How MTN OPS grew campaign revenue by 98% with Fondue

“The results with Fondue blew our socks off — far fewer line item discounts while still driving top-line revenue. It’s easy to use, we’re driving a great audience to our website, and we’re capturing strong sales and retention from that traffic.” ­- Neal Didonna, Senior Director of Digital Marketing at MTN OPS

About

MTN OPS is the leader in outdoor performance energy and nutrition. They created supplements and apparel for athletes, military personnel, and enthusiasts who love hunting, fishing, and trail running. Their mission is to improve the lives of individuals and families through spiritual, physical, and mental transformation.

Challenge

MTN OPS wanted to incentivize cash-focused customers — without sacrificing profitability 

The MTN OPS customer is disciplined, conscientious, and family-oriented. Unsurprisingly, they respond well to discounts and look to stretch the value of their dollar. To drive acquisition and sales with this demographic, MTN OPS regularly offered 25-30% discounts or even higher.

So far, that strategy has worked — MTN OPS reaches 450,000 site visitors a day. But, Neal Didonna, Senior Director of Digital Marketing, wanted a way to win customers without detracting from profits. He was worried MTN OPS had inadvertently conditioned their customers to hold out for the next big discount or sitewide sale before hitting ‘buy.’

While discount dependence is by no means an exclusive issue to MTN OPS, Neal knew the current situation wasn’t sustainable. He wanted to incentivize sales and gain new customers without devaluing MTN OPS’ products. 

“In Fondue, we saw a quick and easy solution — a tool with retention baked right into the model. Coupons had become a major hindrance to our top-line growth, and we couldn’t keep eating away at profits.”

Solution

CashBack speaks to price-conscious customers while reclaiming MTN OPS’ top-line revenue  

When Neal discovered Fondue, he knew its CashBack model was promising. But he wanted to start by collecting hard data on how CashBack would perform against his typical coupon codes. 

To establish a control group, Neal ran a sitewide promo, offering 25% off all MTN OPS products. Then, he ran a second sale 45 days later, the length of a typical MTN OPS customer lifecycle. This time, however, he offered 30% CashBack through Fondue.

The results were staggering. CashBack far outperformed the coupon in revenue, purchases, and list growth. As Neal continued using Fondue, he consistently won back huge amounts of profit for MTN OPS’ bottom line. And because Fondue’s store-credit option incentivizes repeat purchases, it’s also contributed to strong retention rates as well.

The cherry on top? Fondue’s incredible customer service. “I've worked with hundreds of vendors over my career, and I've never had anyone make things so turnkey,” says Neal. “It's been incredible to work with Fondue. They’ll come in and build email flows, popups — whatever you’re running.”

“With Fondue, we typically give away only $600-$700 a month in Visa gift cards and cash — an enormous drop from regular line item discounts up to 30%. Plus, we’ve seen strong retention, as customers keep coming back.”

Results

MTN OPS uses CashBack to drive list growth and conversions – without sacrificing profit margins

Neal’s experimentation gave him all the data he needed. Moving forward, Fondue will be a pivotal cornerstone of MTN OPS’ marketing strategy. 

In MTN OPS’ sitewide campaign, CashBack outperformed coupons to a stellar degree: 

• 98% more revenue generated
• 64% increase in purchases
• 11% higher email list growth

Next up, Neal plans to turn MTN OPS’ sitewide promotions into quarterly CashBack events. Then, MTN OPS will branch out, baking Fondue into its affiliate and influencer marketing strategy. A couponless future isn’t here quite yet — but with Fondue, it feels closer than ever. 

“Fondue is a simple yet powerful product, and it’s executed well. Our finance team ran the numbers — in the long term, Fondue is more scalable and practical for us than coupons.”