Merkle Case Study
Aviva
and Merkle
Data integration and organisational restructuring has helped
to transform a 300 year-old global financial services company rooted in heritage, into a customer-led, agile organisation delivering phenomenal results.
The Challenge
With consumers becoming increasingly immune to the noise of standard marketing communication,
16 million customers in the UK and heritage of growth through acquisition, Aviva recognised they needed to focus reform on three things: its legacy of inherited disparate data sets, a disconnected marketing technology stack and restructuring a siloed organisation. To remain relevant in the new world, Aviva had to completely shift focus from products to customers.
In order to speak to individual customers, Aviva needed all its data in one place, to rethink their approach to marketing. It was time to implement a people-based marketing model.
The Solution
To make this bold and brave transition, Aviva partnered with Merkle to shift its marketing approach,
moving away from traditional product-led marketing strategies to customer-centric communications. This approach, with a focus on digital channels, was aimed at increasing customer acquisition and value through personalisation - ensuring it was meeting the specific needs of each customer.
Aviva chose the Adobe Marketing Cloud to enable this new strategy and, with support from Merkle, it
set about implementing Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target, with Adobe Experience Manager rolling out through 2017/18. By linking these technologies together information, insights and audiences could be shared and, for the first time, anonymous online data brought together with rich CRM data to drive personalisation.
It wasn’t enough to simply implement the tech, Aviva needed to take a leap of faith and restructure
their entire way of working.
So, with Merkle’s help, Aviva took the bold move to completely reorganise a strong marketing
department into multi-functional teams, making it a truly agile environment. The teams, with each one comprising an array of skillsets, were redesigned to lead from customer insight, whilst still organised around business priorities. Merkle sits amongst these teams on a daily basis, providing a full agile team to ensure success of the new approach.
The Results
Campaign turnaround reduced from three weeks to an average of four days - with the fastest, in
response to Hurricane Maria, taking only three hours and driving a 49% open rate.
Cost per acquisition through search and display has also dramatically improved through using
the DMP to drive results, search CPA has reduced by 70%, as well as a 400% increase in sales through display with a 40% reduction in CPA.
From email, open rates have increased by 32% on average with 3x the response rate verses
2016.
50% of all outbound emails are now automated by recognising behavioural rather than product
triggers.
More personalised journeys have meant a 494% increase in cross-sell quotes, with the figure
set to increase as more areas of the website are redeveloped.
Using the data, technology and organisational approach change, Aviva has determined not what
product to sell, but what is right for the customer.
There is still more to learn and do, but Aviva is building a team and a business with a vision to
rebuild trust, reduce complexity and put their customers in control…and they now have the means to achieve it.
To learn more about Merkle’s partnership and capabilities
around Adobe Experience Cloud, contact us today:
+44 (0)33 0060 6065
merkleinc.com/emea
Merkle is a global data-driven, technology-enabled performance marketing agency. For more than 25 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle, the nation’s largest privately-held agency, to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines, Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate connected CRM programs. With more than 2,700 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland with 14 additional offices in the US and offices in London, Shanghai and Nanjing.