2015 Gold Best Data Strategy

Contributors

Acxiom - Build and maintenance of the Single Customer View - SCV and 3rd party enhancements- used for direct targeting in facebook, Simon Kucher - Conducted the research using Personicx and TGI to inform the propensity to buy model, Opt-4 - Dacilitated the research for key

Campaign overview

Newsprint sales, the cornerstone of the Guardian’s revenue, have shrunk 45% in the last four years. Its commitment to ‘open journalism’ means that, unlike its competition, the Guardian won’t erect pay-walls to compensate for this decline.

This campaign set out to ensure the future of The Guardian: maximising profitability from its existing offerings and identifying new revenue streams.

The approach that evolved drove exponential increases in online traffic, improved the quality of those visits and dramatically increased revenue per visitor.

Strategy

Research showed how two or three more customer profile variables increased the value of advertising revenues seven-fold. Furthermore, moving away from one-size-fits-all communications content can lift incremental revenue by 35%.

The Guardian set out to capture more data and build more detailed reader profiles to allow advertisers to be more relevant and increase engagement across all its own communications.

Research and profiling of buyers and non-buyers identified ways to drive meaningful connections with new customers. The system built used either a Personicx append or social sign-in data, coupled with TGI modelling, to immediately serve the products a reader was most likely to engage with, from articles to dating to travel. Signed-in readers left digital footprints throughout a content rich, highly tagged site, with each interaction scored to create a five-dimensional model that continuously evolved the individual’s journey.

Creativity

The Guardian’s NSA exposé had shown that freedom of information was a core value for the business. So a “Why Your Data Matters” video was placed on data capture pages, alongside social sign-in, to openly explain why data is crucial to The Guardian’s future.

The huge increase in data captured was used to automate who to speak to, when and where, while content testing identified three successful creative approaches. First, personification: with simple illustrated characters, embodying The Guardian’s audiences, used as flexible graphic assets that boosted engagement. Second, creating content requested by consumers: giving them quick, easy, personalised ways, like a weekly newsletter, to see what they want, rather than prescribed news content. Third, hyper-targeted communications based on geo-location, not just reader profile: for example, sending Guardian Soulmates users good local date locations based on their local weather.

Results

The focus on timely and relevant communications created a more engaged, trusting and valuable customer. New member acquisition targets were beaten and data capture rose 150%, while conversion rates rose 5.5% in display, 9% in direct mail, 35% in-app, 41% in telemarketing and 100% in press. Email opens went up 124%, open-to-click- through rates up 237% and conversion rates up 80%.

Signed-in users grew in number by 333%, upped their visits by a factor of ten, doubled their page views and gave 24.5 times more revenue than an anonymous user.

The “Why Your Data Matters” video was hailed as exemplary in the industry, something that is incredibly important to the company. As DataIQ stated, “The Guardian sets the standard for corporate data responsibility”.

As well as generating strong revenue and ROMI, officially audited ABBC results put The Guardian as best-performing national daily for reducing sales decline in the last six months.