Increasing Sales, Reducing ‘Failure Demand’
Major Media Brand
Driving revenue through increasing sales and reducing costs from customer ‘failure demand’ and improving campaign planning and communications for the UK’s biggest selling daily newspaper.
Sector: Media
Location: UK
Ownership: UK PLC
Duration: Short to Medium Term
Challenge
In-paper and online promotional offers were a key element of the brand’s core proposition and new reader acquisition efforts.
However, unclear messaging and customer journeys generated unwanted ‘failure demand’ which the outsourced contact centre struggled to manage.
In turn this drove unscheduled cost increases; lost sales conversion opportunities; a degraded customer experience.
Solution
Identification of inadequate communications and briefing between marketing and service resulted in poor preparedness and resourcing for promotional offers – which resulted in poor service and missed sales opportunities.
Appreciation that poor promotion design and customer journeys resulted in confusion, reduced response levels and unwanted query contacts.
Calculated and shared the commercial impact of both customer failure demand and missed sales opportunities with commercial and marketing teams.
Created a model to forecast customer contacts dependent on offer type, medium and fulfilment profile.
Agreed process for structured and informal communications about planned and reactive promotional offers.
Establishing customer service ‘voice’ in print and online design to anticipate and reduce failure demand and drive the deflection of non-sales opportunity contacts.
Outcome
£400k reduction in contact centre costs due to reduced failure demand & better forecasting
Increased customer satisfaction and reduced complaints ‘noise’ about promotional offers
Greater collaboration between colleagues