One-to-one printed magazines cause consumer delight

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on April 24, 2007

One-to-one printed magazines cause consumer delight

With the aim of increasing customer loyalty, marketing response, and spending levels, the Israeli make-up retail chain Madina Milano recently launched one-to-one personalisation for its printed customer magazine, with help from customer loyalty and database marketing experts from SegMarketing.

Due to the technology that SegMarketing employs for variable digital print (see 13 Mar. 2007), with some 30,000 copies of 16 editions being printed, the cosmetics firm's 12 page full colour magazine can contain different text and images according to each customer's profile and previous transaction history.

Personalised collection This past winter, the company presented its 2007 Wired Woman Winter Collection in the form of a personalised magazine for each customer, conceived and orchestrated with SegMarketing, which conducts the company's day-to-day customer specific marketing strategies.

The project was conducted based on customer data from Madina Milano's membership club. Sophisticated data analysis identified various customer segments, including new customers, VIP customers, churners, and makeup artists, to which different versions of the magazine were sent.

Taken to extremes Personalisation was extreme, and was so deeply engrained in the magazine that each page was adapted to each customer's unique behaviour and characteristics. One morning, every customer received the Winter 2007 Wired Women Collection Magazine sealed in a personally designed envelope.

Even the front page and titles, barcode, and articles contained each customer's first and last name, with the front page even making reference to the customer's birthday by featuring the appropriate astrological sign and a short forecast.

Personal offer vouchers The entire magazine included a number of personalised messages and themes, which changed from one segment to the next, integrated with personalised images and photographs. And of course the magazine also featured a personalised special offer voucher to reward each customer according to their value to the company, and to elicit a marketing response.

One of the keys to the magazine's success was a pilot experiment conducted by SegMarketing before sending the final magazine to Madina's entire customer base. The pilot measured various parameters to minimise any risks involved and to determine whether or not the magazine would achieve a significant return on investment.

Trial results In the trial, some 9,000 copies were initially sent to three sub-groups of customers. The first group received nothing, while the second group received a non-personalised magazine, and the third group received the personalised magazine. Each group consisted of randomly selected customers representing each segment proportionally. Sixteen different offer vouchers were tested to determine which worked best for each segment.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the first two control groups and the group that received the personalised magazine:

  • 250% increase in revenue among dormant customers and churners;  
  • 190% increase in revenue among new customers;  
  • 55% increase in revenue among VIP customers;  
  • Over 47% response rate;  
  • The total addition to gross profit was 110% within 2 weeks.

Other benefits felt The magazine also saw a number of less quantifiable results. Apart from greatly increased traffic and 'buzz' in the market, customers were moved by the campaign and the notion that their business is truly appreciated. Madina's corporate office received a great many e-mails and phone calls from customers who simply wanted to thank the company and express that they had never received such a gesture from any other company. Some customers even turned up in person at the company's offices to thank Madina's CEOs, Ram & Ofek Kairi.

Finally, the personal magazine appears to have strengthened customers' emotional bond with the Madina Milano brand, and has assisted in preserving and growing both customer loyalty and customer spend levels.

Madina Milano is a reseller of The Intercos Group, a manufacturer of make-up for the international cosmetic industry.

For additional information: ·  Visit Intercos at http://www.intercos.com ·  Visit SEG at http://www.segmarketing.com (English at top left)