Data is the secret sauce to effective marketing

Rightmove market intelligence campaign

I thought I’d share this campaign with you as it really demonstrates how intelligent use of data is central to every successful campaign.

Background

Although Rightmove was the most successful property portal in the UK, some estate agents needed convincing that its advertising products represented real value for money.

These were either new start-ups or ‘hard to persuade agents’, who had never advertised on Rightmove and were sceptical about what it could offer.

Idea

Rightmove wanted to demonstrate their strength in each agent’s local area, generate intrigue about introductory offers and compel agents to find out more.

With data broken down to postcode level, it was about proving that Rightmove outperformed all its major competitors in all areas.

Because estate agents have their own individual patch, each piece was personalised to the recipient’s particular area, with 118 variations in all.

The map was of the agent’s own area, with a large cut-out representing the potential market the agent could be missing out on.

Inside were local, regional and national stats, all personalised to the agent’s business.

A strong call to action to try a limited-time introductory offer was also personalised.

A follow-up mailer reminded them that the introductory offer was ending soon.

Results 

The fear of missing out, backed up by solid statistics, paid off. 502 new customers were gained, a sign-up rate of 15.37% (worth £214,690 per month and £2,576,280 per year (based on minimum spend per new customer).

Synergy Says

Rightmove is the #1 portal in an incredibly competitive market.

That means Rightmove has to work incredibly hard to protect its position.

So, at the same time that this B-to-B campaign was up and running, the brand was also advertising heavily and cleverly to potential homebuyers.

Marketing today is about keeping many plates spinning.

Rightmove seem to understand better than most that data is the secret sauce to effective marketing, whichever media you are in, and a 15% response rate here is evidence of this.