We were tasked with reducing churn within Skillsoft's EMEA customers. Specifically their 'at risk' customers whose accounts were due to expire in 2014. In these cases the customer was almost entirely disengaged from Skillsoft resulting in poor license consumption.

The key objective was to reduce churn rates within the organisation's EMEA customer base and get them re-engaged with the business. We identified 10 Skillsoft customers with a combioned contract value of £665,000 and engaged with them via DM, email and phone

The DM element was a visually outstanding and highly personalized letter for key stakeholders within those companies, simple really. If the sheer appearance of a piece of DM can communicate information before it's read, then this one spoke the equivalent of a Russian novel. The letter was crumpled up and suspended in a clear perspex box as if floating. The clean and precise lines of the perspex contrasted so sharply with the paper, it compelled the recipient to open and read it. Provocative wording further emphasized the customer's wasted investment.

Well, this is the really great bit. After just three months, five recipients out of the original ten responded positively. I'm sure you can work out the percentage there. Four meetings were set to review the customer's accounts and put an action plan in place to improve them. One recipient even signed a new 4-year contract early, to a value of £313k! And the overall budget for this campaign was only £10k. How's that for a return on investment?

The whole DM piece conveyed the idea of waste, and chimed perfectly with the tone of the copy, which challenged the customer to make better use of their Skillsoft account. Through highly personalized and visually strong communication techniques it was possible to engage key clients for a relatively modest budget. Multiple touch points were also essential. Plain text email versions of the letter were sent as a follow up, alongside phone calls.