Concur Technologies Inc. notched a 20% response to a five-part direct mail and e-mail sales-lead nurturing program it began last year for its automated corporate expense reporting systems. Better still, 38% of that group was further qualified to make appointments with Concur salespeople.
The Redmond, WA company began its effort late last year with a 40,000-piece mailing to chief financial officers and other top executives at high-tech firms. It yielded a 2.5% response rate (or 1,000 respondents).
From that smaller group Concur pulled 3% into its sales cycle, which runs about a year. But the remaining 970 prospects entered Concur’s nurturing program developed by Bellevue, WA direct marketing agency The Hacker Group.
Hacker vice president of account services Melissa Stevens said the program consisted of four e-mails and one teaser paper mailing containing earbud-style headphones for an Apple iPod.
Spaced a month apart, the first two e-mails sought to promote the benefits of Concur’s systems, noted the company’s senior direct marketing manager Karlene Cameron. The third invited prospects to a Webinar on the subject and the fourth gave potential customers a personal product demonstration from a Concur marketing executive.
The fifth contact, a postal mailing, aimed at setting up an appointment with a Concur rep. Those who did would get the iPod itself when they met with a salesperson. This group accounted for the 20% response.
The budget for the postal mailings was $1 per piece and $5 per e-mail. Cameron declined to provide hard sales or return-on-investment figures.
Concur systems automate expense reporting in larger corporations. They are priced “in the tens of thousands to the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to the firm.
Looking to the future, Cameron said Concur wants to do more direct marketing. Currently 20% of the company’s marketing is done direct.
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