Case Study

RATESDOTCA Uses Act-on To Anticipate Customer Need

Major financial services aggregator uses Act-On to support and execute personalized customer journeys. As Canada’s largest and most trusted digital financial acquisition platform, RATESDOTCA is dedicated to helping Canadians make better financial and insurance decisions.

RATESDOTCA
Industry
Insurance
Employees
251-1000

Success By Numbers

Average click-through rates for marketing campaigns
0 %
Increase in total annual email revenue target
0 %

Challenge

Prior to partnering with Act-On, RATESDOTCA (formerly known as Kanetix.ca) was using MailChimp to execute their marketing strategies. Unfortunately, that platform was lacking the robust product features they needed to manage their data, segment their lists, and provide personalized content to accelerate the customer journey. RATESDOTCA operates in an extremely competitive industry, so without these capabilities, they were unable to tailor the customer experience and achieve their goals.

So the team at RATESDOTCA began researching powerful marketing automation alternatives to their lagging email service provider. They chose Act-On because our platform perfectly fits their desire to scale with sophisticated segmentation and tailored personalization.

According to Lydia, they were also impressed with Act-On’s easy and intuitive interface, as well as our out-of-the-box reporting and Active Contact pricing model — which gives RATESDOTCA the flexibility they need to forecast their marketing budget, manage their database, and execute their programs.

Solution

Now armed with a more powerful and sophisticated marketing solution, RATESDOTCA was eager to begin launching new campaigns. As a B2C marketplace, they wanted to use Act-On to support the entire customer lifecycle, which actually meant moving past the traditional website shopping experience by delivering personalized communications directly to their customers’ inboxes.

The first step was gathering and analyzing prospect data and then using that information to segment their contacts. They were able to glean this data by tracking behavioral data on their website, as well as collecting information from third-party vendors. From there, they imported this data into Act-On and began segmenting their audience accordingly (demographics, existing policies, lifestyle, etc.) with our platform’s data management features.

Lastly, they use Act-On’s Automated Journey Builder to build and deliver automated programs with complex conditional logic and intuitive dynamic content. This way, they can provide personalized messaging with more intelligent product and service recommendations based on customer behaviors and purchase history.

Pain Points

Act-On allows us to build automated programs that power our entire outbound efforts. The Automated Journey Builder, in particular, helps us map our content and then visualize and facilitate our customer journeys from start to finish. It’s actually the main selling point of our new product — totally automated renewals!

Lydia Ku

Senior Marketing Manager

Delivering Against Customer Need

Now armed with a more powerful and sophisticated marketing solution, RATESDOTCA was eager to begin launching new campaigns. As a B2C marketplace, they wanted to use Act-On to support the entire customer lifecycle, which actually meant moving past the traditional website shopping experience by delivering personalized communications directly to their customers’ inboxes. The first step was gathering and analyzing prospect data and then using that information to segment their contacts. They were able to glean this data by tracking behavioral data on their website, as well as collecting information from third-party vendors. From there, they imported this data into Act-On and began segmenting their audience accordingly (demographics, existing policies, lifestyle, etc.) with our platform’s data management features.

They use Act-On’s Automated Journey Builder to build and deliver automated programs with complex conditional logic and intuitive dynamic content. This way, they can provide personalized messaging with more intelligent product and service recommendations based on customer behaviors and purchase history.

This goes well beyond superficial data. Using Act-On, Lydia and her team at RATESDOTCA are able to tell a comprehensive story about why a certain product would be a good fit for a specific customer. For example, a consumer might get an email and notice that their auto insurance rates are actually increasing. With Act-On, RATESDOTCA can give the reason(s) why and suggest actions that these individuals can take to reduce their rates.

Said Lydia, “We really wanted to up-level the customer experience. Instead of coming to our website to shop for, say, auto insurance renewals, we wanted to provide them with the lowest rates, the best fit, the most comprehensive solutions, etc. With Act-On, we’re able to deliver against what they need, when they need it. This is the sort of accurate anticipation that fuels truly authentic and successful personalized journeys.”

Personalizing the Customer Journey Yields Great Results

Act-On’s powerful marketing automation empowers RATESDOTCA to facilitate and support the customer journey from start to finish. Our Automated Journey Builder is instrumental in mapping out the entire customer experience and allows them to visualize and execute personalized marketing programs that hit the inbox and make an impact. In fact, Act-On (and the Automated Journey Builder) are at the heart of RATESDOTCA’s newest product — totally automated renewals processes. 

Since Lydia and her team shifted to this new approach and began launching these personalized outbound programs, they are consistently hitting their email revenue targets. In fact, they even eclipsed their ambitious target goals in 2020 — despite the outbreak of COVID-19. Email is a significant channel for RATESDOTCA, so exceeding these goals is paramount to their success. 

According to Lydia, “Everything about Act-On is efficient and innovative — and puts us in a very positive light with our customers. We’re here to help Canadians make better insurance and money decisions, and Act-On helps us do that beyond what we even thought possible.” 

Looking forward, RATESDOTCA is excited to leverage Act-On’s new SMS marketing feature, which was released in the spring of 2021. Lydia and her team believe that by delivering communications to our primary device and circumventing the inbox, they’ll have even greater success and further endear themselves to their customers and vendor partners.