Summary
RM Education plc (RM) is the UK’s leading provider of educational hardware, software and ICT services to schools.
Since the change in government, schools have seven per cent less to spend on ICT. Technology in education is a more competitive market than ever before and there are a number of big players pursuing less opportunity.
Previously, local authorities paid for broadband for schools using the Harnessing Technology Grant which has recently been abolished. Schools now have to source and pay for their own broadband, therefore opening up a new opportunity for RM.
We recognised this quickly and launched a campaign to generate broadband leads from schools.
The strategy – a low cost, wide reaching, integrated campaign, had key objectives: to generate 100 quotes (leads) with a value of £3.5m and to achieve £1m revenue by the end of April 2011. Calculations are based on a three-year contract at £35k.
With a budget of £6,000, email, direct mail, advertising and telemarketing campaigns were deployed, encouraging schools to request a quote. The campaign was created, designed, and managed in-house.
The value of leads is now £12m, beating target ROI by over 200 per cent, delivering £2.1m revenue, and increasing our broadband customer base by 300 per cent.
About RM Education
RM Education was founded in 1973 and sells ICT products and services into the education sector. We are a manufacturer and a reseller.
Strategy – broader issues the company is facing
Since the change in government, schools have seven per cent less to spend on ICT. To address this, RM has developed a new four point strategy:
1. Improve UK market share
2. Step up and step out (new propositions)
3. International
4. Continue to drive improved performance
The ‘broadband for schools’ campaign supports points one and two, as outline above.
When the Harnessing Technology Grant was cut in 2010, the broadband product management team realised the opportunity this presented and joined together with sales and marketing teams to launch a campaign to schools.
Objectives of the campaign
1. Achieve 100 quote requests with a total value of £3.5m before April 2011 from a cross section of 75 existing customers and 25 new customers
2. Achieve £1m revenue before April 2011
Target audience
We contacted ‘difficult to reach’ key financial decision makers in schools (finance officers, bursars, business managers). These contacts had rarely been engaged with before. With the new Government squeezing school budgets, we knew these were the type of contacts that would be interested in cost savings. The emails that formed part of the campaign maintained a steady 10 per cent open rate throughout, generating 115 requests for quotes.
Segments were chosen as follows:
1. By sector: primary or secondary schools
2. By type: such as independent, state or academy
3. By country: England, Scotland or Wales
4. By region: schools in different regions have different broadband speed options.
Prior Research
The team followed forums on edugeek.net where schools discuss ICT issues. It was there that RM learnt about the price hikes schools were facing.
Research also showed that there were a number of big players in the broadband arena, also now targeting schools, including BT, Virgin Media, Cable and Wireless and Capita. We knew we’d need an outstanding proposition and campaign in order to win business.
Media, channels and techniques used
Using the insight we gained from the research, we addressed the challenges we faced by:
1. Reviewing and tweaking our cost model by agreeing lower pricing with our telecoms partners.
2. Separating out services we previously bundled together and instead offering a ‘pick n mix’ approach
3. Offering two new services free for six months
4. Introducing a cheaper copper line offering for primary schools
5. Retraining the sales force
As the contacts had not been engaged with before we decided on an integrated campaign, using a range of approaches.
1. Targeted, segmented email sends using data from The Education Company’s database, Spirit. 44,650 emails were sent to nine segments. The open rate ran at a solid 10 per cent. The click rate was less successful at two per cent. However, broadband is a complex proposition that many customers prefer to discuss over the telephone. 65 customers phoned in.
2. Emails were tested and amended throughout the campaign by using a variety of creative design, subject lines and calls to action.
3. Letters with a fax-back form were sent to 190 customers that we did not have permission to email.
4. A successful telemarketing campaign targeted 119 schools in London where we knew we could help make savings due to their location. 10 schools requested quotes from this segment.
5. Online advertising took place on the homepage of www.rmeducation.com. Broadband pages achieved 565 visits. 249 of these were new visits and 258 were returning visits.
6. Lead generative eshots were also deployed using E-media, a third party company, in order to contact new prospects who were not on our database, or those we did not have permission to contact ourselves.
Bulletins we utilised were:
a. The Education Management Bulletin (circulation of 18,000)
b. The Education Technology Bulletin (circulation of 25,000)
The response to these bulletins was good and, as a result, we sent out quotes to 24 new customers.
7. RM also writes a blog for school leaders. We blogged about our broadband offering.
Calls to action
A number of calls to action were available throughout the campaign, including:
a. Two online data capture questionnaires
b. Customers hitting ‘reply’ to email campaigns and sending us their postcode and broadband speed requirements
c. Telephoning the sales team
d. Visiting www.rmeducation.com/broadband
e. Responding to a telemarketing call by requesting a quote
f. Using a fax back form on the back of the letter. This was used eight times.
Quotes were generated following completion of calls to action. We generated quotes within 48 hours. A total of 330 quotes were requested.
Timescales of the campaign
Research took place in December 2010, the main push of the campaign began in January 2011 and ended in April 2011. Reporting has taken place on a weekly basis throughout this time.
Results
Measurement focused on leads generated in order to boost pipeline in a challenging market.
1. 330 quotes (leads) generated = 230 more than plan.
2. Quotes came from 298 existing customers and 32 new customers. This was 223 and 7 more than plan respectively.
3. Lead value reached £12m = £8.5m more than plan
4. £2.1m revenue generated = £1.1m more than plan
5. We beat our target ROI by over 200 per cent
6. We also increased our broadband customer base by 300 per cent
Testimonial
“Having uncovered this massive opportunity following the change in government, we’re incredibly happy with the results we’ve achieved. With a small budget we generated a fantastic response from hard to reach decision makers in schools, 10 per cent of which had never bought from us before. We’ve quoted £12m worth of business and closed £2.1m which demonstrates our ability to act fast and to generate tangible results in a tough market.”
Julie Dixon, senior marketing executive
