Case Studies

Some key factors in why clients choose USADATA are our exceptional ability to assist in navigating the complex deployment of an Enterprise Marketing Management solution quickly, with minimal impact to Corporate Staff and Agents. Providing the best long-term solutions that meet the ever evolving needs of both Agents’ and Corporate Marketing programs, USADATA’s Industry reputation is best captured by our work with existing clients as:

•	Agile: A recently engaged client chose USADATA for our ability to swiftly react to specific business needs and quickly configure the Platform to meet and exceed those needs, supported with metric-driven, tangible results.

•	Scalable: A current client deployment has over 15,000 agents and 50,000 additional support and corporate staff accessing the platform. Additional value-creating functions can also be added to the Base Platform, as desired.

•	Stable: With no software to download and a guaranteed 99.8% uptime (all enterprise clients have been up over 99.95% in the past year), the Platform ensures that Agents always have access to an easy to use, time saving solution.

The Printer, Inc.

February 2009

The Business Challenge

When the Iowa-based print company The Printer, Inc. (TPI) was searching for a new data provider, it had specific business needs. As an IT-centric print company that provides hybrid (conventional and digital) print solutions for relational database-driven marketing programs, TPI needed a strong partner with sophisticated online tools that were powerful, easy-to-use, and reliable. They were working with an important client -- a major satellite TV provider that offers both business-to-business services and business-to-consumer services -- who was creating high-volume marketing communications campaigns throughout the country. Knowing the stakes were high, they had to choose wisely.

Dave Rittman, VP of Sales for The Printer, Inc. (TPI) determined that there were few providers that could handle that kind of volume. After a successful initial contact, Rittman was confident that USADATA was the one, and USADATA won the business thanks to its online data portal, the Leads Platform. Jon Rapkin, SVP, USADATA explains, “The Leads Platform is a standalone, turnkey option for organizations wanting to offer their clients or users the ability to order mailing lists and sales leads through a site with their branding. It’s a no-maintenance solution, hosted and maintained by USADATA.” These capabilities proved to be answer for Rittman and TPI. Rittman says, “The [Leads Platform] was absolutely critical to our relationship. Our previous supplier was just less versatile in providing that solution or interface for us. They couldn’t supply the tools, the technology or the data."

Experiencing USADATA

Working with the Leads Platform -- which has proved to be easy-to-use, convenient, and incredibly versatile for TPI -- meant, above all, that the printer, and its top client, would access reliable, quality data. They were able to choose their lists to meet specific demographic and geographic criteria. They were able to target variable data content to customer profiles at a 1:1 level. And they were able to pick available households whose budgets would afford the satellite TV provider’s specific products and services. Rittman was impressed, “The database is good, and after using USADATA, I trust that they're going to do their homework as far as what data compilers they're going to align themselves with. I can offer their data to my clients with confidence, and I trust that they'll keep my business interests at heart."

And while the web portal served TPI’s daily needs, Rittman was happy that his new data partner also offered a dependable human behind the scenes. He praises his USADATA Account Director saying, "It’s imperative to have access to Mike on the phone. He knows the business; he’s open and honest; he’s a good partner and is very responsive. We talk to him a couple of times a month, maybe, when we have a special requirement." Mike Francois, Account Director, is just one of a full staff of Data Specialists and Account Directors who can assist clients and recommend the right mix of databases and filters that best serve the needs and goals of the user.

Results

Now, almost two years after TPI found USADATA, the printer has pulled over 4.2 million sales leads from the Leads Platform for over 50 national marketing campaigns. It has extended access through the web portal to over 4,000 TV satellite dealers throughout the country, who access the system with a secure login and can manage and execute specific campaigns in their local districts. And while TPI initially pursued the relationship specifically for their satellite TV client, it now utilizes it for approximately 20 clients in total, primarily in the gaming industry.

Rittman says, “It’s a quality resource that eliminates intermediary requirements and is cost-effective.” In an uneasy economy, such cost-efficiency is the bottom line for TPI and for its clients. The Platform has minimized TPI’s administrative cost for exchanging information [manually] with USADATA, has dropped its cost-per-piece, and has allowed TPI to maintain its clients and grow its client base. Rittman is grateful saying, “Had it not been for the web portal tool, we would not have been able to maintain that book of business. What I'm finding is that most of the major list houses will boast about their online solutions. But USADATA’s is by far the standout.”

Insurance
ROI Summary

Increased Sales	$11.5 million increase in commissions for agents in the first year… $3 million incremental profits.
Reduced IT Costs	$1.3 million saved in internal IT costs attributable to a discontinued legacy system.
Improved Cross-selling	Increased household product penetration by over 50%. Over $2 million in incremental profits.
Unassigned Account Retention	“Orphaned” accounts re-assigned, resulting in $1.3 million in incremental first year commissions to agents.
Reduced Agent Attrition	Agents who used the portal were 45% less likely to leave the organization.

Sales Issues

• Revenue targets not being met

• 80/20 rule – ineffective, inexperienced agents

• Violations of compliance & privacy regulations

• Limited control of direct marketing activities

• Inability to track field prospecting

• Ineffective cross-selling

Customer Data Issues

• Numerous databases unable to talk to each other

• Multiple, outdated records for the same customer

• Existing customers receiving prospect mailings

• Unable to match new customers with the programs that acquired them

• Severely inhibited field agent cross-selling

USADATA provided Software as a Solution

• Web-based direct mail in 5 simple steps

• "New Agent" program

• Best-practice prospecting

• Customer cross-sell application

• No poor quality, non-compliant mail

• Integrated branding & advertising

• Response and ROI tracking

• Running in weeks, with minimal IT resources

USADATA Provided Customer Data Solutions:

• Implemented cross-selling applications for field

• Integrated multiple product and customer databases

• Eliminated duplicate and inaccurate addresses

• Removed customers from prospect mailings

• Enabled Response Tracking application

The Results They Expect

• $ 1 million in reduced mail costs to duplicate or incorrect addresses

• 5% increase in cross-sales revenue

• $1.2 million in reduced prospecting mail costs to existing customers

• Increase first-year agent sales by 5%

• Increase revenues from average (80%) agents by 2%

• Eliminate compliance fines by $450,000 annually

• Decrease agent turnover by 5%

ROI in Twelve Ways

1. Improved sales by spreading best practices

2. Improving first year agent sales

3. Reducing agent time doing marketing

4. Reducing ineffective “one-off” subsidies

5. Leveraging advertising, promotion & segmentation

6. Eliminating prospect pieces to existing customers

7. Increasing cross-selling opportunities

8. Eliminating mail to duplicate and incorrect customer records

9. Taking advantage of purchasing scale for lists, print and mail

10. Improving direct mail practices with experience

11. Avoiding compliance fines for privacy and mail copy

12. Improved recruiting capability