So it is no secret that companies go to extraordinary lengths to get their message across to their audience. But just how far do they go to make a sale? Well, I can’t speak for every company out there but this was my experience with Fabletics

So there I am, browsing through instrgram on a Sunday evening, feeling a tad guilty for the huge roast dinner I had just consumed and there it was, an advert from Fabletics, nicely embedded within all of my friends posts. I was intrigued so clicked the ad. It took me seamlessly through to the website. A whole outfit for £22? I would be stupid to not have a look, surely? (Click to images to enlarge)

After exploring the website for about 5 minutes I decided it wasn’t for me, so I expected my journey to finish there. Fabletics didn’t have the same expectation. Me clicking onto their website created a lead, I gave them my email address and with that I signed up to the strategy. Here are the emails that I received:

First: A friendly Welcome to Fabletics email. The subject said “Get your first outfit from just £15” Wow, £15 I hear you say.. It was £22 earlier today, what a great further saving. The email was colourful, had beautiful women wearing the sports clothes on it and was clearly well tailored to their target audience. The social media icons were at the bottom on the email with a very clear call to action button “PICK YOUR OUTFIT”. The email isn’t too pushy but a gentle reminder of the brand.

 

Second: “Extended! Get your first outfit from just £15!”

The subject of the second email clearly marked £15 but when clicking onto the email it suddenly went back up to £22.  The email itself is very user friendly. It has a good range of outfit choices on it and again all of the social media links on the bottom of the email. This time the strategy has changed slightly; it includes the words ‘offer ends tonight’. Fabletics aim to worry you slightly that you wont be getting a second chance for a great deal.

 

 

Third: “Last few hours! Your first outfit from £15!”

This time the email had flashing text on the top. It also says offer ends tonight.  There were no models on this email, which really puts an emphasis onto the text. Fabletics are only trying to communicate their pricing strategy in this email

 

 

Fourth: This time the subject line was personalised. “Chloe, We’ve Put £10 In Your Account‏” Personalised subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened (sales force, 2015). Plus a free £10. Wow, so to any customers calculations, I can now get an outfit for £5, with free delivery – amazing. Undoubtly all customers looking at this email will be clicking back on the website to make a purchase. After clicking the call to action button I found that the outfits had doubled in price in the space of a day. So I would be paying around the same amount. A little disappointed, I exited the website.

 

 

Fifth: The last email I received from Fabletics was this morning. This time the strategy had changed a little. Instead of advertising low prices or money off, the advert had a large picture of a celeb “Kate”. According to Jiang & Fang (2014), celebrity endorsement is most effective in females, with a low income, who are heavily reliant on Internet access. Check, check and check!

 

This marketing strategy was feeling very familiar to me so I decided to delve a little deeper to the Fabletics website. As I went on the website it all became extremely obvious, was this new company from the family of “Just Fab“.

Just to fill you in I had a bit of an experience with Just Fab. Their marketing was so brilliant that I signed up for the fabulous buy one pair of gorgeous £35 shoes and get another COMPLEATLY free, with free delivery.

My two pairs of lovely high heels turned up and naturally my two female housemates swarmed to the deliveryman and looked in awe of my great buy. So I naturally encourage them to get an account and grab the offer. Their shoes came too and they were happy with them. It was only around 4 months later that we realised Just Fabs strategy. Unbeknown to us, just fab had been taking £35 out of each of our accounts each month. That’s £420 between the three of us. They claimed that we had signed up to the VIP offer so could use the money to buy even more shoes.

Fabletics use email marketing to continually remind their customers of their offers. They attempt to first secure a sale by a tempting incentive, then even more tempting free money, then a personal touch and if all that fails they attempt to use a celebrity to seal the deal. The emails I received from Fabletics were well constructed with clear call to action points in each. They are very well targeted to the market.

But just in case you were wondering; no I still haven’t made a purchase.

Check out Fabletics here: http://style.fabletics.co.uk/dms6230/?gclid=CMKDpPqflckCFUX4wgodSdQGOg&utm_source=Google%20Search&utm_medium=Search