Mercury Energy


The Results

  • Campaign achieved sampling objectives in 2 weeks of a 3 week campaign
  • Scored 'bullseye' against target market with 75% of respondents from target demographic
  • 60% respondents selected the option of joining the advertisers database
  • The offer was very popular with consumers, with 20 percent of orders came from tell-a-friend and forwarded emails
  • Measuring response rates and specific demographics according to individual media buys shows that certain slots were up to 10 times more effective at eliciting registrations than others

Background

Following an internal service push with its callcentre staff, Mercury Energy wanted to monitor the results and identify areas of improvement and training opportunities. It was particularly interested in ensuring potential high-value customers had received satisfactory service.

Initially this was done through a research company conducting telephone interviews, but this was costly and limited to only a small number of customers. So Mercury Energy briefed agency Publicis Dialog to come up with a direct marketing solution that would save on costs and reach a wider customer base.

Objectives

  • Monitor results of Mercury callcentre staff on key measures at moments of truth – when people first join Mercury and when they leave
  • Use these responses to improve the service in the future by identifying areas of improvement and training opportunities for particular staff
  • Use the “What do you think of us so far?” survey contact as a key step in the retention strategy
  • Build a win-back database from the “Sorry you’re leaving” survey of customers, identifying who may like to hear
    from Mercury again and what their key win-back triggers would be

Approach

  • Data feeds are sent to Touchpoint each month. These are flagged as lapsed or new customers, including their value segment
  • For those files with email addresses, the appropriate email is sent out. For those without email addresses, a file is sent to the mail house
  • The “What do you think of us so far?” high-value customers receive a communication offering them a double movie pass if they answer five quick questions. The general base is offered the chance to win a $1000 Hill & Stewart voucher for answering the questions (one is drawn every three months)
  • “Sorry you’re leaving” customers receive a communication asking them to rank out of five their reasons for leaving, and go into the draw to win a $1000 Freedom Furniture voucher. They’re also asked who they have switched to and if they’d be interested in hearing from Mercury in the future
  • Emailed customers click through to a personalised microsite where they submit their answers. Mailed customers can either respond by mail or go online using their customer number and password to answer the question
  • Answers received by mail are entered online directly into Touchpoint
  • Files of all high-value customers who submitted answers and are to receive a double movie pass are fed to the fulfilment house
  • Once every three months the prizes are drawn and winners notified

What they learnt

The email channel is very successful for quick survey responses.

Having all the data collated into one place, regardless of channel, means that it is much easier to work with and spot trends.

How Touchpoint Technology Helped

Result: Online results to surveys are updated in real time and mailed results are updated each Friday

Automation: The whole cycle is set up to be virtually automatic. The marketing team and callcentre team leaders need only check the results

Retention: The "Sorry you’re leaving" survey enables Mercury to tailor its win-back offers to customers



Campaign
"What Do You Think Of Us So Far?" and "Sorry You’re Leaving"

Company
Mercury Energy

Agency
Publicis Rainger

Channels
  • Email
  • Mail

Target audience
Mercury Energy residential customers split into two segments - high value and general base.