2014 Bronze Best Loyalty Programme or Campaign

Client Allianz

How did the campaign make a difference? Petplan is the UK's largest pet insurer. Their cover is highly comprehensive compared to the sector as a whole but is premium priced to reflect its quality. The company was increasingly under threat from price-led competitors, including well known large retailers and general insurers.

Petplan's CRM programme brought its brand point of difference alive to build loyalty and reduce a high rate of early months churn amongst new policy holders.

The programme achieved exceptional engagement levels far above sector benchmarks, reduced churn, increased long-term value and delivered a positive ROI alongside a best-in-category customer experience.

Strategy Over 60% of Petplan's customers come via recommendations from vets, breeders and rehoming charities, so most of Petplan's new pets are puppies and kittens.

These recommendations typically give new owners one month free Petplan cover when they buy their new pet – but this was leading to a high early months churn rate.

Petplan's differentiator is its unrivalled knowledge of pet health – meaning it was perfectly placed to be support customers through the real, sometimes less savoury issues that trouble new pet owners.

As part of a bigger loyalty strategy, the brand developed a six-month puppy and kitten programme. Delivered via email, rich web content and mailed printed guides, the programme gave customers immediate value that justified their monthly premium and reaffirmed their decision to insure with Petplan.

Creativity The programme was called Petplan Together – positioning the brand as a trusted advisor, alongside owners for the life of their pet.

Programme creative took great care to satisfy both the serious responsibility of caring for a pet and the irrepressible joy of owning it. Softer lifestyle content balanced serious health content, video and infographics balanced classic copy-led editorial and everything shared the same light and approachable tone.

New customers received monthly emails that were tailored by species and personalised with theirs and their pet's names. Content exactly related to the pet's age and needs that month – including vaccinations, toilet training, socialisation, exercise and grooming. The programme was also unafraid to tackle the less endearing aspects of pet ownership – toilet training may not be glamorous but it definitely affects all owners.

Results The programme has achieved exceptionally high engagement rates far in excess of sector averages.

Deeper analysis shows that in almost all cases serious health content engages equally as well the softer lifestyle or offer content – with high open and click through rates showing customer appreciation of real advice even around less savoury subjects.

This first wave analysis has enabled Petplan to further refine headlines and subject lines, content and timings along the nursery journey. This refinement is expected to continue to uplift the already exceptional results.

And ultimately, using control testing, the brand has quantified a significant reduction in early weeks churn to deliver a forecast ROI of 2.3 across the programme.