Case Studies
Reader's Digest: Readers Find Extra Books Easy To Digest
Published: August 2010
Objective
To promote books, catalogues, music, videos and merchandise through direct mail.
Approach
A 2-fold approach was used. During the first phase, its evergreen ‘Family Word Finder’ was offered in a one-plus-four books lead brochure format. This package was repeated in a second phase using a creative, but simplified promotion pack.
Results
Sales rose 16% in the first phase, while the second mailer increased sales by more than 50% over the first mailer.
As part of its core activity, Reader's Digest promotes books, catalogues, music and video collections, along with merchandise through direct mail to its customers.
In February 2010, one of these mailouts was devoted to Reader's Digest evergreen book, Family Word Finder.
"Whatever your age, education or vocabulary level, Family Word Finder will help you find the right words for the right moment, not once, but all the time," quotes the book brochure.
However, the Reader's Digest team changed things beyond its solo product mailing technique that uses traditional sales, incentives and entries to its famous sweepstakes with a two-fold approach.
First, the team thought that while Family Word Finder was a strong and globally successful book, it wasn't a new title so it was possible Reader's Digest's most loyal customers may have already bought or used it previously, making the offer of the new edition less attractive.
So, it enhanced the offer by featuring a choice of four additional books on a wide range of complementary subjects, including science, self-improvement, healthy cooking and the environment.
Creative for the product promotion was not put into the typical mini catalogue configuration, but into a lead brochure format.
The goal was to encourage multiple orders, which was supported by the traditional sweepstakes offer.
The result saw sales rise 16% compared to a traditional single offer, making this campaign quite successful.
In the second phase, realising that this multiple product configuration might be a strong incentive, it tried further success by repeating the offer to its core customers, using a simplified promotion pack combined with digital efforts.
To avoid customer fatigue, this was kept quite simple and accomplished by creative, from concept to print-ready material, in five days.
The same one-plus-four books configuration, with a minor reference to the previous offer, was sent less than three weeks after the original offer with additional chances to win the sweepstakes.
The second mailer increased the volume of sales by more than 50% over the first mailer, achieving an excellent overall result for the Singapore operations of Reader's Digest.
The Reader's Digest marketing team is looking at re-using this promotional mechanism in the future, but bearing in mind this two-pronged approach needs to be supported by strong products.
It is also critical to closely monitor contact frequency, across all channels, to avoid customers being bombarded with offers.
- Eric Lanoe
- Marketing director S.E Asia
- Reader's Digest Asia