Beyond 9 months: how Seraphine engaged customers throughout a unique sales lifecycle

Seraphine is a well-loved fashion maternity brand. Founded in 2002, Seraphine has expanded to now sell clothes for expectant mothers internationally. With growth comes a heightened need to connect with your customers, create experiences that encourage their loyalty and cement your brand story and the value it provides to shoppers. 

The challenge

The maternity brand has a window of 9 months in which an expectant mother will begin to ready herself for one of the biggest events of her life. Throughout this journey, Seraphine knows that the purchase needs will not only include things for the baby, but items for the new parents who will both be adapting their lives and wardrobe to accommodate a newborn.

Seraphine was also aware that the majority of its consumer base are women, but equally expectant fathers could also benefit the brand’s offerings. This meant the company needed to create multiple touch-points that felt timely and relevant to both the customer and their birthing partner. The fashion brand also wanted to keep its customers engaged before, during and after the birth, with clothing to suit all trimesters and nursing stages,  ensuring loyalty from customers with an overall shorter lifetime value. 

Targeted upsell

Seraphine wanted to highlight the value it is able to provide post-pregnancy by drawing attention to their ‘supportive’ maternity wear, which provided both comfort and style.

Support jeans & maternity leggings

Using the Ometria platform, the brand was able to engage specifically with customers who had recently given birth, and had purchased either maternity jeans or support leggings. These messages showcased either the leggings or jeans to the shopper, based on their purchase, and use lifestyle imagery that included a baby. Again, this was to draw attention to the brands ability to provide value to expectant and new mothers alike. 

This campaign works to encourage loyalty beyond the three trimesters of the pregnancy. By having the campaign focused on customers who had recently given birth, the brand shows an understanding of the changing needs of its customers. 

With clear messaging and brand imagery, these campaigns highlight that some of the best advanced personalisation is executed using simple but highly targeted marketing. The CTA takes shoppers to more of the post-Maternity range,  encouraging customers to increase their spend. 

Targeted cross-sell

Seraphine knows that most, if not all, of its customer base are women. Being a maternity wear brand, this is not something that would come as a surprise to most. The brand, however, wanted to focus on the dexterity of some of their items, which could also be worn by expectant fathers. Seraphine targeted customers with two items, the ‘3-in-1’ parka and ‘Freddie skin-to-skin’ carrier. This campaign worked in two-fold: 

3-in-1 parka & skin-skin-carrier 

During the late trimester customers, who had shared their due date with Seraphine, were targeted with the 3-in-1 parka and hoodie. This product can adapt based on the stage of pregnancy, so had already been sent to expectant mothers before their due date.

Once the due date had passed, emails and cross-channel campaigns across social media are targeted towards those customers who have previously made a purchase of the carrier or parka. These messages encouraged shoppers to purchase another one of those items, but for their partners instead, by using new fathers in the lifestyle imagery. 

The marketing copy references ‘Daddy duties’ and ‘Don’t forget Dad’, again to note the ability for the brand’s products to provide value to both new parents. This also shows that Seraphine has an understanding for the needs of new father’s who, too, will need to adapt their wardrobes to accommodate the newest member of their family.

Conclusion

You can re-engage customers throughout their lifecycle with you by continually highlighting both the relevance and value your products provide. Especially where shorter customer cycles are concerned, there should be a strategic approach behind the messaging and cadence of those campaigns; you only have their attention for a short period of time. Although it may be a challenge, initially, focusing on personalising your campaigns makes a significant difference both in customer experience and retention. Messaging based on things such as category or additional information provided by the customer, like due date in this case, can add that detailed touch that keeps them coming back to you for their needs during that time period.