Customer Spotlight: Tea’s Me Cafe

[Abigail_S]

Tamika Catchings is a top-tier athlete, having played in the WNBA for 16 seasons and earning four Olympic gold medals over an illustrious professional basketball career. So what did the hall-of-famer choose to do in retirement? The answer just might surprise you; she became the proud owner of a tea shop.

Originally set to close in 2017, Tamika decided to buy the local Indianapolis favorite, Tea's Me Cafe. Since then, she has continued to rally around the local community, expanding to a second and third location in Tarkington Park and at Ivy Tech Community College.  

Starting as a humble in-person cafe experience, Tea's Me Cafe soon became a cultural center point for the community by hosting regular events. Nothing brings people together like a warm beverage and a cozy space. "I think the thing that people love when they come here is the culture," Tamika said. 

To capture the cafe’s community efforts and radiate its culture beyond its four walls, Tamika has thoroughly invested in e-commerce and has been marketing the business through virtual and in-person events, email marketing, and social media; which has helped the company move past sustainability and into profitable expansion.

An email newsletter from Tea’s Me promotes their Community Conversations.She began using Constant Contact to help market her business in April 2022 to house her marketing efforts in one centralized location and ensure there was consistency in branding. Tamika and her team collaboratively craft email newsletters, create event registrations, and design and schedule social media posts. 

It’s no secret that streamlining processes like creating behavior-triggered emails and managing social media platforms is no easy feat. Constant Contact is helping Tea’s Me achieve one of their biggest goals; automating their business. The  Automation Path Builder tools help them trigger emails when an order is placed and when thank you emails need to be sent.

 “I just love that — the ease and automation [of Constant Contact],” said Tamika. 

One of Tamika's goals for marketing her business is to continue growing her email list. Tamika uses the text-to-join and QR code features to gather sign ups at events. A healthy list of contacts means that Tamika has more room to segment her list and hone in on the particular interests of her dynamic audience. She has also built a landing page to help capture audience interests and further segment her lists.

Additionally, the Surveys tool allows Tamika to ask her audience what they want to know about her business. Respondents get to say 'I want to know about your events,' 'I want to know about your tea,' and Tamika uses the results of her surveys to better segment her email lists. She can also gauge audience interest using reporting tools, like a heat map. The information from the heat map helps Tamika craft better email content that is more likely to engage her audience. 

With the help of digital marketing tools like Constant Contact, Tamika has grown an audience of loyal customers big enough to support and expand her business.