cMarket engages and retains more customers with 5Buckets
Online auction fundraising leader cMarket automates communications in customer lifecycle

cMarket – An Overview

cMarket is the leader in online auction fundraising that creates opportunities for charity and nonprofit organizations to earn additional revenue and expand their network of supporters - raising awareness and cultivating new donors. Since 2003, the company has run over 4,500 online auctions for thousands of organizations.

A key business challenge for cMarket was effectively managing outbound communications with a high volume of prospects and customers. At any given time, there are 10,000 or more people flowing through cMarket’s multi-step engagement and retention marketing processes. Managing the dynamic email content, segmentation, and schedule at each step was complex and resource intensive. To address this challenge, cMarket selected 5Buckets software from Right On Interactive.

Engage New Customers

cMarket utilizes a rich online marketing mix to attract prospective customers. Once a person contacts the company or registers for information at their website, cMarket engages the prospect through a stream of communications. Beginning as early as 180-days in advance of an organization’s event date, cMarket schedules emails with compelling calls-to-action inviting the reader to learn more about cMarket auctions through a free online seminar, white papers, and educational articles. Based on a prospect’s industry, as well as their experience with live, silent, or online auctions, and the scheduled date of their next event, cMarket varies the content and frequency of communications in this “Engage” stream.

Retain Existing Customers

After a new customer completes an online auction event, cMarket continues to develop the relationship through ongoing communications. This retention program begins immediately following the event and continues through the subscription renewal date. The first communication in this “Retain” stream is a summary report of the auction metrics. Monthly newsletters provide success stories and ideas for enhancing the performance of future online auctions. Once the organization is either within 60-days of their next event or their subscription renewal date, the communication content and frequency varies based on their unique situation.

Automate Customer Lifecycle Communications

cMarket selected the 5Buckets marketing platform from Right On Interactive to automate their Engage and Retain communication streams. They use 5Buckets to model and manage the communication steps that drive the email content, list segmentation and drop schedule. 5Buckets seamlessly integrates cMarket’s real-time customer data located in Salesforce.com with their dynamic email content in ExactTarget. As a result, cMarket is able to deliver the right personalized messages to the right people at the right time throughout the customer lifecycle.

Increase Marketing Efficiency

With 5Buckets, cMarket is further leveraging its investments in other marketing technologies. It is providing closed-loop integration of these marketing automation components and increasing cMarket’s operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Further, cMarket continues to optimize its customer communications processes as new learning occurs. 5Buckets provides a platform to easily define and implement best practices in customer lifecycle marketing.

5Buckets Marketing Automation

Right On Interactive is an interactive marketing software company dedicated to helping companies build better relationships with their constituents. 5Buckets is an on-demand subscription service that automates the sophisticated and time consuming tasks associated with customer lifecycle marketing. 5Buckets functions as a “marketing automation hub”, connecting disparate databases with multiple marketing communication technologies. 5Buckets enables marketers to easily segment, schedule, and trigger relevant out-bound communications to customers and prospects through email, voice messaging, text, fax, and direct mail.

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“We’re such an online communications business that 5Buckets fits perfectly with how we talk to people. It helps us work best in the space that works best for us.”
Erica Davis
Director Online Marketing

“Even with the aggressive scope and timeline for implementing this automation project, we were able to get up and running with 5Buckets very quickly.”
Mike McInnis
Vice President, Marketing

“cMarket is a great example of how a company can quickly and effectively implement a complex automation strategy. They are able to send highly relevant communications based on where a person is in the customer lifecycle.”
Troy Burk President
Right On Interactive