Sales Syllabus
The Learning Co., a division of Mattel Inc., is working with Prime Response Inc. to develop personalized teleservices scripts and offers using data collected from 25 million customers.
“As early adopters we have a unique opportunity to drive [software] development for real-time personalization to use for telemarketing,” says Peter Woodman, director of database marketing for the Boulder, CO-based educational software marketer.
Boston-based Prime Response’s database marketing software will be used by The Learning Co. to integrate and manage customer data generated by telephone, Internet, e-mail, catalog and solo direct mail promotions. The goal is develop new product lines and promotions personalized and targeted on the basis of consumer preferences and needs, as determined through statistical modeling and customer database analysis.
The Learning Co. is combining several “disparate databases” to collect and organize information each time a customer is contacted. Groups of customer profiles will be developed and maintained in one centralized database (see “Back-to-School Special,” DIRECT, Sept. 1, page 17).
Beginning in the fourth quarter, The Learning Co. will use the marketing software to manipulate data and generate personalized offers for e-mail and Web promotions. Telemarketing is still not entirely supported by the Prime Response tool, Woodman notes.
The software from Prime Response segments and differentiates active, high-value and below-average customers; lifestyle characteristics; and geographic regions. It makes it possible for The Learning Co. to segment and target customers based on defined criteria using any stored database information.
Beginning next year the software will be adapted for telemarketing, says Woodman. The plan is to integrate all customer records for use in any marketing channel. New e-mail options, for example, will allow The Learning Co. to instantly route requests for information to its phone agents.
The Learning Co. operates a 24-hour-a-day in-house call center in Cedar Rapids, IA. The 550-seat call center typically runs 20 telemarketing campaigns per week, including inbound and outbound calls.
The Learning Co. presently uses its call center to support catalog, solo direct mail and burgeoning Web marketing promotions. It also handles inbound customer service calls and technical support inquiries from customers who purchase software products from the firm.
To date, the most effective media for generating phone orders at The Learning Co. has been solo direct mail and its catalog, which has a circulation of 3 million copies annually. Online advertising response flows from e-mail and inbound 800 number calls.
Outbound telemarketing calls are typically used to follow up customer orders. Phone agents typically ask if customers are satisfied with recent orders before trying to sell new, deluxe versions or other types of product upgrades.
The current phone marketing programs rely on database information to track purchase history and products likely to interest customers. More data will accessible for telemarketing use as records from all marketing channels are integrated in the customer database.
Customer data collection from the Web is automated. Customer preferences and purchases are tracked using cookies to monitor what consumers do online. Data is also generated when customers log on to the company’s Web site (www.learning co.com) or any of about other 100 linked sites.
