A Multiple Sales Channel Approach

The Goal

The Idaho Press-Tribune’s objective was to reach out to at-risk prospects — people who valued the newspaper but not at full rate and started and stopped several times during the course of a year.

The Story

In October of 2004, the Idaho Press-Tribune developed a plan to target 1,500 prospects with a $20-for-the-year program. The groups that were targeted were recent non-pays from August and September, new three-month starts in grace, chronic churners and other non-pays. It used a multi-channel sales approach that spanned five weeks, during the first week; a direct-mail piece was delivered to the 1,500 customers with the $20 annual offer and a promo code for tracking purposes. The second week consisted of a door-to-door blitz with the same offer and door knockers as leave behinds. Some crewing activity spilled over into the third week which was the initial week of telemarketing calls. The TM calls were made during weeks three and four. The fourth contact or channel used was the retention group. These people made a specialized final call to the prospects. The action plan targeted 1,500 prospects, using four sales channel over five weeks with two offers - $20 for the entire year paid in advance or $5-a month, first month free – EZ Pay Year offer. Those individuals who felt that the offer was too good to be true received a follow-up visit from the district sales manager, adding another component to the marketing effort.

The goal was aggressive, the Idaho Press-Tribune wanted to sell 40 percent of the 1,500 people contacted, but it actually sold 21.4 percent or 321 people. The majority of the sales were made using the $20 annual offer. In terms of its targeted groups:

Recent Non-pays sold 17%

New Three-Month grace sold 28%

Other Non-pays sold 9%

Churners sold 31%

This program will be conducted twice a year with targeted groups. One change that it plans on making is reversing the order of the crewing aspect and telemarketing aspect, so TM will be conducted during weeks two and three while the door-to-door component will be conducted during the fourth week.

Of course, an aspect not to be neglected is what happens at the end of the term? The IPT plan calls for a retention effort in month 10 that will attempt to convert these historical At-Risk customers to Loyal Subscribers at full-price using a direct-mail piece. Those that do not respond to the direct-mail full price offer will receive a phone call from the retention staff during the eleventh month for EZ Pay at $5 a month - $55 for the year. Finally, during month 12, the retention staff will call again with a last ditch attempt of $20 for the year.

The Moral of the Story

Targeting a specific segment, with an offer that’s hard to refuse, can reduce churn and increase sales production by utilizing a systematic approach across several sales channels.