When delivery delays threatened customer satisfaction, Mittelbayerischer Zeitung turned to Selligent by Marigold to deliver timely, personalized communications. The result: improved reader experience, reduced churn, and valuable first-party data for future engagement.
"Working with Selligent has helped us bridge the gap between delivering a quality customer experience with our print publications and in our digital customer service. Plus, we get to collect survey data from known customers to help us further optimize our offering as we move forward."
Mittelbayerischer Zeitung prided itself on timely newspaper deliveries and wanted to reduce the number of customer calls and churn when their normal schedule was interrupted.
With Selligent, Mittelbayerischer Zeitung created a system where readers were alerted immediately of interruptions, and also received vouchers where they could read the paper online for free.
In addition to improving the customer experience, Mittelbayerischer Zeitung captured valuable first-party data with Selligent's technology, enabling them to deliver a more personalized experience tailored to readers’ interests.
Mittelbayerischer Zeitung (MBZ) prides itself on the on-time delivery of its print newspaper, arriving at doorsteps before 6:00 a.m. However, when timely delivery is interrupted for various reasons, the publisher immediately sees an increase in customer service calls. Aside from related costs for call processing, late or non-deliveries can lower customer satisfaction and, in the worst case, lead to churn and canceled subscriptions.
Addressing the issue, MBZ was looking to notify subscribers immediately upon service outages via email, replete with complimentary access to the digital version of the newspaper. In the big picture, the newspaper publisher wanted to increase awareness of the ePaper while using behavioral data from the campaign to create targeted upsell offers, such as a combined print and digital subscription. Most of all, the campaign aimed to reduce churn while raising customer satisfaction among readers.
By connecting Selligent to the in-house SAP system, MBZ was able to trigger a logistics alert when a delivery subscription alert occurred. Affected customers now receive an email alert, featuring an invite to read the day’s paper free of charge in the ePaper app.
As a next step, in cases where predictable service interruptions occur, but the customer’s email remains unknown, the publisher sends a postal letter featuring a voucher code for the ePaper, redeemed on a Selligent landing page. Bringing the initiative full circle, customers are invited to opt into marketing and share personal details, including email addresses, as the basis for automated follow-up with upsell offers sent via Selligent.
To highlight this customer-centric approach and further enhance satisfaction, the customer care initiative is also featured prominently in multi-page advertisements in the print edition. Each click for reading the ePaper is captured in Selligent’s consumer profile as interest in digital reading. Customers who click several times and who opt in are offered an upgrade to a combined print/digital subscription.
The omnichannel integration between online and offline customer care creates a virtuous cycle for gaining rich first-party customer intelligence:
“By collecting additional email addresses from subscribers previously unregistered for marketing, we are able to learn more about our readers and their interests, so we can offer more personalized and targeted content at every step.”
— Andrea Ettl, CRM Manager for MBZ
Selligent by Marigold empowered Mittelbayerischer Zeitung to connect its SAP system with automated, real-time alerts, ensuring readers stayed informed and satisfied. By turning logistical challenges into engagement opportunities, MBZ built stronger relationships and gathered the insights needed for more personalized reader experiences.
Jumpstart customer satisfaction with Selligent by Marigold →
