purchasers.

3 keys to success

  1. Tease the sale in advance. 
    Build anticipation and give followers the time and the incentive to spread the word. 

     
  2. Respond to followers. 
    Keep the conversation going. People are more likely to respond to your Tweets if they think they’ll get a response. @Bonobos created a great dialogue by answering people’s questions and responding to their feedback. 

     
  3. Actively tweet during the campaign. 
    You want everyone to unlock this deal, so cheer them on with updates and encouragement.