How The Vitamin Shoppe Prioritizes Subscriber Quality and Retention in a Volume-Driven Market

Leveraging SMS to interact directly with consumers

In 2021, The Vitamin Shoppe sought to build more meaningful connections with their consumers in an increasingly saturated market through SMS marketing. Personalized engagement was a top priority, and they wanted an easy way to acquire the subscriber data to power it. The immediacy of SMS is also particularly beneficial in the health sector, since wellness trends and product availability can impact someone’s health regimen.

Attentive emerged as the preferred SMS partner due to its zero-party data collection and personalization capabilities, which is exactly what The Vitamin Shoppe needed. 

Defining a new subscriber-centric strategy

Initially, The Vitamin Shoppe used a "batch and blast" campaign strategy, where every promotional message was sent to all subscribers. While this method can be effective for reaching a wide audience, it posed a challenge with some of their more offer-heavy campaigns. An influx of generalized offers can disengage subscribers—especially if the offers don't align with their needs or preferences. As a result, they saw noticeable fluctuations in subscriber numbers. 

The Vitamin Shoppe adjusted their engagement strategy, shifting their focus to the retention of valuable subscribers. Now, they balance  "batch and blast" with segmentation, to cater to their subscribers’ diverse preferences and behaviors and, ultimately, deliver more relevant and personalized experiences.

“With Attentive, we’ve been able to transcend traditional batch and blast methods, creating a personalized dialogue with our subscribers that builds lasting relationships.”
- Melissa Harford, CRM Specialist, The Vitamin Shoppe

Segmentation, personalization, and smarter engagement

By using Attentive’s Two-Way Journeys™ in their welcome flow, The Vitamin Shoppe is able to gather individual preferences from the onset. Upon opting into SMS, subscribers are prompted to answer questions about their shopping interests and the type of updates they want to get (such as new product launches). 

The Vitamin Shoppe then segments these subscribers based on their responses and assigned custom attributes, ensuring a high level of relevance when sending future campaigns. This targeted communication strategy not only leads to higher engagement in messages, but it also significantly boosts the likelihood of driving conversions from campaigns.

“We're collecting vital data through this initiative—data that will shape our future messages. The overarching goal is to tailor our communications based on a deeper understanding of the customer.”
- Ryan Gudovitz, Director of CRM & Loyalty, The Vitamin Shoppe

The Vitamin Shoppe also has a loyalty program that’s split into three tiers based on a subscriber's annual spending: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. They created tiered segments to send personalized content and offers to subscribers based on their loyalty level. For instance, if a subscriber is close to a reward threshold, they’ll get a message motivating them to engage and earn the remaining points. 

Other campaigns are designed to get subscribers to move up loyalty tiers. Someone close to Gold status might receive a message encouraging them to make a purchase to reach it. 

“We aim to not just acquire a subscriber, but to ensure they remain engaged and find purpose in the content they receive.”
- Ryan Gudovitz, Director of CRM & Loyalty, The Vitamin Shoppe

Bridging the gap between digital and physical experiences

The Vitamin Shoppe has an innovative in-store strategy to seamlessly merge the digital with the physical. QR codes on employee lanyards help simplify the SMS sign-up process for customers during their in-store visits. When customers scan the QR code using the camera on their mobile device, an Attentive-hosted landing page opens in their browser. The Vitamin Shoppe is continuously experimenting with the placement of these QR codes to achieve optimal results, like having them displayed at the checkout counter.

Moreover, The Vitamin Shoppe customizes its offers to resonate with the shopping behaviors of individual subscribers. They use their in-store database, match it with Attentive, and manually upload the data as an ‘In-store Purchasers’ segment within specific date ranges. For instance, subscribers who’ve shopped online in the past six months receive targeted web-based coupons, while those who’ve shopped in-store receive in-store offers. 

This strategy aligns with The Vitamin Shoppe's goal of boosting foot traffic to their physical stores, while also accommodating the preferences of those who favor an omnichannel shopping experience.

“Our approach is methodical—it's not about generic growth, it's about intentional growth.”
- Ryan Gudovitz, Director of CRM & Loyalty, The Vitamin Shoppe

Sustainable growth through consistent refinement

The Vitamin Shoppe’s new strategy goes beyond just reactionary measures—it's a proactive approach aimed at making sure subscribers find real value in the content they get. The data over the last six months highlights the success of this transition: a strong program ROI of 28x and a CTR of 12.8% for Journeys and 4.43% for Campaigns. 

Even though a high volume of purchases typically take place in the brand’s stores, the conversion rate for their Journeys soared to an impressive 32.89%. The OOR of 0.44% is significantly lower than the 1.6% average of Attentive’s Benchmarks in the “Retail: Personal Care” vertical for the last six months. Additionally, subscriber growth has increased, with 171k+ subscribers gained over the last six months, a 39% increase from the same period in 2022.

Looking ahead, The Vitamin Shoppe is excited to integrate with Attentive’s Mobile App SDK to expand their SMS strategy and target their sizable base of active mobile app users.

“It will be a great way to welcome new subscribers while fostering a deeper connection with individuals who already have a strong affinity with our brand.”
- Melissa Harford, CRM Specialist, The Vitamin Shoppe

In a market driven by sheer volume, The Vitamin Shoppe distinguishes itself by prioritizing subscriber quality and retention through its partnership with Attentive.