The campaign strategy has been set and the offer created. All that needs to be done now is the selection and loading of the call lists. The campaign is ready to roll and you can hand off to the call center. But wait, have you made sure that the call center will be able to get the maximum value from all of your hard work?

Recognising and correcting the most common campaign “set up” problems can have a huge impact on your campaign outcomes. So the next time you are starting a new campaign ask yourself these questions:

Are my campaign objectives clear and are my targets properly set?

Objective and target setting are two of the most important steps in successful campaign execution. If you hear comments like “I’m not really sure why we are offering this to these customers”, or “I just tell them about it but I really don’t understand what the offer is about” from your consultants then you may have a problem.

By setting and clearly communicating the objectives and targets for every campaign you will ensure that customers will not be able to resist the opportunity to purchase.

As an example, setting targets set at individual, group and team levels and then fully briefing in campaigns can result in a 3% or more increase in response rates. So it’s worth taking the time to get it right.

Are poor quality leads reducing my response rates and increasing campaign costs?

Having bad leads in you call lists is costly. Every incorrect lead is a wasted call that costs you money and time without the chance of a sale. Plus it takes the place of a good lead that can produce a sale. Lists should be audited and tested before campaign “go live” to ensure that all leads are of good quality and relevant to the campaign objectives.

I recently helped a client to implement an audit process for every campaign and they saw an immediate 1.5% increase in response rates.

Am I discarding lists because I think they are too small?

Have you ever run a selection for a list only to find it seemed too small to create a dialler list?

List sizes are an important consideration when setting up campaigns. Small list sizes sometimes get canned due to the misconception that they will be too expensive to run through a dialler. But this can be easily changed my making the small list a “split” of a larger list. This maintains your operational efficiencies and reduces administration costs.

Recently we worked with a company that had a number of small lists that were not being used to their fullest potential. After revising their processes they saw an immediate conversion improvement.

Are my “mostly likely to buy” customers being called first?

Calling the best prospects first seems obvious but it isn’t always factored in when a list is created and downloaded to the dialler. Remember, put those customers that you think will be easier conversions at the top of the list and watch the results fly. Getting more conversions faster will also give you the opportunity to move onto other high yielding campaigns instead of working through the dead wood within the rest of the list.

This trick also helps motivate consultants as they move through the list, increasing their confidence and giving them experience before they encounter the harder sales down the list.

Recently I worked with an organisation that was not ordering their lists by propensity. By simply changing their load approach they increased their response rates by 2%.

Are my campaign dialler settings costing me results?

Diallers are powerful pieces of technology but, like all technology, they must be used the right way or it can mean lost opportunities to service customers and make sales.

Many diallers have the ability to generate excellent results by automatically recalling engaged or busy numbers or sequentially calling alternative numbers from a customer’s file when numbers are not answering or engaged.

However, the ability of a dialler to extract the most out of any list is based on the complex thresholds set up within the dialler itself and the minute to minute operational management of those thresholds.

As the person responsible for the campaign success, what instructions or business rules have you provided to the call center to ensure that you gain the highest yields from your campaign lists?

A recent review of a client’s dialler utilisation immediately increased campaign results through increased list penetrations of 20% and ensured a 98% success rate for call backs. This resulted in a 2% increase in response rates.

So, the next time you are setting up a new campaign ask yourself a few questions to ensure that you get the best results possible right from the start.

Any thoughts? Leave us a comment below!