TRIAL AND QUOTATION STATISTICS

Transcription

1 Telemarketing Effectiveness Survey 2010 Copyright 2010 Accucoms

2 BACKGROUND Between January 2006 and August 2010 Accucoms completed over 400 telemarketing campaigns on behalf of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) on behalf of over 45 scientific, technical, medical (STM) and scholarly publishers from the United States, United Kingdom and The Netherlands. This survey reveals the aggregated results of a sample of 100 campaigns completed during this time period, encompassing over 18,000 phone calls. Target Of the selected campaigns, approximately 80% of promotional calls made by Accucoms in this period were aimed at non-subscribers or prospects. However, a substantive minority (approximately 20%) of calls were directed to publishers active customers. In such instances, publishers requested that Accucoms contact their current subscribers to upgrade accounts and/or upsell new products. Penetration On average, Accucoms was able to reach 93% of the targeted campaign contacts during the course of each respective campaign. This remarkably high rate of success is due to both Accucoms language fluency and to its carefully curated customer contact information. For many projects Accucoms played a pivotal role in the gathering of prospect data, supplying publishers with target lists. Product Focus Accucoms promotional campaigns have had a strong focus on journals. 85% of the campaigns from the reported period supported either a single journal or a publisher s current journal portfolio. The remainder (approximately 15%) of promotional campaigns supported e- book collections and digital archives. Campaign Incentives 67% of the promotional campaigns were focused on generating interest in a trial. By this we mean an offer to provide institutional access to an online title for a limited period, typically 1 3 months, in order to gauge end-user interest in that title. Of these, 44% were for trials of a single title and 43% offered a trial to a package or collection of titles. The remaining campaigns were aimed at up-selling new titles, direct sales, or customer education. TRIAL AND QUOTATION STATISTICS Within the selected campaigns and survey period, Accucoms completed 11,500 trial promotion calls. By completed we mean that Accucoms was able to reach a survey respondent (usually a librarian) and make a trial offer. The feedback from library contacts can be broken down as follows: Librarian Response Number of Percentage of Interested in the Trial 1,722 15% Need More Time/Information 4,195 37% Not Interested in the Trial 5,327 47% Unknown/Interest Level Not Specified 296 1% Figure 1: Telemarketing response by number and percentage. Librarians were called in regard to beginning a trial of a online product or collection Copyright 2010 Accucoms 2

3 The 11,500 trial promotion calls were made in the course of 66 separate trial promotion campaigns. As one might expect, there was a significant degree of variation in the success rate (where success is defined by the respondent agreeing to begin a trial) depending on which publisher and which title was being offered: 15 campaigns showed a trial rate of more than 20% 26 campaigns had a trial rate of 11-20% 25 campaigns had a trial rate of 0-10% In addition to the trial promotion calls, Accucoms completed 4,842 telesales calls. By telesales calls we mean calls in which the goal was to make an offer for the immediate license or purchase of an online title. The feedback from library contacts can be broken down as follows: Librarian Response Number of Percentage of Yes, Interested in a Quote 395 9% Need More Time/Information 1,694 35% Not Interested in a Quotation 2,526 53% Unknown/Interest Level Not Specified 227 1% Figure 2: Telesales response by number and percentage. Librarians were called in regard to the purchase of a specific product or collection The 4,842 quotation calls came from 25 separate telesales campaigns. As with the trial promotion calls, there was a degree of variation in success. In this case, success is defined as the respondent requesting a quotation for a purchase or licence: 5 campaigns showed a quotation rate of more than 19% 10 campaigns had a quotation rate of 5-10% 10 campaigns had a quotation rate of 1-4% While an average of 9% may, at first glance, appear modest, it should be remembered that these are prospective customers who have expressed a desire to purchase, often requesting quotes and invoices there and then. Most publishers would agree that these are tremendous results, particularly given the poor responses to other promotional activity that we have witnessed. A further 35% of prospects requested greater time or more information and may purchase later. We believe this shows that publishers would be wise not to treat new sales campaigns as one-off projects: prospects are often not able, for a variety of reasons, to make an immediate purchase decision but may request a quote after the review of promotional material or at a later point in the library purchasing cycle. In addition to the above activities, Accucoms completed campaigns in which the aim was to send out information about specific products, product collections, or publishers to prospect libraries. The purpose of the call was to ascertain the level of interest in receiving such materials and to verify that the publisher has the appropriate contact details for the librarian. Copyright 2010 Accucoms 3

4 In such campaigns Accucoms usually managed to generate widespread interest. Across all these campaigns 60% of the library contacts requested to receive product- and publisher information from Accucoms. There was not a significant degree of variation between campaigns for these calls. YEAR ANALYSIS Despite the challenging economic climate of the past years, leading to widespread library budget cuts, Accucoms maintained a high success rate for trial promotions and quotation requests across promotional campaigns. In fact, the rate of quotation requests has actually increased in both 2009 and Campaign year Average Trial Rate (%) Average Quotation Requests (%) % 4% % 10% % 10% % 11% % 16% Figure 3: Telemarketing success rates by year. Success is defined as the library agreeing to begin a trial or receive a sales quote. While these statistics are not scientific (there is, of course, a great deal of variation in terms of products, publishers, targets, targeted regions, and other variables) they are nonetheless useful when taken as broad indicators and point to both direct and indirect benefits of telemarketing and telesales campaigns. BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCED TELEMARKETING An effective telemarketing campaign, guided by an intelligent market and prospect analysis, is nearly always a worthwhile activity for STM publishers. Telemarketing is a proven method for driving new sales, offering promotional trials, and generating better awareness of publisher products and services. Telesales costs can often be earned back via the sales generated during a given campaign (or shortly thereafter as some orders will inevitably be placed at a later stage, often through a designated subscription agent). Of course the extent to which a campaign is profitable for a publisher depends on the value of the product being offered. Product collections and journal archive sales typically produce higher immediate returns on investment (ROI). That being said, given the high renewal rates typically seen in the STM and scholarly publishing industry, even single journal promotion campaigns are typically successful when considered in the longer term. With such seemingly obvious benefits it is surprising that more publishers do not incorporate telemarketing into their promotion and marketing plans. However, many are too daunted by the increase in overheads to recruit, manage and incentivize a telemarketing team especially in today s economic climate. Moreover, small-to-medium sized publishers do not Copyright 2010 Accucoms 4

5 typically have the economies of scale necessary to support a full-time telemarketing staff. Telemarketing is not something that most publishers need to focus on daily as new sales drives invariably happen only in peak times such as April, September and January. Outsourcing allows the publisher to economically manage the obvious heavy periods and similarly the quiet periods such as July and August. Outsourcing also enables specialized sales staff, with local market knowledge and local language fluency, resulting in more effective customer dialog. THE ACCUCOMS APPROACH Accucoms has a proven track record in telemarketing, working with dozens of STM and scholarly publishers in both Europe and North America on campaigns that deliver results. Some of the services and approaches which set Accucoms apart from other telemarketing firms, include: Multilingual Staff Accucoms brings broad linguistic coverage of all major languages spoken in Europe and the Americas. We can reach library contacts in their native language to have in-depth and informative discussions with a publisher s customers to gain a more nuanced understanding their needs and challenges and to uncover hidden opportunities. Local Knowledge, Global Coverage Accucoms staff is both expert in the field of STM publishing and knowledgeable regarding local market conditions, customs, and individuals. With offices in both Europe and North America, Accucoms is able to ensure widespread coverage of the library market within a limited time frame. Insightful Reporting Accucoms records all feedback on decision-making processes, spending patterns, the role of consortia, library holdings, budget cycles, collection development policies, and other details relevant to licensing and sales of publisher content. Dialog Not Scripts Accucoms reaches relevant library contacts via a personal call. The majority of these contacts will discuss and consider the publisher s promotion and involve relevant faculty and library staff. While our staff thoroughly prepare for each call, we do not read from a script. We have meaningful conversations with a publisher s customers so we can understand their information and budgetary needs and decision-making processes. Customer Contacts Accucoms delivers updated and enriched contact information from relevant library contacts, from decision makers to influencers, depending on project scope. You will receive current information gathered for your particular project, which is of great value compared with lists from third parties. Publishers can use the contact information for future telemarketing as well as promotional mailing, saving valuable time and money Copyright 2010 Accucoms 5

6 ABOUT ACCUCOMS ACCUCOMS BV is an independent company providing specialist sales and marketing services for scholarly and society publishers worldwide. Based in the Netherlands and in the United States, ACCUCOMS provides cost-effective and efficient inbound and outbound telemarketing, customer service, and sales representation. For more information contact: Egon Menardi Copyright 2010 Accucoms 6