4 business negotiations obtained by sending one e-mail magazine! ｜Lifecom, Inc.
Mr. Michiyo Shiino (right), General Manager, Sales Department, Lifecom Corporation; Mr. Tetsuya Ogoshi (left), Manager, Sales Department, Lifecom Corporation
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Lifecom, Inc.
| Location | Nihonbashi Chuo Building 4F, 2-11-2, Nihonbashi Hamacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Business Activity | Printing business, website production, video production, etc. |
| URL | http://www.lifcom.co.jp/ |
We are looking forward to seeing the ideas that only a company that provides web marketing can come up with.
Please introduce your company
Mr. Shiino: We are a printing company that has been in business for 50 years, and we handle printed materials for government agencies and general companies. We have a particular strength in printing flyers, as we can utilize our own production facilities.
Mr. Okoshi: Both Mr. Shiino and I are in the sales department, but since we don't have a marketing department, we are also in charge of marketing. We have a total of 15 people in our sales department, but only two are in charge of marketing.
The two of us are also in charge of updating the company's website, and we also analyze and search big data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the influx of traffic.
Mr. Shiino: We did not have a specific division in mind when we introduced BowNow, but we are currently using the online proofreading system. In order to produce printed materials, there is always a need for proofreading, i.e., we hand over the print data to the customer in PDF format, they print it out, make corrections in red, and send it back to us. Our online proofreading system allows us to do all this on the screen.
【Challenges before implementation】The order rate was sluggish and the company needed to efficiently develop new customers.
What challenges did you face before implementing MA?
Mr. Shiino: One of the challenges we faced in developing new customers was how to do so efficiently.
We were receiving inquiries from new customers via our website, but if the inquiry did not turn into an order, we felt it would be difficult to retain the customer and create opportunities to contact them again.
We have been renewing the websites of our clients to increase the inflow of traffic to their sites. However, the growth was sluggish due to the rise of online printing and the increased focus on web marketing by our competitors.
Even outside of the website, the rate of orders received from leads with whom we had exchanged business cards was stagnant.
In addition, in the past, although we could track the number of incoming visitors, we couldn't tell what kind of customers were visiting which pages, and thus we couldn't track the actual effect.
Therefore, we started looking for a tool that could complement these aspects.
【Selection Points】Decided that it would be easy to implement, affordable, and perfect for a trial run.
What was the deciding factor for you to choose BowNow among the many MA tools available?
Mr. Okoshi: We weren't thinking of implementing marketing automation from the beginning, but we learned about BowNow at an exhibition we attended while having a vague sense of these issues, and when we talked to Shiino, he said, "This could be useful. When we shared the information with the entire company, many people responded that they could use it, and we decided to introduce it.
We knew that there were various other tools available, but we did not specifically consider introducing them, and we almost exclusively considered BowNow.
【Measures & Effects】Generated 4 business meetings from sending about 600 email newsletters!
What kind of measures are you currently using BowNow for?
Mr. Okoshi: We have just introduced the system and are still in the process of using it, but we have segmented our customers into "direct order takers" and "agents," and are creating and sending email newsletters with content suited to each segment.
We also plan to use a common email for all leads.
In addition, as soon as we receive a request for quotation or an inquiry, we will assign a sales representative within the company and input it into BowNow.
By entering the information into BowNow, we have been able to clarify the person in charge and prevent any omissions in the follow-up process.
What specific results have you seen since you started your marketing efforts?
Mr. Shiino: We sent out about 600 mail magazines about the online proofreading system, which I mentioned at the beginning of this report, and received four inquiries.
Also, I think the fact that a mood was created within the sales department to "make the most of the leads once we have acquired them" is also an achievement.
Mr. Okoshi: We do not use SFA, and this was almost the first time we introduced a digital tool, but since it is not a complicated function, I think the penetration of the system among employees is relatively fast.
The fact that the marketing staff was in the sales department was also a good thing. I think it was less likely to cause a backlash than being told to use a tool from another department.
【Future Outlook】We want to conduct market research to find out which of our products will be the hook among all of our products and improve them.
What would you like to challenge in the future with BowNow and marketing initiatives?
Mr. Shiino: We would like to take measures to segment leads according to their responses to the e-mails we send out, and then send e-mails tailored to each of them.
I also think that we need to conduct more tests to objectively know the market response to see which of the various services we offer will be the hook. In addition, we would like to reflect this information on our website and improve it so that leads who visit our website will convert properly.
Mr. Okoshi: We would also like to further strengthen our mail magazine distribution. We also undertake website production ourselves, so we will be able to verify the effectiveness of BowNow by introducing it to our clients. We often receive inquiries from clients who want to outsource their entire mail magazine distribution, but even if we can handle the copywriting, we cannot handle the distribution beyond that. We would like to introduce BowNow to our clients if they find the delivery tool they are using difficult to use.
Although we have just started, we are trying to differentiate ourselves from other companies by using e-mail newsletters to publicize our services. We would like to continue to communicate our company's features so that people will choose us from among the many printing companies.
【Customer's Voice】Time flies when you start watching BowNow.
What do you expect from BowNow in the future and what do you think of Mtame's proposal?
Mr. Okoshi: BowNow is an easy-to-use tool with simple functions and an easy-to-read UI. I think it is suitable for a company like ours, which is not used to digital tools, to introduce it as a first step.
It can do a wide range of things, and once you start looking at BowNow, time flies. It's a tool with a wide range of possibilities, so it's up to us to figure out how to make the most of it, and we'd like to continue using it.
Mr. Shiino: BowNow also works very hard to support us. There is a person in charge of each phase of the project, and they provide support for a monthly fee. If you don't use this kind of tool, it's a waste of money, so it's great to have such generous support. I feel that the cost is more than worth it.
Thank you very much!
