Kimberly-Clark Case Study

Kimberly-Clark, the company behind iconic global personal care brands such as Huggies®, Kleenex® and Depend®, faces challenges familiar to all modern marketers navigating an explosion of digital data and multiple touch points, including web, mobile and social.

• How do you engage with consumers in a meaningful, valuable way?
• How do you present your consumers with the information, valued experiences and offers that will inspire them to try more, share more and buy more?

Kimberly-Clark is solving modern marketing challenges using digital intelligence technology and solutions from Webtrends Optimize, and formed by a time-tested strategy—they are getting to know their consumers better.

And, by getting to know them better using analytics across digital channels, they’re delivering to their consumers the kind of UX improvements and highly relevant content that drives interaction, engagement and higher ROI. The kinds of content, for example, that will boost conversion rates by nearly 25%.

For Kimberly-Clark, it’s not a new kind of digital marketing. It’s simply good marketing in a digital world.

Kimberly-Clark is working with Webtrends Optimize to leverage digital data, enabling a clearer picture of what specific consumers want and need, resulting in an optimisation of consumer experiences that boost conversions to trial offers, sales and brand loyalty.

With 1.3 billion people in 80 countries buying a Kimberly-Clark product every day, the company has a lot of consumers to get to know better. And there are many options for the types of content their consumers need at any given point in time.

Complicating the challenge, Kimberly-Clark maintains dozens of brand properties across mobile, social and web. The opportunity is to generate UX improvements and build engaging experiences that add value to consumers wherever that consumer is in her journey.

The business challenge with Huggies products is to get self-identified mums to use Huggies nappies beginning from the child’s birth. The goal is to have consumers thinking about Huggies the first time they shop for nappies and to create brand loyalty from the start.

With the Depend brand, the challenge is to help consumers try the product. The company knows from experience that people who try Depend products have a great experience with them and tend to become purchasers. But finding the right type of incontinence product that fits properly is potentially embarrassing and costly for consumers. There are lots of choices available in the grocery or pharmacy store aisle, and the process can be off-putting. How can Kimberly-Clark make it easier?

Kimberly-Clark worked with Webtrends Optimize, using the company’s marketing optimisation solution, a team of expert consultants, to optimise the performance, content and make UX improvements on key web properties for both the Huggies and Depend brands.

To get self-identified expectant mums thinking about Huggies, Kimberly-Clark uses its marketing channels to encourage them to register and sign-in on Huggies.com. By registering, mums-to-be get access to relevant content, such as online communities where they can find valuable advice and support from their peers. They can also opt-in for Huggies offers and to receive relevant information, such as Welcome Baby guides.

To spur increased registrations and sign-ins for Huggies.com, Kimberly-Clark first needed to understand which content was most attractive and engaging to its visitors. Using their analytics, and Webtrends Optimize’s targeting functionality, the best performing and relevant content was quickly identified.

With Depend, Kimberly-Clark worked to drive consumers to Depend.com where they could sign up for samples without having to spend a lot of time researching products in-aisle. The company worked with Webtrends Optimize’s team to improve a sample request page, creating a comfortable, easy-to-use sample experience that would be quick and easy for consumers to fill out and submit.

Kimberly-Clark tested various UX improvements including different combinations of text and graphic elements, such as headlines and call to action buttons, for its ‘free sample’ sign-up form on Depend.com. They used this digital performance data to determine the best performing web page content.

The winning page was very instructional: ‘Simply fill out the form below to receive a sample.’

It also helped ease consumer apprehension by noting that more than 250,000 people had used the form that year to get a free Depend sample. The message was clear – you are not alone. It is natural to be researching Depend products and it is safe and comfortable to complete this form to receive a sample.

Using capabilities such as AB testing and website personalisation, Kimberly-Clark was able to deliver more relevant content to expectant mums on Huggies.com, and significantly improving the brand experience. As a result, the company increased sign-in rates by 17%.

For Depend.com, the optimal combination of elements on its free sample page yielded a 24% lift in conversion rates.

For Kimberly-Clark, these lifts in sign-ins and conversion rates represent measurable marketing improvements that translate into higher ROI. And these improvements extend beyond the digital assets in which the optimisation was focused.

Key to their success is that Kimberly-Clark looks at the process of optimising its marketing efforts as a mindset – a continual process that transcends technology. There are extensive digital components to Kimberly-Clark’s marketing, but the company’s marketing fundamentals are focused on the consumer, and wherever that consumer is engaging with Kimberly-Clark brands.

That’s effective marketing in a digital world. It’s also an approach that drives the development of Webtrends Optimize solutions as marketing continues to adapt to the increasingly digital world in which we all find ourselves.