Case Study shows 9 fold increase in response

Company: Church Extension Plan
A financial services provider to families, individuals, churches.

Over the years, CEP has tested a number different direct mail approaches to market their loan programs. Current response rates were flat, 1.2% to 2.1%, with conversion to actual loans substantially lower.

KEY BENEFITS

9 X increase in response rate
Sales cycle dramatically shortened
Process for qualification of customers dramatically improved resulting in higher quality of inquiries

SOLUTION
The program allowed CEP to develop a targeted message to every individual. Data driven content was used to create personally relevant images, photos, quotes and offers for each member of CEP’s campaign contact list. Messages were customized based on the recipient’s name, geography, their church’s name, level of qualification and first-language (English/Spanish).

In response to CEP’s concern that their client base wasn’t ready for the internet, …three methods of call-to-action were tested: a business reply card, a toll-free number and a personalized micro-web site. Closed-loop analytics would show which response method was most effective without risking lost opportunities.

NET RESULTS
CEP experienced a significant 9 fold increase in responses. CEP started receiving results the first business day after the Campaign was dropped.

They had previously waited about 13 days for this activity. There was a clear preference for responding through the web in place of the more typical call-center, saving CEP significant time, money and resources while considerably expediting the loan approval process.

The conversion from inquiry to loan pre-qualification, which used to take a month and consisted of numerous mail exchanges and phone calls, has all but been eliminated.

The quality of inquiries is much higher than previous campaign strategy—more than doubling
the conversion ratio to actual sales.

“Increasing ROI has always been the charge of our marketing team and I know
they are always experimenting with better ways to meet this objective. But this
program really caught my eye. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such a
marked improvement in our campaigns.”
Pat Clements, President
Church Extension Plan

Reported by K/P Corporation
A Personal touch Increases Reponse