Using insight to cut costs
Since introducing InfoBase® from Acxiom, the RAC has developed an insight into its market it’s never had before. With a clear picture of details such as life-stage, affluence and car ownership, the RAC can now create marketing campaigns that reach the right customers with the most relevant messages. And by connecting with the exact people most likely to respond, conversion rates are up and the business is saving up to 60% in mailing costs.
The RAC began operations in 1897, and, today has over seven million members. Its main operation is vehicle breakdown cover, and in 2012 the RAC attended 2.5 million breakdowns. The company also provides a range of insurance products, a claims management service and vehicle inspections.
Marketing campaigns are used extensively by the RAC. Their purpose is to acquire new customers and cross-sell breakdown and insurance products to existing customers. In the past, unable to identify who was best suited to each message, the RAC had to send campaigns to everyone on its customer and prospect databases.
“Although our customer database is complete with product details, in terms of specific information—for example, about the household, affluence levels or technological preferences—we had no idea. We had to target everyone, whether the campaign was relevant to them or not, and this was uneconomic,” says Julie Chung, Senior Analytics Manager at the RAC.
“We wanted to reach our customers better by creating campaigns tailored to specific segments. By understanding our customers and market, we’d know which areas to focus expenditure and effort on,” says Julie.
The challenge
Reaching the right customers with appropriate marketing messages to boost campaign effectiveness.
Our response
Introducing InfoBase insights into existing data to provide a rich and comprehensive customer view.
The impact
Campaigns reach just the top percentage of people likely to respond, making communications relevant and effective whilst cutting costs.
Moving forward
The RAC is using the customer intelligence InfoBase provides to provide insight across an increasing number of business areas to drive development.
Enriching data with insight
Julie and her team evaluated Acxiom plus two other key companies in data insight to see which solutions was most appropriate. A retrospective campaign was chosen to test the companies’ data and processes. Three models were used; renewal, win-back acquisition and cold-acquisition.
“InfoBase from Acxiom performed up to 9% better than the other two main players in the tests, and we were extremely pleased when it was ready to go in just two weeks. Before launch Acxiom delivered a fantastic staff training session that was fun, interactive and pitched at just the right level for the audience,” says Julie.
InfoBase provides in-depth data on over 1,000 householder categories including affluence, life stage, number of cars, probability to buy online and channel preference. By overlaying InfoBase data onto their prospect pool, the RAC’s top-level information instantly becomes a rich insight into every potential customer, allowing segmentation into specific marketing groups.
“Acxiom has the greatest depth of data in the market and, by tapping into it with InfoBase, Julie and her team can develop targeting models that are far more finely-tuned than ever before,” says Andrew Hooper, Business Development Director at Acxiom.
Precise audiences, efficient campaigns
With a clear picture as to who its customers and prospects are, the RAC can establish how they should be marketed to—whether that’s direct mail, email or online, and with which products and services. “Now, instead of sending our campaigns to everyone, we can build propensity models that identify the prospects that we know will respond the best. Targeting the right customers has not only increased conversions, but it’s also reduced our mailing costs by up to 60%,” says Julie.
Campaigns run by the company are wide-ranging, and cross-selling to existing customers is often used to promote the RAC’s additional products, such as car, home, travel and pet insurance. Accurate propensity models are ideal to make the most of these opportunities by precisely identifying those customers most likely to respond to a particular cross-sell campaign, and ensure all communications are relevant and cost-effective.
“We also use InfoBase data to identify where our outdoor sales agents and door drops will get the best results. Now, whether it’s face to face, online or direct mail, everything is carefully targeted,” says Julie.
Driving business activities
Use of InfoBase is increasing across the RAC. Currently it’s being extended to Finance, where its detailed insight supports pricing models for breakdown and motor insurance. It’s also becoming a valuable tool for Insight and Analytics, Retention, Acquisition, Insurance, Sales and Service, and Service Delivery teams.
“The RAC can develop targeting models that are far more finely tuned than ever before.”
Andrew Hooper
Business Development Director, Acxiom
“InfoBase is really successful for us and is widely used—for propensity modelling, segmentation, profiling, NBA, media planning and campaign selection, as well as in driving our business strategy. I would give the solution 10/10 for effectiveness – it gives us everything we need and drives a lot of the activities that we do,” says Julie.
As for their relationship, the RAC and Acxiom work closely together on both a proactive, ad hoc level and a more formal file update and quarterly meeting basis. “Communication from Acxiom is really good,” says Julie. “Product releases and updates are always communicated well in advance, and being so well informed makes it easier for us to achieve our targets and plan ahead.”
“Acxiom performed up to 9% better than the other two main players in the tests.”
Julie Chung
Senior Analytics Manager, RAC
“Acxiom is always our first point of contact. They really look after us, and always do their best to assist or resolve any issues. They are a great bunch of people and we have a first-class working relationship,” says Julie.
Used in this case study
