SMOOTH MOVE
Listrak Integrates Gardener’s In Time for Peak Selling Season

Rooted in Vermont and 100 percent employee-owned, Gardener’s Supply Company was founded in 1983 by a handful of Vermont gardeners. Today, the company serves millions of gardening enthusiasts nationwide, offering everything from seed starting supplies and garden furniture to flower supports and garden carts. Though the company has grown, they're main passionately committed to providing garden-based, earth-friendly products that help customers have more fun and success in their gardens.

When Gardener’s contract renewal date with its email service provider was about to coincide with the ESP’s acquisition by a much larger company, it seemed to be the perfect season to begin looking at new vendors. The team at Gardener’s shopped and eliminated a wide array of ESPs, before issuing an RFP to just five, including Listrak.

Gardener’s ultimately selected Listrak, purchasing an extensive suite of retail solutions. When asked what differentiated Listrak from the other contenders, Gardener’s Director of OnlineCustomer Marketing Joe McHugh explains, “One significant thing was speed to market for triggered and recurring campaigns and dynamic recommendations. It was also very important that Listrak had a Demandware Cartridge, because it allowed for a reduction in development time on our end.”

Speed was especially important to Gardener’s because the company was transitioning ESPs just in time for its peak selling season. The goal was to have integration completed a little more than three months from the date they signed with Listrak.

To meet Gardener’s aggressive goal, Listrak developed a detailed project plan, backing into the target date and clearly outlining each deliverable on both the vendor and client side. To make sure the project remained on track, the Gardener’s team – which includes just one designer and one day-to-day email manager – had a weekly status call with Listrak team members to review the plan and make necessary revisions.

“We would normally not undertake such a large project at that time of year, but with Listrak we were able to complete it without stretching our resources or compromising our goals. It was truly a low stress process.” -Joe McHugh, Director of Online Customer Marketing

The partnership resulted in a smooth on boarding and integration process, and the company was ready to begin sending marketing campaigns, Shopping CartAbandonment and Browse Abandonment campaigns,Welcome Series and Post Purchase emails to meet the deadline. In addition, through Listrak’s Demandware Cartridge, browse and purchase behavior data was being tracked and actionable and three years of data had begun to be imported to leverage for segmentation and personalized product recommendations through Listrak’s Recommender.

Commenting on Gardener’s initial impression of working with Listrak, Joe says, “During those first months we valued Listrak’s willingness to not charge based on time and materials, but rather to agree upfront on what it would take to get us live by our deadline and commit to it without nickel and diming us along the way.”