Focusing on quality produced eggs-ceptionally good ROI

20% above response rate target
14.38% increase in customer acquisition
ocado brochure

Background

Door drops are a core pillar of Ocado’s customer acquisition strategy. In 2025, the retailer looked to evolve the channel beyond volume alone - improving efficiency while attracting higher-quality customers with greater long-term value.

The objectives were twofold:

  • increase customer acquisition
  • improve the quality and lifetime value of those customers

Solution

Working with their partner Whistl, Ocodo set out to optimise their proprietary door drop acquisition model by fusing it with geo-demographic analysis to identify new profitable segments. 
Mosaic segmentation revealed two critical insights:

  • Loyal ‘sticky customers’ shared traits that could be mapped onto lookalikes and scaled
  • Retention depended on excluding one-off voucher users.

These insights directly informed a hyper-targeted door drop plan, concentrating volume in 'fallow' areas rich in target profiles, while using Partially Addressed Mail (PAM) for more precise targeting. For the first time, Ocado's targeting model shaped where and when volume was shifted.

The next stage was to create an engaging door drop designed to grab attention from the doormat. It fully integrated with Ocado’s broader channel Easter campaign running across on their website, email and social channels to ensure consistency of message whatever the channel.  

Bold Easter imagery was coupled with pun-led copy for warmth and engagement, including headlines such as "All your eggs. One basket" and greetings like "For happy feasters". Insights from the top-performing Christmas 2024 campaign had shown that range-led messaging outperformed fresh-produce-only messaging. As a result, the creative focused clearly and single-mindedly on the breadth of offer, from Ocado Own Range to M&S and independent suppliers – all the products that prospect customers might love. Care was taken not to overwhelm the recipient with too many messages, keeping the door drop clean and simple to help drive conversion. 

Time-limited voucher codes, alongside powerful calls to action were prominently displayed to drive immediate redemption.  An A5 format was chosen to maximise reach within budget, allowing the campaign to prioritise scale over more expensive formats, while still delivering strong visual impact.

eggs in a basket
door step

Results

The campaign delivered the strongest door-drop performance in Ocado’s history.

Response rates exceeded target by 20%, and new customer acquisition increased by 14.38% compared with the previous door-drop campaign in January 2025. Year-on-year growth in acquisition was even more significant, with a 176.19% uplift versus April 2024. Acquisition efficiency also improved with CPA at £50.    

Crucially, retention was exceptional with 28.7% of new customers reaching a 5th shop. Furthermore, predicted LTV rose by 26%.  The predicted ROI is the highest Ocado have seen in their use of door drop as a channel, surpassing their incredible results from Christmas 2024.  

Importantly, the campaign created a halo effect on other channels. Paid Search conversion increased by 16% while Organic/Direct search increased by 20%.  

The combination of hard metrics and cross-channel uplift proves door drops are not only viable but pivotal to Ocado's acquisition strategy.


Source: DMA Awards 2025, Winner Unaddressed Print and Door Drop (Bronze)