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Second Time a Charm for DraftWorldwide by Accutips.com

Client
DraftWorldwide

End-User
3Com Corp.

Product
A 3Com high-speed network interface card featuring a patented XJACK antenna

Challenge
AccuData America was selected by Draft Worldwide’s London office to provide targeted email lists to more than 300 companies in the European market. The challenge was to identify and to isolate network purchasing managers within IT departments in companies in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The objectives of the campaign were to raise product awareness among the target audience, to solicit feedback on the product’s strengths and weaknesses prior to its roll-out and to create a community of beta testers able to provide feedback on other 3Com products.

Switching Gears—AccuData America Gets Involved
Draft Worldwide’s initial attempt to achieve the campaign’s objectives proved less than ideal. The initial direct mail solicitation to 70,000 individuals resulted in only 50 verifiable beta testers. “The results were disappointing; it was obvious that a lot of the target customers don’t spend a lot of time reading their mail,” said Mark Phillips, head of data planning at Draft.

Switching gears, Draft decided to conduct an email campaign to its target audience. Rather than performing list compilation tasks itself, Draft turned to AccuData America to provide a list strategy and to compile the difficult-to-find email lists.

Solution
To help Draft stay on-strategy and to help increase results for its client, 3Com Corp., AccuData America identified IT personnel with email addresses in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands who are responsible for evaluating and/or purchasing network equipment. AccuData America scored the target audience to provide those names with the highest propensity to respond to or purchase from direct mail or email solicitations. In addition to providing list data, AccuData America worked daily with Draft and 3Com Corp. in the development, testing and roll-out of the email campaign.

Results
“The results were magnificent, far beyond our expectations,” exclaimed Phillips. The results of the email campaign far surpassed the results of the original mailing, producing more than 3,000 potential beta testers, 10 times the number 3Com Corp. needed. As a result of the successful campaign, Phillips said they are developing a special logo for the group of individuals who responded to the email campaign.

Overall, the email campaign generated a click-through rate of 6.64%, and a leads-conversion rate of 35%. In the UK alone, the campaign generated an unprecedented response rate of 89%.

As a result of the email campaign success, 3Com Corp. has been searching for additional funding to transform the 3,000 IT beta testers into a permanent online community able to provide feedback on new products and services.

Draft Worldwide has piggybacked on the program’s unexpected success to help other clients. Currently, Draft and AccuData America are working together with TeleWest to set-up a similar IT executive board for its services. “Whenever you have a successful campaign, you need to leverage the results as much as possible,” said Phillips.