Case Study: Global Newspaper

The Challenge

Our client is a major daily newspaper with a top three circulation rate in the U.S. and a worldwide readership. After an industry-wide struggle with the transition to a profitable digital business model, this firm has successfully developed a formula for online publishing that has outpaced print media as the brand’s biggest source of revenue. Customer acquisition and retention remain the central focus, but by 2018 managers could see that both areas required a modern approach to keep pace with the company’s digital transformation.

Alongside their product innovations, the global newspaper needed to create a painless customer service experience. Competing against increasingly addictive social media apps for attention meant bringing the same level of convenience to their subscribers. The firm needed to find a digital messaging solution that boosted acquisition and retention numbers, which is why they called OutPLEX.

The Solution

OutPLEX set up operations as one of several companies assigned to Customer Care for the firm in January 2018, handling customer acquisition through chat. The global newspaper had a goal for the conversion rate of 17%. When OutPLEX’s agents beat this goal immediately, the firm was ready to partner with us for additional lines of business.

In mid-2018, OutPLEX began work on the newspaper’s general customer care operations, through the web chat and SMS channels. In mid-2019, a retention campaign went online, which targets customers intent on canceling their subscriptions.

OutPLEX deployed just over 100 agents to staff these channels by the end of 2020. By this point, contact volume was up to 1.25M per year. Deploying cutting edge automation software, agents were able to iteratively train and improve bots to make each line of business more efficient. With an expanding knowledge base and intuitive features like intent recognition, the bots are able to contain simple inquiries and help convert sales.

The Result

Rapid Deployment

While the acquisitions team originally beat sales targets by 6%, adding bots to the mix boosted the team’s efficiency even higher. With the help of automation, their conversion rate jumped to 36% in 2019 and topped 43% in 2020. 

Satisfaction and Retention

OutPLEX has assumed all of the general customer care operations for the firm, after improving average customer satisfaction scores by 10% over the previous vendor. This metric now trends over 80% for each line of business, with retention showing an impressive 85%.

Gartner research shows that¹ customer effort is the strongest driver of customer loyalty. The retention department has excelled in this regard, with an effort score of 87.3%. The save rate has responded accordingly, with more than 37% of customers who call to cancel now maintaining their subscription. 

Whether your subscription-based business is a household name already or hopes to be one tomorrow, OutPLEX can help you acquire and hold on to your customers. Take the first step with our sales team today.

¹ https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/unveiling-the-new-and-improved-customer-effort-score/

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