INTRODUCTION

Acquiring more data from our CRM contacts.

While working at Philips in the B2B Digital Marketing department, I led a project to enrich the data of our CRM contacts. By leading the entire design process and facilitating workshops with colleagues from different functions, we came up with a low- cost and efficient idea to achieve our goals.

CHALLENGE

Users weren't receiving relevant or any content at all due to lack of  proper data capturing.

At least 60% of the CRM database lacked of enough data to be pulled in audience segments. This meant that contacts were receiving irrelevant to them emails or any email at all. Additionally, it led to many issues for the company as well such as an increasing number of deleted contacts and campaigns not going live due to low recipient numbers. 

INFORMATION

COMPANY

Philips

ROLE

Design
Research
Data analysis
Workshop facilitator
Wireframing

TOOLS

Miro
Figma
Azure

TEAM

1 Product designer(Me)
3 CRM experts
1 Product Owner

DURATION

4 months

SOLUTION

Sending out a series of emails to capture data missing that were necessary for segmentation.

     OUR SOLUTION ENTAILED

• User could easily make his choice by clicking on a button
• Options shown were based on other information we may have had on the user
• If the options weren't applicable, user could easily press "Other" and update their profile in the preference centre

WORKSHOPS

Workshops built a sense of shared responsibility.

During the define and ideate stages, we had workshops with experts from functions such as IT, CRM, Privacy, Marketing and markets. By combining everybody's expertise, not only did we establish shared responsibility, but also we came up with the most optimal solution at the time.

I facilitated all workshops and was the main contact person for this project.

RESEARCH | CRM DATA ANALYSIS

We discovered that at least 60% of CRM contacts were missing data needed for being sent emails.

Initially, we analysed the CRM database and we found out that there was missing crucial information for at least 60% of all contacts. While I raised the issue to the proper teams to solve the sources of the problem, it was imperative to also get more data for our existing contacts.

RESEARCH | COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING

Findings showed that multiple methods were used, but gated content was the no.1 preference.

We ran a competitive benchmarking to get a grasp on best practices. Our findings were that the most used tactic was gathering information through gated content. However, there were other opportunities such as email, LinkedIn, etc. to be explored. 

Usually, I would create personas & customer journeys. However, the lack of data & the urgency to get to a solution deemed it impossible.

IDEATE | BRAIN WRITING & FEASIBILITY/IMPACT MATRIX

Brain writing gave us the ideas, but the feasibility/impact matrix showed us the way: email.

To gather ideas we did a brainwriting exercise, during which we were enhancing each other's ideas in every round. However, we needed to choose one that would be easy and fast to implement. I chose the feasibility/impact matrix to examine which one we should proceed with. Email was the answer.

IDEATE | SKETCHES

A clear vision achieved by sketches.

To give the team a clear vision, I made some sketches on how the emails should look like. The sketches were based on well-known CRM best practices that I was familiar with due to my past CRM and marketing experience. 

PROTOTYPE | BACK-END DATA MAPPING

Personalized options for our contacts to choose from.

I believed that a more tailored approach would yield better numbers than a 'one size fits all'. This entailed examining the contact data we did have available so that, where possible, we could offer them the most likely options to choose from.

PROTOTYPE | WIREFRAMES

From sketches to hi-fi wireframes, almost ready for launch.

I designed the hi-fi wireframes and presented them to the team to receive feedback. The feedback was positive and we all agreed that we can send the emails out.

PROTOTYPE | USER FLOWS

I designed the user flows to have a good overview on how the emails should be sent out & easily handover to the development teams.

PROTOTYPE | PILOT TESTING

Our pilot program was successful!

We tested our solution to see if we can indeed gather data from our contacts through email. The only caveat was the we sent out tailored emails to the U.S. users based on the data mapping exercise. We wanted to see if a more tailored approach would perform better. 

COUNTRIES

Australia, Latin America, UK & USA

NO. OF CONTACTS

35% of total database

TESTING | RESULTS

The personalized approach yielded better results, but overall we had a success!

5%

Click-through rate

0.5%

Unsubscription rate

+15%

User Engagement

RETROSPECTION | NEXT STEPS

The project ended, but let's see what else I'd explore.

USABILITY TESTING

I'd run some usability tests on our solution and see how we could improve the copy and overall design based on user data.

EXPLORE OTHER TACTICS

I'd try out methods, such as LinkedIn forms or gated content. I'd like to see which method is the most successful and for which audiences.

AUTOMATIC BACK-END MAPPING

I'd see how we can automatically map contact information based on different input criteria.

RETROSPECTION | LEARNINGS

My learnings from this project.

DON'T KNOCK IT TILL YOU TRY IT

There were many reservations on whether our solution would work. In order to just test it, I had to promote a mindset of "let's test it, it's okay if we fail". Quite difficult but always part of the job! The results were positive and thus, it was also confirmed that the mindset was right too!

PERSONALIZATION MATTERS

It may be tempting not to go the extra mile as you may be thinking that the impact will be too little. However, personalization matters so much and the impact can be bigger than anticipated.

Let's talk

From just having a chat to wanting my help for a project, my e-door is always open!

Phone: +31628750362
Email: kath.stavrou@gmail.com
LinkedIn: @kathstavrou

© Katharina Stavrou