SAP Concur Uses the Personal Touch to Reengage with Customers

The SAP Concur marketing team realized they were out of touch—with some customers, that is. They noticed that some people who had not engaged with marketing activities within a certain timeframe were becoming inactive and are no longer marketable. Kaitlin Lund, Senior Field Marketing Manager at SAP Concur, decided something had to be done about it, so the  marketing team hit on the idea to target those customers nearing inactivity within Marketo. To reengage with them quickly and successfully, the team decided to add a personal touch.  

Initially, the plan was to send yet another batch of emails, but they realized they needed something more impactful. Lund notes: "They're not engaging for a reason," suggesting that a higher value approach was necessary to demonstrate SAP Concur’s appreciation for their business. This led to a pilot program in the company’s Southern Region to test a different strategy.  

Jill Piela, SAP Concur Program Marketing Manager, adds that they opted for a more elaborate mailer to target key individuals for reengagement, recognizing the potential for additional value through renewals. As with most marketing today, the challenge wasn't reaching these individuals but, rather, engaging with them effectively.

Capture the Address

The key to success, according to Piela, was getting individuals to visit a preferred-address page. Once engaged, they would be directed to a landing page to capture their email address, ultimately bringing them back into active status for marketing communications.

There were actually two processes going on at the same time here. First, close-to-in-active contacts were reached out to via Marketo email, while customers who were suspended from Marketo were contacted by the internal sales teams. Recipients were encouraged to visit a landing page to provide their shipping address for a small gift, aimed at fostering appreciation and engagement.

This is what prompted the collaboration with PFL. The chosen gift—a movie popcorn night package—was selected as something that could be enjoyed by the recipients and their families. Further, it was deliberately kept generic to avoid tying it to a specific time of year. According to the SAP team, PFL’s handling of the direct mail campaign was seamless. Especially important to SAP was that it was possible to make modifications to the design of the mailer, as well as include personalized cards for each recipient.

Key Decision-makers

Overall, the program was a hit with those the SAP marketing team sent mailers to, including finance and payroll directors, accounting managers, and other key decision-makers: the response rate was a whopping 77 percent. And while the primary goal of that campaign was reengagement rather than opportunity creation, it actually resulted in 11 opportunities generated, leading to $3.1 million in influenced pipeline.

Kaitlin Lund emphasizes the value of nurturing relationships with decision-makers, even if immediate sales aren't guaranteed, for it can lead to future opportunities or add-ons. Overall, the campaign was deemed successful, prompting replication in other regions.  

In the end, the campaign demonstrated the importance of personalized, high-value engagement in reactivating inactive or unresponsive customers, ultimately contributing to business growth and relationship-building.