2011 Silver Best data strategy

Client Transport for London

What is wonderful about this work? TfL has developed a strategy using large volumes of customer data to improve targeted service messaging. 80% of customers now find TfL emails relevant (versus 44% in 2009). Open rates are consistently 50% higher than the DMA benchmark. 92% of customers now check before they travel.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? The Oyster card provides very rich data about customers, through registration and recent travel behaviour; three million customers have registered their details. To cost effectively develop relevant timely messaging, TfL identified which customers to contact, when, and with which message. One of the biggest challenges was the volume of data generated, which made data management and analysis difficult. TfL devised a solution that aggregated data to provide estimates of customer routes. An eight-week rolling datamart was created, enabling groups to be identified whose regular journeys are likely to be affected by service changes. The aim is that customers are pleased to have been contacted, plus building awareness of improvement work and encouraging them to check before travelling.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? Customers are contacted about planned and unplanned disruptions to their journeys. Messages are positioned as part of customer service, and highly targeted with a low level of contact. This approach has enabled TfL to deliver 183 different email campaigns in a year, sending 36 million emails with the average contact only 12 emails per customer this year. Email copy is concise and single minded, and a templated layout delivers clarity and simplicity of design. Customers are encouraged to visit the TfL website and check before they travel, using the Journey Planner. Emails meet the criteria for 'service' rather than 'marketing' messages: they're relevant and informative but not promotional. This means all customers can be contacted while remaining compliant with data protection legislation.

Results Our latest customer survey (June 2011) shows 84% found emails useful, 80% agreed they were informative and 80% that they were relevant, compared to results from 2009, when only 44% found them useful and relevant. Over half of responders claimed that our programme makes them feel more positive towards TfL. On average our programme achieves an open rate of 37%, compared to the industry average of 11 to 24%. Unsubscribe rates are very low, averaging at 0.08% for most campaigns, rising to 0.15% for the weekly closures messages. Complaint rates remain below the DMA benchmark target of 0.2%. Research in April showed that 92% of customers now check travel information before they travel, a significant increase.

Team Bev Newton, David Lathwell, Jon Myhill.

Other contributors Dawleys - Database hosting and management, eCircle - Email broadcast, M&C Saatchi - Advertising, MEC - Media planning and buying.