Presented at the Kansas City Direct Marketing Association luncheon - September 11, 2012.

1. Case Study: How Whole
Foods Market gained
70,000 new email
subscribers in1 month
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

2. Ryan Amirault
Digital Marketing Manager
Whole Foods Market
Boulder, CO & Austin, TX
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

3. Digital Marketing @ Whole Foods Market
- Non-traditional approach
- Unique culture
- 300+ U.S. Stores and now in Canada,
England & Scotland. Divided among
12 decentralized regions
- Each store has a dedicated marketer
and graphic artist (large stores have
multiple)
- Regional marketing teams provide
support + global team in Austin, TX
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

4. Summer Acquisition Campaign
July 1 – August 1, 2011
Support all stores in growing email, Facebook
& Twitter lists
- Education & Awareness
- Incentives
- Merchandising Materials
- Quick data entry
- Best Practices
- Sharing is key
- Keep it fun!
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

5. Summer Acquisition - Step 1
Form a task force to generate ideas & facilitate
- 18 reps from throughout company
- Idea & tactic sharing
- First bi-weekly meeting 90-days prior to
campaign start
- Reps shared information to their regions
- Results tracking & updates
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

6. Summer Acquisition - Step 2
Incentivize Action
Employee and customer incentive
program
- $50 gift cards for customers
- $2k per store/metro + $1k for charity of
store/metro’s choice
- Winners picked based on growth %, plus
most creative award
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

7. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
Leverage Touchpoints
- Online, SMS, QR
- In-store
- Events
- Off-site
- Cross-Promotion
- Cashiers (incentive prizes)
- Facebook Promotions
- Twitter Promotions
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

8. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
In-Store Newsletter
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

9. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
Cross Promotion
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

10. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
Facebook Tab Newsletter Signup
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

11. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

12. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

13. Summer Acquisition - Step 3
Mobile Friendly Signups:
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

14. Summer Acquisition - Step 4
Stay true to your values &
culture:
- Green list building
- Offer options
- Quality over Quantity
- Single Opt-In
- Email is an extension of our
stores.
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

15. Summer Acquisition - Step 4
Over 2,000 email subscribers generated
from SMS and QR codes
- QR and SMS placed in strategic
locations:
table tents, meat/deli/seafood
scales, bathroom stalls, registers,
cafes, grocery aisles, eating areas,
guest services
- Test QR codes before deploying creative
materials!!
- Delivr.com - free and provides basic
analytics.
!
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

16. Results!
Email: 70k new, 400% increase in monthly
average growth and this included more than
2,000 new subs signed up via SMS, QR or mobile
signup page options.
Facebook: 45k new local Facebook fans, 64%
increase in average monthly growth. 26k new
Facebook National FB fans.
Twitter: 11k new local Twitter followers, 27%
increase in average monthly growth.
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

17. Key Takeaways
- Quality over quantity
- Provide the tools to your staff as well as
guidance for optimizing
- QR codes: test before you deploy
- Incentivize the program and align incentives with
company values
- Cross-promotion is time consuming, but payoff is
well worth the investment
- Track progress, communicate results
- Make it fun!

18. Q &A
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods

19. Thanks!
Get in touch:
- slideshare.com/RyanAmirault
- @RyanAmirault
- Ryan.Amirault@wholefoods.com
@RyanAmirault
@WholeFoods