Driving App Installs and Customer Engagement on Rexall’s BeWell App
![Rexall Logo](/sites/default/files/images/Rexall%20-%20Logo%402x.png)
Rexall is the second-largest retail pharmacy company in Canada, with 400 pharmacies across the country and 8,000 employees.
BeWell is the application Rexall uses to engage directly with its customers. The app hosts Rexall’s loyalty program, giving users the ability to track and redeem their points. It also delivers personalized offers and wellness tips based on user activity. Additionally, the app can be connected to pharmacy services so that users can remotely manage their prescriptions.
The team’s objective for this project was twofold: to drive application installs, and pharmacy profile creations within the app. Rexall aimed to also target high-value users who were more likely to engage with the app’s features, driving additional in-app actions.
When it came to application installs, Rexall faced one significant obstacle: not all users who downloaded the app were candidates for long-term use.
In other words, some people were less likely to open a BeWell account, and therefore, were more likely to delete the app after a short time.
Rather than focusing solely on install volume, our team leveraged Google Universal App Campaigns (UAC) to target those users with a higher likelihood of both creating a user profile and actively using the application to view offers, manage prescriptions, and seek wellness advice.
To pinpoint these users, we employed the Google UAC algorithm, leveraging Rexall's first-party event data sourced from Firebase, an in-app analytics platform. Harnessing the power of machine learning within UAC, we trained the algorithm to recognize individuals with a higher likelihood of engaging in the desired action of profile creation. This strategic approach made it so that the tool could prioritize targeting these high-quality users at a slightly increased cost per install.
To monitor and optimize every event within the app user journey, our team generated and incorporated relevant conversion values for each stage, from installation through to mid-funnel actions and profile creation.
Upper funnel campaigns with awareness messaging were crafted to promote app installs, whereas middle and lower funnel campaigns were tailored to drive action for users with a higher likelihood of opening the app, creating an account, and engaging in in-app actions like viewing promotions or loading offers.
Collaborating with Google's App Team, we established a process for importing pertinent events into Firebase. Rexall contributed valuable data on app profile creations, providing our team with a comprehensive perspective on user engagement. This information gave us the perspective to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of Rexall's overall marketing mix and played a pivotal role when Northern collaborated with Rexall's in-house team to craft the messaging, in-app experience and creative elements for user re-engagement.
Understanding that creative is one of the most important levers in a UAC campaign, the team established a testing framework to determine what creative formats and messaging (ie. incentives, promotion value, app benefits, and awareness) resonated best with members at each stage of their BeWell journey.
The partnership between Northern and Rexall yielded substantial advancements year-over-year:
Northern’s partnership with Rexall drove conversions and loyalty by optimizing its engagement strategy based on user data. If you'd like to unlock the full potential of your digital marketing initiatives, don't hesitate to contact our in-house team. We specialize in building digital solutions for eCommerce businesses and look forward to working with you to achieve your goals.
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