FASHION
Discovering New Audiences
18%
Increase in ROAS (YOY)
10x
Increase in revenue
84%
Increase in holiday-related conversions
Albert Introduces AI to Luxury Designer Natori
“Albert helps us keep a strategic mindset and approach to our paid digital advertising efforts while simultaneously delivering results. We used to get caught up in the minutiae of the data, but our job now is more about understanding what the AI needs to be successful — be it more budget, more creative, or learning about the new audiences he has discovered. Moving away from the tactical to the strategic was an adjustment, but it’s a necessary one if you want to realize the benefits AI can deliver.”
Heidi Maund | eCommerce Director at The Natori Company
About
The Natori Company is a NYC-based women’s fashion designer and manufacturer that is focused on making products and delivering experiences that enhance a woman’s life. Under the labels Josie Natori, Natori, Josie, and N Natori, the House of Natori covers the full spectrum of women’s fashion and consumer goods — including ready-to-wear, lingerie, home and bedding, fragrances, and accessories. These brands can be found in upscale department stores across the U.S. and in 15 countries around the world. “Natori is a total concept, a way of life,” says Founder and CEO Josie Cruz Natori. ”As we say here, Natori is ‘where life meets art.’”
Challenges
Natori’s social media efforts prior to working with Albert had been focused on organic, top-of-the-funnel activities and on community engagement with the company’s various product lines and brands. Organic Facebook and Instagram posts were geared towards raising awareness rather than driving conversions. While Ken Natori would be the first to admit his company wasn’t ahead of the technology adoption curve at the time, he was eager to try out Artificial Intelligence and Albert as soon as he was introduced to the autonomous digital marketing solution in May 2017. Natori wanted to see what Albert could do to drive conversions and transform his company’s digital advertising strategy, and he hoped he could tap into new, undiscovered online audiences for his brand.
Solutions
Albert was the first AI tool to be integrated into Natori’s tech stack, and he turned out to be just the thing their paid social campaigns needed. As Albert drew insights from user behavior and adjusted audience specifications, Natori was able to use those insights to perfect the creative strategy they were plugging back into the system. In other words, Albert not only discovered brand-new audiences, but optimized the deployment of creative materials across all platforms and channels.
Albert’s discoveries included:
• Informative insights such as high-performing audiences. When Albert discovered that women aged 45-54 were a high-performing audience, with a ROAS that exceeded the monthly benchmark, the system automatically shifted budget and resources.
• Proactive insights that provided the marketing team with meaningful data relevant to the company’s high-level strategy while also suggesting actions based on that insight. When Albert found that custom carousel ads were a high-performing ad type that regularly exceeded prescribed benchmarks, the AI immediately recommended that Natori add custom carousel items for priority concepts to maximize performance.
Results
Albert was able to build a strong revenue flow from a channel that had previously delivered only numbered conversions. Once Albert had been optimizing Natori’s efforts long enough to learn what mix of audience targeting and creative material were driving the most conversions, the intelligent machine increased the number of conversions Natori received by 24% in just one month. Albert was more than ready for a holiday extravaganza, as the Natori team deployed a campaign that increased conversions from previous months at an average rate of 85% across November and December. Today, Albert’s handle on the data and Natori’s creative strategy together drive a campaign that only grows stronger and smarter over time.