Curtis 1000 provides commercial and digital print, direct marketing, stationery programs, and technology solutions to mid-market companies.
About the Client
For more than 135 years, Curtis 1000 has been advising its clients on the most effective ways to communicate with their customers and employees using print and digital tactics. Curtis 1000 prides itself on its investment in robust systems and user-friendly portals to stay ahead of market trends, make impactful designs, and distribute communications faster and more securely than its competition. They collaborate with their clients to diagnose challenges and recommend practical solutions that solve their toughest business communication problems.
Challenge
In response to <5% response rates from a recent customer survey and an 8% response rate from recent marketing campaigns, Curtis 1000 was searching for ways to improve its existing marketing collateral, customer incentives, and sales process to improve its ROI and sales conversion on large ($100K/year) prospective client accounts.
Jamey Gentry, then Director of Marketing for Curtis 1000, contacted me on April 1, 2016, to utilize the Taylor Innovation Center's research and design analysis services. To fit within his department's budget and marketing timeline constraints, the Innovation Center team needed to conduct a quick-turnaround research initiative within a $15,000 budget. The findings would then be passed along to Curtis 1000's designers, marketers, and sales leadership team to incorporate the recommendations into the June marketing campaign.
Process
To begin, we had a kickoff phone call with Curtis 1000 stakeholders to understand the project scope, goals, timeline, and restrictions. I put together a project proposal with three options for research, including quotes from two market research facilities, that fit within the proposed budget and timeline.
Next, my team booked Leede Research's facility and defined our research parameters, including prospective client list, participant screenings, time commitment, number of focus group sessions, participant incentives, and recordings. In preparation, we collaborated with Curtis 1000 to create a script, visuals, user group profiles, and prompts to ask during the sessions relating to brand positioning, client-vendor preferences, and marketing collateral feedback.
Behind-the-scenes photo of one of the focus group sessions.
Solution
On April 27, 2016, the Taylor Innovation Center and Curtis 1000 hosted two 75-minute focus groups at Leede Research in St. Louis Park, MN. The participants were comprised of marketing decision-makers, purchasing managers, and VPs of purchasing from 14 target prospective clients from the northern and southern Minnesota markets. All participants were given $150 for their time and free personalized tumblers or phone cases.
Jase Strausberg, an Innovation Center intern, facilitated the two focus groups. Elena Mincheva, Jamie Lint, and I provided behind-the-scenes support, supplied prompts, and recorded participant responses. Jamey Gentry and two other Curtis 1000 stakeholders provided additional follow-up questions to participant responses.
A behind-the-scenes photo during the focus groups and three pages of the focus group findings report.
Results
Following the focus groups, the Innovation Center provided an in-depth review of participant responses and presented a 7-page report with detailed insights and recommendations to improve Curtis 1000's digital and print marketing collateral, messaging reframing, and timing recommendations for four target markets. We also provided a 16-page presentation with findings from the internal user group interviews.
Thanks to meeting the accelerated timeline, Curtis 1000 was able to implement design and messaging changes to its June 2016 marketing campaign. Within the first year, Curtis 1000 saw an improvement of 10% to their number of monthly demo and onboarding calls, reduced their customer acquisition costs by implementing new direct mail and product sample tactics, and improved overall brand recognition.
Focus group feedback on direct mail, emails, physical product samples, and promotional materials was captured and provided to Curtis 1000 designers.
Interviews of user groups at Venture Solutions and Curtis 1000 were conducted and presented to identify pain points in the internal sales process.
