Why Switch from an In-House Solution to BlueHornet?
	"Building a collaborative partnership with BlueHornet has been a great investment for us. Our in-house email sending tool couldn't provide the delivery features we get from BlueHornet's eMarketing Suite. Plus, the strategic marketing and deliverability management services effectively round out our own marketing team's knowledge." Travis Falstad E-Commerce Manager Torrid

Torrid (www.torrid.com) is a multi-channel retailer that caters to the fastest-growing market segment in the United States, plus-size fashion. Torrid's merchandise offerings include exciting and cutting-edge young women's apparel, lingerie, shoes and accessories, which the company sells in mall-based specialty stores and online. Their product line comprises private-label fashions and well-known brands like Paris Blues, Dickies, LEI, Z. Cavaricci, and others.

Problem:
Poor Delivery Rates and Low Engagement with Emails
Torrid spent several years marketing online via an email sending tool built by their in-house IT team. But deliverability issues were cropping up with greater frequency, and more of the emails sent through Torrid's in-house email system failed to reach their subscribers' inbox. In addition to significantly reducing campaign effectiveness, these delivery challenges placed greater demands on the company's technical and marketing resources, which affected operational efficiency.

Need:
Greater Revenue from Email Campaigns
With Thanksgiving weekend approaching (the company's largest retail sales opportunity of the year), Torrid wanted to find out if a full-service Email Service Provider could help them boost sales. Torrid needed a partner who could ramp quickly and an approach that would offer immediate improvements to their email marketing ROI.

Solution:
Strategic Marketing and Deliverability Consultation from BlueHornet
Torrid's desire to find a collaborative Email Service Provider partner with a proven deliverability track record led them to BlueHornet. First, a dedicated account development manager worked closely with Torrid's marketing group to develop a comprehensive campaign strategy that would effectively meet the retailer's aggressive timeline. Recommendations to drive greater response rates included a revamp of their existing creative as well as optimization of Torrid's typical email subject lines and call to action. Additionally, a cross-channel offer for in-store "door buster" savings was added to drive brick-and-mortar sales.

Next, BlueHornet's creative team met with Torrid's creative team to review past HTML content and conduct landing page optimization. One large graphic for HTML emails could pose problems for recipients using email programs that automatically block images. BlueHornet helped create a new template that blended dramatic graphics with HTML text, so that even with images blocked, Torrid's compelling offers would make an impression.

Another key element of the overall solution was introducing Torrid to BlueHornet's SureSend™ deliverability management team:

• The SureSend team leveraged their ISP-level relationships to advocate on Torrid's behalf, putting whitelisting into place before the big campaign launch.
• They analyzed bounce trends to address list hygiene concerns.
• Delivery tests were conducted to identify and correct other issues.

All components were in place and had passed quality assurance in plenty of time for the big Thanksgiving weekend.

Results:
Online sales 15 times higher than usual

• Online sales from Torrid's first campaign with BlueHornet were 15 times higher than usual.
• Engagement with emails was also better than ever, with historically high gross opens, unique opens, and clickthrough rates.

"Building a collaborative partnership with BlueHornet has been a great investment for us," said Travis Falstad, Torrid's e-commerce manager. "Our in-house email sending tool couldn't provide the delivery features we get from BlueHornet's eMarketing Suite. Plus, the strategic marketing and deliverability management services effectively round out our own marketing team's knowledge."