How online mattress retailer Leesa bombarded one consumer with so many ads in so many venues that she broke down and bought the mattress.

Cara Hogan, content specialist

Cara Hogan, content specialist, Zaius

How do you convert a reluctant online shopper into a happy customer?

It’s not easy, but it is possible. In fact, I can tell you exactly how to do it, because an e-commerce brand managed to nurture me through the entire customer journey in just one day.

I started off with zero interest in buying a mattress online, and then, on Black Friday, I bought a mattress online.

So what happened? How did a brand manage to change me from a skeptic into a buyer in just one day?

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It all comes back to marketing. As a marketer myself, I am fully aware of the tactics used to convert me—and yet it still worked. Here’s the surprising story of how Leesa’s e-commerce marketing strategy worked on me.

Find customers with a need for your product

A few weeks ago I read the interesting Fast Company article focused on online mattress brands: “The War to Sell You A Mattress is an Internet Nightmare.” Reading it, I harshly judged the brands featured for the questionable online practices they used to try to beat out the competition. Some mattress companies paid huge sums for affiliate marketing links, tried to minimize negative reviews, and even sued a prominent mattress site.

After reading the article, I swore up and down that I would never buy a mattress online. Unfortunately, I really did need a new mattress. I was tempted by a few of the Black Friday offers, but I absolutely hate fighting crowds. I had also bought my last mattress at a traditional retailer and felt like I paid too much and was still stuck with a terrible mattress.

So, despite my reservations, I started browsing online to see what was out there. I told myself I wasn’t going to buy anything , but just wanted to look.

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Be everywhere your customers are

As I started Googling around for online mattress deals for Black Friday, I saw one specific brand literally everywhere I looked: Leesa. (Leesa Sleep LLC is No. 348 in Internet Retailer’s ranking of the Top 1000 online retailers in North America.)

I saw a Google ad for Leesa’s Black Friday sale. On Facebook, I saw another targeted ad for the same sale. When I checked my mail, I had a physical card from Leesa with the exact same offer. I turned on the TV and— no joke—I saw an ad for the very same Black Friday sale.

Leesa ad

This Leesa ad was literally everywhere on Black Friday.

It was really the TV ad that pushed me over the edge. As a marketer, I couldn’t believe how well the brand had executed a targeted omnichannel strategy. The omnipresence of Leesa on Black Friday was impressive, especially considering the insane amount of noise from every brand on that same day. B2C marketers should take a page from Leesa’s book: they did a fantastic job of reaching their target audience of mattress shoppers on every single channel.

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Let your happy customers speak for you

Once I decided to consider buying a mattress online thanks to Leesa’s omnipresent advertising, I also opted to look at offers from a few of their direct competitors. I wanted to make sure I not only got the best deal, but also bought the right type of mattress for exactly how I sleep. The discounts from the brands on Black Friday were all fairly similar, giving buyers a few hundred dollars off a mattress purchase.

The omnipresence of Leesa on Black Friday was impressive, especially considering the insane amount of noise from every brand on that same day.

What helped me most were the review sites that recommended the best mattress for each type of sleeper. If you’re a stomach sleeper who prefers a firm mattress—like me—multiple, unaffiliated mattress review sites recommended Leesa. These reviews from happy customers are an incredibly powerful tactic for marketers.

Make the customer experience smooth

So I came back once again to the Leesa website. After being drawn in by ads and convinced by review sites, I was almost ready to make the final purchase. But I still hesitated. I had been burned before buying an expensive and uncomfortable mattress in store. What if I woke up after one night of sleep and my back killed me? What would I do then?

Luckily, most of the major online mattress brands offer the ability to try the mattress for 100 days to see if you like it. This is not unique to Leesa, and that’s because it really works. This flexible return policy was what got me over the final hurdle to purchase. Because it was a risk-free purchase, I was more willing to take a chance. I knew that if I hated the mattress, I had an out. Because of the smooth customer experience on the Leesa site, I clicked “Buy.”

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The final verdict

I still haven’t slept on the mattress yet, so I can’t tell you if I’ve actually made a good purchase or not. But really, the quality of the product itself doesn’t matter to the story. Whether I decide to keep the mattress or not, the marketing lesson other e-commerce brands can learn from Leesa is a compelling one.

On the most competitive retail day in America, Leesa was able to fully nurture me from awareness to consideration to decision. Leesa’s Black Friday marketing strategy should serve as a powerful lesson for any B2C marketers. If you can combine omnichannel marketing, customer reviews and a great customer experience, you’ve got it made in e-commerce.

Cara Hogan is the content strategist at Zaius, a provider of marketing software, where she focuses on how technology can drive business growth. She is a grammar perfectionist, a data enthusiast and a rock climber.

 

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