Recently, a partner of MarketMatch’s underwent some changes in the way they approach communications when pitching their prospects to sell their product. With the help of our strategy team, together we planned and implemented a communication process that segmented messages out across four different audiences.

Previously, our partner had attempted to speak to each of these audiences through a one-size-fits-all message. After a few months of hammering away at communications from this angle, we changed the strategy. Here’s how we handled the change:

  • We identified four key groups that we are trying to communicate with: CEOs, CFOs, Operations VPs/Directors, and Marketing VPs/Directors.
  • We wrote messages targeted at each one of these groups.
  • We identified key performance indicators to measure the success of the messages against:
    • Increase in replies across the board.
    • Increase of inter-departmental referrals (from CEO to Marketing, CFO to Operations, etc.) to reply to speak to us.
    • Increase in number of appointments generated to demonstrate the product.

Here is how the stats broke down, comparing the last month of delivering one message versus the first month of delivering targeted messages:

Deliveries Opens % Opens (actual) Replies % Replies (actual)
All – Test A 276 21.0% 58 12.0% 33
CEO 93 22.0% 20 2.2% 2
CFO 56 18.0% 10 5.4% 3
Operations 66 20.0% 13 3.0% 2
Marketing 88 26.0% 23 13.0% 11
Total: 303 22.0% 67 6.1% 18

So, did we meet our goals? It’s hard to completely tell the story from the numbers presented above. True, we did not increase our reply rate across the board and the open rate is not substantially more than it was with the one-size-fits-all message.

But, this is where the power of tracking statistics and reality collide. We HAVE seen an incredible increase in inter-departmental referrals, where the recipient asks another employee of the organization to reach out to us based on the initial communication. (Especially from the CEO/CFO offices to Marketing.) However, because it is not a direct reply to the original message, it doesn’t get tracked appropriately.

Another KPI we identified, that is not seen in these statistics, are the number of appointments generated. Our partner has seen the number of appointments triple (over the same amount of time) with this communication method versus the previous.

So what can be taken away from this short test?

  • Momentum is moving in the right direction. As time moves on, messages are honed, communication is improved, and we will see better response rates.
  • With a targeted message, we are appealing to more people. Our actual opens are increasing, the audience is reading the message, and because of that they are more likely to pass the information along.
  • With a targeted message, we are seeing an increase in response, albeit from a different member of the organization. Perhaps we were not able to locate the person who would be the best person to talk to about our product. However, we have seen CEOs who are more than willing to forward our message along to the right person because of a targeted voice.

Naturally, we’re interested in seeing targeted messaging implemented across the industry for all banks and credit unions. Segmenting your audience and developing targeted messages for each audience is the key to better response and an increase in your targeted sales goal. So, what steps have you taken to accomplish this, and what success (or lack of success) have you seen? Leave us a comment and share!