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Standard Life Calls On Chordiant To Turn Data Into Marketing Strategy 
Scotland-based Standard Life, which has US $77 billion of funds under management,
had invested a sizeable chunk of its direct marketing budget in computer systems and
software to help give it a clearer picture of its customers.
Time to Make a Move"The problem had been going for two years," explained Sandy McPherson, Standard Life’s client relations manager. "Our systems were designed initially around our projects meeting independent financial advisers’ and customer expectations. But they were not designed to communicate with customers." They needed to implement a system to draw customer data from existing legacy systems onto a single database, controlled by the marketing department and linked to a contact center. Shifting Gears Standard brought in Chordiant to provide the hardware and systems support for its database of 1.5 million customers, as well as Chordiant Marketing Director software, which provides a live customer marketing database. Standard Life required that the system be up and running within four months—and Chordiant met that target date. Standard Life now operates all its own database systems and software in-house, where it is used by all members of the marketing team. "The system is intuitive and very powerful," McPherson said. "But to make it work, you must know what to do. To get the most from it, you have to be a marketing specialist and know your way around the system." Improved Customer Response Together with Standard’s legacy systems and contact center data, Chordiant Marketing Director provides an up-to-date view of each customer, and helps the company plan direct mail campaigns. These capabilities have led to a leap in customer response to Standard’s pension, investment, health care, life and mortgage business. McPherson cites response rates that are 35% ahead of target across the range, and notes that the database and software combination is more than paying for itself. Face-to-Face The system helps Standard Life control its communications so that it is talking only to its "direct" customers, with whom it deals without the help of independent agents. Standard Life aims to arrange face-to-face contact with these customers every 12 to 18 months, by first analyzing customer data, then communicating to them via direct mail. The system identifies households with more than one policyholder and sends customer magazines to each household, rather than to all policyholders—a significant cost savings. It also ensures that all outgoing marketing information is relevant, and creates event-driven campaigns, such as tailored life plans for those reaching a certain age. Using Marketing Director's inherent ability to integrate with other enterprise systems, data from responses can be used by staff at Standard’s telemarketing operation, where 2,000 appointments a week and 500,000 calls per year are made. "Company of the Year" McPherson sees the development of the customer management system as a major move forward for Standard Life. As well as yielding practical business benefits, the program has helped the company win awards. Independent financial advisers recently voted Standard Life "Company of the Year." Standard Life’s direct marketing campaign budget is $2.5 million a year, and McPherson says that since the live database was installed, the direct marketing program is well within that. Installing a system such as Chordiant Marketing Director has encouraged a true bonding across Standard Life’s marketing organization. McPherson stated, "The concept was that you build this huge expensive database with expensive software. But marketing information about individuals can now be distributed throughout the whole organization, rather than to just a handful of individuals." |  | |
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