eGifts recover abandoned e-commerce shopping carts

MachiningCloud stands out as a technology-forward company in the manufacturing industry. The e-commerce web app uses data to match machining tools to their customers’ applications. But it’s another tool, this time in tech, helping MachiningCloud expand its clients and partner base. 

Enter Sendoso. 

The automated direct mail marketing platform is revolutionizing how MachiningCloud builds relationships with partners, moves sales down the funnel, and recovers abandoned e-commerce shopping carts.

MachiningCloud’s B2B prospects generally prefer more traditional means of communicating and ordering. However, adding targeted direct mail with Sendoso made a dramatic impact. 

The firm didn’t have many marketing tools at its disposal when Matthew Nicholson joined as the new director of sales and marketing. Already familiar with Sendoso’s automated Sending Platform™ from a previous job, Nicholson immediately recognized the difference corporate gifting could have on their marketing strategy.

“In manufacturing, folks aren’t used to engagement like this,” said Nicholson, who leveraged the marketing solution to:

• Close seven-figure deals
• Target abandoned e-commerce carts
• Speed up the sales cycle
• Increase revenue

It couldn’t have come at a better time. With an upcoming e-commerce launch, MachiningCloud only had 27 partners on board. They needed at least 50 to be successful. 

And to make the launch even more challenging, many of MachiningCloud’s customers were working from home during the pandemic and weren’t very responsive to email. Sendoso helped turn lackluster response rates around and create new success. 

“One of the biggest concerns was that we were going to be sending [an incentive] to an office that we may have an address for, but we didn’t know if they’re working there or not.” 

Nicholson began to rely on corporate gifting with the help of Sendoso for outreach. Building a successful direct mail strategy using Sendoso helped schedule the remaining meetings.

MachiningCloud leveraged Sendoso’s Address Confirmation feature to ensure that sends would reach their intended recipient at their home address instead of the office. 

The feature asks partners and customers to confirm their address before a gift is sent. The branded emails can then trigger sends, saving marketers time. 

Nicholson used the confirmation feature to streamline outreach and sending. By sending a box of cookies or a personalized bottle of Coke, MachiningCloud was able to nudge prospective partners into scheduling a meeting. Ultimately, this resulted in nearly double the number of partners and secured a successful launch.

MachiningCloud didn’t stop there. They also used personalization to land one of their biggest sales to date. 

Nicholson learned that decision-makers from a high-value client were going to be in Las Vegas. He used Sendoso to send them to dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse. 

Previously, the c-suite decision-maker had not responded to cookies sent by MachiningCloud. 

However, the prospect was thrilled by the steak dinner. So thrilled that they ended up closing a nearly $6 million deal just weeks after. Not a bad return or turnaround. Especially given that enterprise clients tend to close in about 143 days.

Like many B2B e-commerce businesses, abandoned shopping carts represent a core opportunity for MachiningCloud. But unlike more typical e-commerce sites, MachiningCloud requires users to start a project and enter some data before being matched to the right tools.

Too often, MachiningCloud users would start projects but not export reports or purchase tools.

To help move users through the sales funnel, MachiningCloud turned to digital marketing. He started sending users eGift cards for coffee. Nicholson was able to quickly issue online gift cards with personalized messages using Sendoso. 

The simple nudge resulted in an eye-popping 345% increase in response rate.

“The engagement rate was completely unexpected,” Nicholson said. “What caused that is personalized priority items. [Our customers] tend to be very responsive to these items because they’re not the norm in the industry. They’re not accustomed to having someone engaged in this way. It’s somewhat groundbreaking for our industry.”  

One clear benefit of increased engagement is reducing the length of the sales cycle. Nicholson can track these benchmarks thanks to Sendoso’s integrated analytics reporting through Salesforce and Salesloft. 

Small-to-medium-sized businesses tend to close deals with MachiningCloud in about 14 days. However, enterprise clients can average 114 – 143 days to close deals. With such a long sales cycle, direct mail campaigns both keep prospective customers engaged and shorten the sales cycle.

For example, MachiningCloud has found that their engagements have resulted in a faster response time, going from 3.6 days to 2.3. Nicholson is aiming for less than two days.

Not only has engagement increased, but so too have sales. 

Approximately 71% of MachiningCloud’s sales include a touchpoint using Sendoso. What’s more, the company went from generating $1 million per year in e-commerce revenue to $3 million per month.

Of course, it takes a concerted effort to shorten the sales cycle and grow revenue.

“I don’t think you can just engage with coffee on day one and expect that $5 coffee is going to close the deal right away,” added Nicholson. “But if you’re smart about how you engage those users, you can cut your timeframe down significantly.”