The importance of data marketing

The cooperation between MindCampus and Ternair goes back to 2012. Back then, MindCampus - then still under the name Weka Business Media - was working with different mail systems for its various commercial and content newsletters for HR and facility management professionals. Those databases were completely separate. 'It was a bit chaotic,' recalls director Pieter Lieverse. 'Our customer data were spread across all kinds of databases: not only in the various mail systems, we also had all kinds of data stored in the online back office and the financial back office. If we wanted to get serious about our database marketing, we had to do something. That's how we ended up at Ternair. Not that the problem was solved immediately then: we needed about four months of lead time to unlock all systems. That was not Ternair's fault : it was just complicated to identify all the fields in the different systems and make them connect to each other. But after that start-up phase, our system was up-and-running and we were able to send out our first commercial mailing.'

An important battle, says Lieverse. Finally there was structure and the company could start running much more targeted e-mail marketing campaigns. 'Because we then also connected other systems, we were also able to work more intelligently,' he says. Yet somewhere the realization dawned that Ternair's system offered more possibilities than MindCampus took from it. 'That has to do with the employees who were using the system,' Lieverse explains. 'We could not easily keep up with the new functionalities. The first three years we had varying success But in 2015 there was a turnaround and the cooperation gained momentum. That year we hired a new marketer, who clearly had more affinity with the system. He saw the potential and wondered why we weren't doing more with it. Since then, we have really started to scale up and have been able to approach customer communications as a whole.'

Beating heart

Now the entire customer communication runs through Ternair's software . Not only the commercial and content newsletters, but also the sales activities and the onboarding flow of MindCampus training participants. 'The click behavior of our customers, both in response to email newsletters and website visits, forms the basis of our commercial approach. If we see that a prospect or customer is interested in certain content, we act accordingly and choose which form of remarketing to apply. A commercial email? Do we approach him on Facebook? Through AdWords? We can now use all possible channels to bring the customer to conversion. In the beginning, when we were just working with Ternair, we sent out a standard e-mail newsletter with a product overview. Then we hoped people would click through or download a brochure or white paper. The people who had done so, we selected and later sent another dedicated email with information about a specific training course. This helps to get people to the top of the funnel, which is what it's all about after all. If people now click through on a generic newsletter or come to a training page via another channel, they will automatically receive a new e-mail after, say, a fortnight with information about what they are interested in.

We have created clusters of programs, making the emails much more relevant to the recipients. This has resulted in many times higher and continuous enrollment in our programs. Before, on our dedicated newsletters, we had an opening rate of maybe 20 percent, now it's twice as high, 35 to 45 percent. The interplay with Google and Facebook is then causing us to see a higher and more stable flow of registrations for our courses, up to 25 percent more. This is partly due to the better economy and the level of our courses, but also undeniably due to our online marketing efforts. You can actually say that Ternair, Ternair's package, is the beating heart of our marketing operation.'

'Previously we had an opening rate of maybe 20 percent on our dedicated newsletters, now it's twice as high, 35 to 45 percent'

Lieverse is very pleased with the cooperation with Ternair , but a little prodding now and then can't hurt, he has noticed. A year and a half ago, Ternair freed up a consultant to spend a few days with us. We then set up a number of subprojects to optimize certain processes. That facilitated our overview, allowing us to run even faster. We both benefit from that.'According to Lieverse, an important condition for success is to have someone in-house who has an affinity for database marketing. 'To make good use of it, you do need quite a bit of analytical ability. In the first years of our cooperation, this was insufficiently present among the users at the time. Moreover, we first had to clear up the chaos before we could make any headway. We have a customer database with hundreds of thousands of names. Undoubtedly not all relevant, but that is why you have to know very well what you are doing. And then if you don't have the right people in place, you're driving an overpriced car anyway. It only starts to pay off when you know what you're doing. By now we do realize that we have to have a good data marketer in house. That is essential.'

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