Example: Customer Insight Delivering Personal Communication

Last night, I was on www.autotrader.co.uk to list my car for sale. As the V5 has not returned from DVLA yet since we moved (it has been 7days now DVLA...), I decided not to complete my advert until such time the revised address on the V5 returns.

Interestingly though, this morning on www.ebay.co.uk, I noticed a creative spot for Auto Trader - and inside the creative messaging was 'Complete your Ad'.

I talk day in, day out about getting Customer Insight into the hands of business folk who need to be able to do just this - reach the right person at the right time in the best way possible. One could argue that promoting an Auto Trader creative with messaging that may discourage me from advertising with eBay might not be in eBay's best interest, but nonetheless, it is an example of individual personalisation which has been gleaned from Customer Insight.

Although I didn't click on the creative, it did get me thinking... if Auto Trader and eBay are already working together to bring together a better experience to their visitors in the online world, why aren't more businesses wanting to do the same? Why the resistance? In most cases, the insight returned by such platforms pays x5 of the spend in ROI and payback to the business (if based on examples I have heard about are to be believed) is within the first 10months!

Just take a read of these additional stories below to learn the true value on gaining detailed customer insight:

10 x increase in revenue per email
(up to 500 x increase for high value items)

Customers who have previously been browsing high value items on the web site, were targeted with personalised emails during a 'SALE' campaign. The association of high value items, such as Bluray players/LED tv's/iPod's, which were relevant to the individual, saw the average return per email increase from $0.30 to $3 overnight.

$1.0m p.a. incremental revenue from hot online leads passed into the call centre

Where a prospect failed to complete car insurance online and also failed to call in to the call centre within 2 days after the failed online conversion, contact/product details were passed to a dedicated call centre whereby follow-up calls were made by insurance representatives. This resulted in 1/3 of every call being converted into a new customer - previously, that 1 in 3 was a lost online opportunity.

240% improvement in click-to-buy ratio

All products 'touched' by each online individual visitor are distributed to each individually subscribed 'customer' on a weekly basis. This has resulted in a 240% increase in click-to-buy ratio for one particular customer.

20% increase in online conversion rates

By better understanding the reasons behind 'Abandoned Baskets', the discovery was made that there was in fact an stock inventory problems whereby mid-value items were out of stock! By addressing the levels of stock, the number of abandoned baskets dropped and increase conversions occurred.

3% reduction in # catalogues shipped ($4m saving)

By simply being able to identify which home shoppers were receiving a catalogue but never quoting a catalogue reference number whilst online as well as never calling into the call centre, the decision to stop sending catalogues to identified residential dwellings resulted in a small decrease (but significant) saving in shipping and printing costs.

$1.2m p.a. saving due to online fraud detection

By identifying behaviours that were 'not-typical', such as entering 6 different credit card numbers incorrectly within a few minutes or by flagging up high risk addresses which where known fraudulent activity hot-spots, customers using Celebrus have benefitted from being able to identify fraudulent online activity taking place, in realtime, online. Now, they are stopping shipments at the tailgate, saving on the associated expense and improving customer satisfaction/loyalty.


Customer Level Insight platforms are an absolute must for businesses and organisations who want to get an advantage in an ever increasingly competitive landscape!