Hair and beauty product e-retailer Folica Inc. this spring spurred sales using a one-two marketing punch comprised of a targeted e-mail message reinforced with a message on Folica.com viewable only to those recipients that clicked through from the e-mail.

Folica segmented its e-mail database and sent a free shipping offer to “elite members.” Folica invites consumers who’ve placed at least two separate orders with the e-retailer to become an elite member, which qualifies the consumer to receive special offers, such as access to private sales and discounts.

The e-mail sent in this campaign notified the customer that she had qualified as an elite member and informed her she would now get free shipping on all orders for the rest of the year. 80% of consumers who clicked through from the message to Folica.com saw a note on the web site highlighting that they were now elite members who qualified for free shipping on all orders. The remaining 20% who clicked through saw the regular site with no additional messaging. Consumers who saw the second message generated a 68% increase in conversion to sales compared with the consumers who did not see the second message.

Folica used two services from online marketing and personalization firm SteelHouse Inc. to generate the campaign. It used the vendor’s behavioral commerce platform to segment its customers’ past purchase behavior to identify those to be offered an elite membership. Folica then applied the vendor’s Real Time Offer service to serve the special messaging on the site to consumers who clicked through from that message.

Folica says it plans to do more reinforced offers as a result of the uptick it saw in conversions in the campaign. “We can continue to deploy Real Time Offer campaigns to shopper segments that will help us to further engage with our customers and maximize conversions,” says Jessica Bohm, director of marketing at Folica.

Folica is No. 303 in the 2012 Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

E-mail marketing strategies will be addressed at the Internet Retailer 2012 Conference & Exhibition next month by Alaa Hassan, vice president of iNetVideo, in a session titled “Fresh ideas for amping up your e-mail marketing.”