cMercury: Finding Returns in Precision Marketing

This case stems from a 2019 scenario at Caspar Technologies Pvt. Ltd., a rapidly growing digital marketing and automation service provider in India. CEO Jacob faced concern after presenting to a major client, Pragati, the founder of Villuvia.com, one of India’s top online jewellery brands. While email marketing had been a core strategy since the beginning, its return on investment had dwindled compared to social media advertising, exacerbated by a recent overhaul introducing a new digital marketing team. They excelled in social media but were new to email marketing software. Caspar Technologies unveiled cMercury, an AI-based technology to streamline email marketing campaigns. Although initial tests showed promise, it came at a five-fold cost compared to traditional email management software, which demanded extensive manual intervention. Jacob considered offering Villuvia a discount for the festive season but awaited Pragati’s decision. This would determine whether their budget would be allocated to email marketing, social media, or offline expansion. This case allows students to delve into email marketing intricacies, assess metrics and make quantitative evaluations. It also presents a platform for qualitative discussions on managerial dilemmas, like evaluating the digital team’s capabilities, prioritizing customer acquisition or retention and gauging the long-term viability of AI-powered email communication.