The Alfonsino case

Why using a strategic approach to marketing automation

How we identified the best solution to manage the contact database and increase sales

Overview

Snapshot:

Founded in Caserta in 2016, Alfonsino S.p.A. is an innovative food delivery SME listed on the stock exchange and with a very precise mission: to bring its service to those small towns that are often ignored by the big players in the industry.

Our team at Aston worked alongside Alfonsino’s IT team and supported them in the implementation of a complex API (Application Programming Interface) integration between the proprietary CRM created in-house and the email marketing automation platform to optimise user database management and increase sales.

Servizi offerti:Marketing automation, CRO, Email marketing

Challenge

In recent years, the food delivery market has seen explosive growth in Italy too. In 2020 the value was around 800 million, while in 2021 the growth was estimated to be up to 1 billion. During the pandemic, delivery did not stop, reaching +22% in 2022.

The main goal of the partnership with Aston was therefore twofold: on the one hand to generate a high number of leads, and on the other hand to ensure their quality, so that they converted into genuinely interested customers. All while maintaining or reducing the cost per lead (CPL).

The food delivery startup Alfonsino has strategic positioning and numerous advantages: presence in locations ignored by the big players, hyperlocal product delivery, sustainability, and respect for riders.

Furthermore, Alfonsino boasts the best IT department in its sector, capable of developing proprietary management software, including apps, chatbots, and CRM, completely and independently.

“In a competitive market like delivery, personalising communications is essential to stand out from the competition and maintain the trust of our customers”, says Dario Rauccio, Marketing Manager at Alfonsino, reached for an interview. Hence the need for a marketing automation strategy to "optimise our marketing operations, so that we can focus our attention on further strategic activities".

Alfonsino’s proprietary software, however, does not easily combine with external tools, so our challenge was to find the right partner for an integration capable of managing a large user database, which is impossible to manage without flows with strategic objectives to increase profitability.

Solution

Through a series of kick-off meetings, together with our partners we outlined the strategic marketing plan and all the steps to follow. We then joined forces with Alfonsino’s IT department, offering them our support and training to create the perfect integration between eCommerce, proprietary CRM and email marketing automation platform.

1. Analisi

Analysis and partner selection

We studied and analysed the market of system integrators to identify the best partner that could meet Alfonsino's needs.

2. Strategia

Strategic segmentation

Thanks to a segmentation system, we enabled Alfonsino to reach its customers in a more effective and targeted manner, in order to increase customer loyalty, average order, retention, nurturing and win-back to better manage Alfonsino's database.

3. Sviluppo

Implementation and integration

We developed over +20 marketing automation flows for each stage of the buyer’s journey. Together, we optimised data collection by supporting the technical implementation of a complex API (Application Programming Interface) integration structure between eCommerce, proprietary CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and email marketing automation platform.

This allowed us to improve customer retention rate, loyalty and new customer acquisition, and made the internal workflow more fluid and streamlined.

4. Monitoraggio

Continuous optimization

We set up several A/B tests to optimise campaigns and improve results: customers are now tracked at every stage of the customer journey, from prospect to retention. In addition, we created control dashboards to monitor performance and make changes based on the data collected.

Significant data has already emerged in relation to the strategies implemented, such as: increased average cart, decreased reorder time, and improved offerings geared toward customers and their real purchasing needs and preferences. Thanks to our training, the internal team is now able to effectively manage the email marketing tool.

This is confirmed by Dario Rauccio himself:

"responsiveness has improved; by reducing manual work we have the ability to plan and send targeted communications more efficiently. Performance tracking provides us with real-time data, and this creates ever-new assumptions for optimizing our strategies. The process of onboarding new customers, for example, has become significantly smoother."

We continue to optimise processes together to consistently improve performance.

One CRM to rule them all

What we achieved:

+9%

customer reactivation

Decrease in CAC

Lowering of the acquisition cost

+3%

CRO

0 to +20 flows

at each stage of the customer journey

Our activities involved:

Management and segmentation of the user database

By working in a streamlined manner on the automations, we were able to create a more effective user database management service.

We collected and optimised thousands of data to bring the food delivery service closer to customers and increase customer loyalty, even reaching users who had never made a purchase before with onboarding campaigns and targeted offers.

Concerning the results, Rauccio explains:

"reactivations increased by 9% over the average. But new customer acquisition processes also benefited further from these implementations, with a 3 percent increase in conversion and a lower acquisition cost."

Flow management and technical support in the integration of eCommerce, CRM, and email marketing automation

To ensure real customer loyalty, we implemented strategies to increase average order, retention, nurturing and win-back through support in the integration of eCommerce, CRM and email marketing automation. The single platform made it possible to speed up and optimise all internal processes and make the customer journey more satisfying and profitable for the business.

"We aimed to enhance the new customer acquisition process, we set out to optimize costs and increase the conversion rate. With the integration we have seen satisfactory results in this area, it has allowed us to acquire new customers more efficiently and grow our business.", Alfonsino's marketing manager concludes.

Conclusions

Integration of services is the winning choice for everyone.

The next challenges in food delivery must be tackled in an integrated way. The synchronisation of tools and software in a single platform is a secure and inclusive method that enables real-time and therefore always up-to-date data. Both customers and companies can benefit from this.

Focus on CRM to be closer to customers.

System consolidation for Customer Relationship Management is essential to stay in touch with customers, simplify processes and increase return on investment (ROI). By automating data management, more attention can be paid to interpreting and identifying changes in consumer trends, without sacrificing the human aspect of transactions.

There can be no quick commerce without quick communication.

eed is the norm for food delivery services, but to ensure speed you need fast processes. For this, speed and communication must travel on the same tracks, and information must be easily available for both insiders and consumers. The management and technical integration services of Aston Technologies LLC are here for this.