Identify the market, develop the message, and drive the result
Although Edenred had a comprehensive understanding of where to find its best customers in Europe, the US market was uncharted territory. The team needed help identifying key test markets to connect with their ideal target audience. They also needed to effectively reach and engage this audience in a way that would convince them to explore the Edenred Essentials solution.
We started our market research by classifying US metro areas based on their score across key factors: various industry data, product usage statistics, and demographic information. We then developed a comprehensive scoring system to pinpoint the US regions with the greatest potential for the Edenred Essentials launch.
Next, we developed a go-to-market plan that included taking an ABM approach and testing the impacts of multiple digital-media and direct-mail tactics across different markets. Some markets received both digital and direct mail, and some only received direct mail or digital media. Some markets were left untreated and received basic levels of paid search for users actively seeking a fleet fuel solution.
The results
Testing new messages for a new audience
Because the brand was new to the US market, we tested multiple key messaging variations to identify which ones were more likely to engage the target audience. These messages included attributes, key benefits, and control features. While differences were small, the messaging that focused on key benefits like multi-language support, security, and control delivered the highest click-through rates.
Multi-channel markets outperform all others
During the campaign, we tested different channel mixes across various metro areas to assess media impact. In Atlanta, Houston, and San Diego, we used both direct mail and digital channels: programmatic ads, email newsletters, paid social media, and paid search. This multi-channel approach yielded the highest application start and completion rates.
For Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles, we relied only on direct mail, which resulted in strong interest in Edenred Essentials, but lower overall engagement. In Kansas City, Seattle, and Washington, DC, we used digital-only strategies, achieving high application start rates but lower completion rates compared to the multi-channel markets. And in the control markets—Denver, Indianapolis, Richmond, Salt Lake City, and St. Louis—used only minimal paid search efforts, resulting in the lowest application start rates among all tested markets.
432% increase in monthly application starts
From the start of the campaign in August until the end of the year in December, the campaign saw a 432% increase in application starts, with the cost per application starts dropping by more than 75% from the first month of the campaign. During this time frame, the website also saw a 2.6x increase in monthly sessions. This month-over-month performance improvement was by far the greatest achievement of the entire campaign.
The takeaway
While effective campaigns typically build on insights from previous efforts to achieve better outcomes, in this instance, we were able to start from scratch and leverage all available audience insights and testing to deliver impressive results for Edenred.
