Door drops proved fruitful for oddbox

Background

Oddbox, the fresh food delivery service, had discovered that they had an over-reliance on paid digital advertising and were getting diminishing returns from the self-fulfilling algorithms of a key paid social platform.  They needed to unlock new acquisition channels.

In previous testing, Oddbox found that targeted door drops offered a promising way to reach more prospects, but they needed to understand what creative approach would bear fruit.

The goal of the campaign was to increase awareness of Oddbox in new operating areas, as well as boost online sign-ups and sales.

Solution

Oddbox, in collaboration with strategic partner Whistl, first created a targeting decile model to identify key postal code areas in England that had a high concentration of potential customers.
Next, they sought to determine the most effective message and format to engage these new prospects.

Two themes were developed to test against the control door drop established through previous testing. The first theme, 'Grower,' focused on farmers who grew produce that was deemed imperfect by supermarkets and how Oddbox rescued them for their boxes. The second theme, 'Product,' focused on food waste issues, as well as highlighting the convenience and sustainability of having fresh fruit and vegetables delivered to one's doorstep.

The creative concepts were divided into two formats: an A5 4pp and an A5 2pp and tested alongside the already established A5 2pp of the control. The creatives were split randomly between postcode sectors across the targeting model to give a roughly even, robust A/B/C/D/E test. The test included 1.45 million mailed items.  

To maximise the reach of this campaign, Whistl worked with Royal Mail to achieve volume growth incentives (a lower media cost per thousand if certain volumes are achieved within a timed period). This allowed Oddbox to maximise their budget and door drop as many households as possible.

Whistl then booked campaigns through its online door drop booking portal Leafletdrop.

Finally, to support Oddbox’s sustainability credentials, the door drops were printed on FSC paper by B Corp printers who double-carbon offset print.

Results

Oddbox’s robust test produced robust results.

The 'Grower' messaging outperformed the 'Product' messaging by 8% and the control by 27%. The 4pp 'Grower' format was the best performing creative.  Overall, the 4pp (looking at both messaging options) outperformed the 2pp by 42%.

Source: DMA Award Winner Bronze 2022 (Best use of Unaddressed Print)