2012 Silver Best use of direct mail

Client Rightmove

How did the campaign make a difference? By digging out statistics for each targeted postcode, this work proved the value of using Rightmove advertising products for estate agents. Each piece was personalised to a particular area, with 118 variations. The activity prompted a sign-up rate of 15.37%.

What details of the strategy make this a winning entry? Although Rightmove’s the most successful property portal in the UK, there was an issue with convincing some estate agents that its advertising products represented real value for money. Rightmove's challenge was to change perceptions to sell more advertising products to its toughest audiences. These were: new start-ups, ex-members (harder to convince as they’ve experienced Rightmove and weren’t convinced) and ‘hard to convince agents’ who’ve never advertised on Rightmove and remain sceptical about what it can offer them. The strategy was to demonstrate Rightmove's strength in each agent's local area, generate intrigue about introductory offers and compel agents to find out more. With data broken down to postcode level, it was about proving that Rightmove outperformed all its major competitors in all areas.

How did creativity bring the strategy to life? This required a creative vehicle that would appeal to each agent individually. This meant lots of personalisation; agents are known to be all about their patch and if it could be proved that Rightmove was a real player in their area, then this would be a winner. So every DM was personalised with a map of that agent’s city and adopted a questioning approach: “How much of the Luton (for example) property market are you missing out on?” The DM map had a large cut-out literally representing the potential the agent could be missing out on. And inside, the claim paid off with local, regional and national stats, all personalised to the agent's patch. The final piece of the jigsaw was a strong call to action to try a limited-time introductory offer, again personalised to the agent's patch. To ensure that as many prospects as possible were captured, the follow up was a second DM reminding them that the introductory offer was ending soon.

Results The fear of missing out, backed up by solid statistics, paid off. This activity gained 502 new customers, a sign-up rate of 15.37% (worth £214,690 per month and £2,576,280 per year (based on min spend per new customer)).

Team Cordell Burke, Christos Karakanna, Jemma Marchant, Greg Larter, Phil Lacey, Mike Bayfield, Natalie Marques, Jenni Wykes, Simon Kershaw, Jeff Suthons