Case Study: Camp Chef achieves massive holiday email-list growth and 40% open rates with ShortStack

Camp Chef - Customer Case Study

Camp Chef, a maker of camping grills, stoves and smokers, faced a slow holiday season and wanted to boost sales, engagement and its email list (target: +3,000 addresses). To run a festive promotion they used ShortStack’s Multi-Day Giveaway Calendar template along with ShortStack’s Refer-a-Friend and email autoresponder features to power a 12-day “12 Days of #FeedYourOUTside” giveaway.

ShortStack helped Camp Chef launch daily escalating-prize entries with referral incentives, progressive data capture (email → phone/zip), in-platform autoresponders and analytics support. The campaign generated 76,866 entries, averaged ~5,500 entries on the first 11 days and nearly 16,000 on the final day, achieved a 40% email open rate (vs. their typical 14–20%), required only about $200–$300 in ad spend, and enabled richer audience data and immediate analytics—exceeding their list and engagement goals. ShortStack also implemented enhanced reporting within days, helping Camp Chef follow up with targeted offers and a post-contest free-shipping promotion.

Camp Chef

Tom Broschinsky

Multimedia Communications Manager