From 100 to 1,000 e-commerce customers for Returnista
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The background: clear product-market fit, time to scale
The success that Returnista has achieved is exceptional. If a company can grow 10x in 2 years, then you know that the product-market fit is good. It was an excellent time to start investing in growth marketing.
The ambition: become market leader in the Netherlands, then Europe
The founders of Returnista, brothers Olivier and Quinten Muller, were annoyed by the fact that they had to bring their online purchases to a neighborhood tobacco shop every time they had to return something. This is how the idea for a digital solution was born: the returns platform Returnista.
In line with Returnista's innovative solution, Olivier and Quinten wanted to take an innovative approach to marketing and ended up finding Unmuted. Their goal: to become the market leader in the Netherlands, and then expand the platform internationally.
The strategy: account-based marketing and sales, plus inbound
Based on our analysis of the market and Returnista's business model, we developed a solid B2B go-to-market (GTM) strategy. This would be a combination of ABM, outbound marketing and inbound marketing.
Returnista already had positive momentum and the target customers appeared to be very receptive to the proposition, but were not always actively looking for it themselves.
We worked with Returnista to create a list of key accounts we wanted to reach: e-commerce companies in fashion, with above-average return rates who would benefit greatly from a solution like Returnista.
After that it was a matter of generating demand for the product via account-based marketing (ABM) and sales, and capturing demand via SEO, SEA and website optimization.
“We rarely work with agencies, but with Unmuted we can take action” - Quinten Muller, Co-founder
From experiments to playbooks: targeted campaigns across channels
Website upgrades
The Returnista website was still in its infancy a year and a half ago. Now, with numerous upgrades,it’s turned into a real powerhouse. For instance, we added multiple targeted landing pages and all web copy was overhauled.
We also added smart forms and other (soft) conversion points, such as the ‘Return Scan’. This created a solid foundation for using marketing channels at scale to accelerate growth.
SEO content
When we started working together, there was no structured content marketing strategy. Now, Returnista offers a strategic collection of articles on its blog to thousands of relevant website visitors.
These blog posts (optimized for both search engines and readers) don’t just attract organic web traffic. They are also actively distributed through a monthly newsletter called The Returnista Post.
Social and search advertising
When it comes to social advertising, we’ve deployed a number of tactics. Firstly, we used Facebook and Instagram retargeting ads to bring previous website visitors back to the website.
We split LinkedIn ads into demand generation, brand awareness and customer acquisition campaigns, in order to be able to work the market as actively and completely as possible.
We focused on key accounts for which we knew that Returnista offered the perfect solution. The result: making more people solution-aware, putting Returnista top of mind, and finally encouraging them to take action.
As for demand capture, we ensured that Returnista was easily found in search engine results for all product category keywords.
Organic social series
We also managed to make the Returnista brand better known to the target group through organic LinkedIn content. We used a number of proven playbooks for this.
This included announcing new partners, publishing a micro-interview series called “Managing Shop”, and posting quotes from influential e-commerce managers in the Netherlands.
Furthermore, we also used the LinkedIn company page as a distribution channel for SEO content, and the Sales team was supported with organic LinkedIn content to bring Returnista's proposition to the market through their personal accounts.
The results: a marketing machine with solid numbers
The mix of proven playbooks, a strong product that drives word-of-mouth, and perfect timing has helped Returnista grow rapidly, both in the Netherlands and beyond.
Returnista’s number of qualified inbound demo requests increased significantly and its customer base grew by 10x. There is now a solid marketing machine running, generating new sales opportunities every day.
What’s next?
After being largely responsible for Returnista's marketing for a year and a half, we are handing over the baton to their new Head of Marketing. We are now actively working with him to support the next phase of growth.
