solution

Case Study

A direct-mail campaign at ING Direct

Since bursting onto the scene in 2003, ING Direct has used its high-interest, hassle-free savings product to win the hearts and wallets of UK consumers. Demand has remained strong, and the company has become the world’s leading direct savings bank in a short space of time. However, a proportion of ING Direct’s customer base was flagged as ‘do not mail’. This was preventing the company from giving their customers the opportunity to hear about (and take advantage of) promotions and offers that might potentially be of interest. ING Direct is not alone in encountering problems with the ‘opt-out’ option. Many financial services companies believe that customers fail fully to understand the implications of ticking the box marked ‘do not wish to receive further marketing communications’.
At present, ING Direct offers only one product to the UK marketplace. Although the company’s customers are exceptionally loyal, with 98 per cent happy to recommend ING Direct (TNS surveyed 1934 customers in September 2004), any future product launches could be hindered by the number of optedout customers. The aim of this test campaign was therefore clear-cut: to open the door (and the letterboxes) to the potential of cross-selling across ING Direct’s existing customer base. To re-engage with these customers, the company needed to communicate directly and present a simple yet compelling reason for them to re-think their decision not to receive marketing communications.
‘After talking to our Royal Mail Key Account Manager, we discovered that a financial services company in a similar situation had used a mailing to achieve the success we were looking for,’ explains Sarah Barnes, Direct Marketing Manager at ING Direct. ‘So direct marketing, with its ability to reach and influence named individuals while minimizing cost, was the logical medium for us.’

The campaign objectives were as follows:

● to invite customers to opt back in to receiving marketing material

● to explain how they are currently missing out on future product and service news, as well as other offers and promotions that could be of interest

● to target a random 10 000 customers from the ING Direct database

● to encourage the target audience to complete and return a postal response or call the ING Direct call-centre

● to measure the campaign against three key criteria – response rate (%), cost per customer, and number of complaints received.

The company chose to mail a straightforward A4 folded letter, with a perforated reply slip, in a C5 branded envelope that promised ‘no catches with ING Direct’. The letter outlined the key benefits that customers would enjoy once they had decided to opt back in. These focused on being kept up-to-date with future ING Direct products, services and promotions. To illustrate the point, the letter spelled out that the customer may have already missed out on the chance to celebrate the company’s first birthday on board the Orient Express. The letter also reassured customers that there were no hidden catches – ING Direct never passes personal information to other companies, so customers would never receive unwanted communications from elsewhere.
‘Royal Mail worked very hard to help us with the campaign’, says Sarah Barnes. ‘As well as suggesting the mailing in the first place, they advised us on including a Business Response envelope to ensure maximum response, something we had not initially intended. We decided to use Mailsort 2, and are delighted with the results. The power of Royal Mail is clearly demonstrated by the fact that every single response was received by post – there was no telephone response whatsoever.’
ING Direct mailed 10 000 letters at a cost of some £9000. The campaign achieved an excellent response rate, which means that the company can now communicate its offers and promotions and cross-sell future products and services with more of their customers.