2009: UPS, Creating Loyal Relationships - Case Study

By creating an appealing desktop gadget to help its time-pressurised customers UPS successfully attracted new users.

Key insights

• UPS needed to grow and improve retention of existing customers while encouraging lapsed and new users to embrace UPS and its products and services.
• The solution had to differentiate the UPS brand among a crowd of competitors.
• The solution was UPS Widget, a desktop gadget personified by a spirited character whose sole aim was to be a hardworking helper. By December 2008 almost 180,000 had been downloaded.

Summary

UPS is a global company with one of the most recognized and admired brands in the world. With sales of almost $50 billion, it manages shipping and logistics services in over 200 countries and territories.

As the market leader in the US, it decided a few years ago to gain a stronger foothold in other regions such as Europe and Asia, where it ranked third and fourth respectively. It also wanted to understand in more depth its target audience — shipping managers — in order to overcome their inertia about changing suppliers and find a way to get their attention.

The resulting solution involved a clever desktop gadget, the UPS Widget, which offered busy shipping managers a simple way to track their shipments at a time when downloadable gadgets were still relatively rare. This helpful gadget was launched with a range of promotional activity in three European markets in September 2007, followed by further campaigns. By December 2008 homepage traffic exceeded 18 million visits, while almost 180,000 widgets had been downloaded.

Going for growth

US market leader UPS wanted to gain a stronger foothold in other global regions such as Europe and Asia, where the brand ranked third and fourth respectively against its competitors. One of the challenges in these markets was to help customers see the benefits of using UPS since, traditionally, companies did not switch suppliers because the effort to change was perceived as greater than the difference it would make. Moreover, the services which UPS wanted decision-makers to consider were not top of mind.

In October 2006 extensive research was conducted among shipping managers. It revealed that they were highly stressed, time-poor and always searching for ways to work more productively. In addition, they wanted to be seen as competent and on top of things when their co-workers demanded delivery status. Shipping managers felt accountable from the moment a package leaves the business. So UPS marketing had to engage the audience on two levels: confirm that UPS could be a trusted ally and partner and act essentially as an extension of their business from within and a business that offered a range of relevant services that would build efficiencies into their day-to-day shipping/logistics efforts.

It was clear that advertising alone would not make them think differently about UPS. The campaign could not simply say that UPS provided useful and innovative solutions. The solution needed to demonstrate this commitment.

Welcome to Widget

The company decided to create a desktop application in the guise of a lovable, hardworking helper named UPS Widget. Widget enabled UPS to claim the ad-free space where the audience spent most of their working day — in front of their computer. The Widget’s primary feature was a simplified means of tracking shipments. It offered a distinct brand service by giving customers access to package tracking without having to go to UPS.com, as well as links to other UPS services, direct from their desktop.

Development began in 2006 when downloadable gadgets were not yet ubiquitous, so the notion of providing such innovative technology simply and easily for use by the company’s three target audiences of front-desk staff, shipping managers and small business owners was a fresh and exciting prospect.

Making life easier

There were a number of advantages this application offered:

• It integrated the company’s own XML tracking functionality and other UPS services directly from users’ desktops.
• Users could access news feeds from the integrated RSS reader.
• It also featured a direct messaging channel to users’ desktops using a robust and integrated content management system (CMS). This was developed to facilitate rich communication with end users, including direct mail, surveys and news. In addition, it offered a customisable RSS feed.
• Widget enabled a greater level of transparency within the shipping process and as a result empowered its audience by providing information which helped reassure shipping managers and, in turn, their co-workers across the business.
• Finally, Widget, as the UPS hardworking helper, was charming, resonating with customer audiences at all levels.

Launching Widget into the market

In the first phase the print and out-of-home media built awareness of the Widget while online advertising drove people to download the application. Relationship marketing activity engaged existing customers with direct marketing (DM), including email and newsletters and the offer of a Widget stress toy. Widget was brought to life and promoted through a 360-degree campaign aimed at the target audiences’ working life and daily commute (Figures 1 and 2).

The role of the creative strategy was to intrigue front-office staff and shipping managers about the company’s worldwide express services and ultimately drive them to the microsite to download the Widget. The UPS Widget became the catalyst for an end-to-end marketing effort across six regions that encompassed search engine marketing, online media, the Widget microsite, customer relationship marketing (CRM), including email, landing pages and content served through the Widget CMS, along with out-of-home and print. There was also a robust optimisation plan developed to ensure that all media was meeting the end users’ needs.

The key performance indicators (KPls) were designed to meet the ambitious goals:

• Build awareness of Widget and the UPS brand by encouraging consumer site visits.
• Motivate/excite prospects to learn about UPS products and services.
• Drive downloads and installations.
• Grow and retain UPS business among existing users.
• Encourage lapsed and/or new users to use UPS.
• Make the cost per download as efficient as possible.
• Insure quality users moved to the site.
• Introduce a new DM/CRM messaging channel to promote added value services to customers.
• Create a new and differentiating reason to communicate with customers.

Activities were measured using a combination of Atlas, WebTrends and the Widget CMS.

Surpassing expectations

The Widget began a dialogue with customers in a more powerful way than advertising alone. It extended the brand, showcased the company’s commitment to innovation through relevant technologies and, most importantly, emphasised its passion for partnership.

In August 2008 over 55,000 Widgets were downloaded, with 900,000 interactions and 2.2 million microsite visits, which, in turn, led to over 20,000 referrals to UPS.com revenue-generating activities. Internally, Widget generated a positive reaction throughout the organisation. Externally, there was plenty of buzz surrounding the launch of the Widget, leading to hundreds of blog comments, the formation of social networking groups and Widget Flickr images.

The activity didn’t stop there, however. In preparation for the May – July 2008 campaign the microsite was updated with the creation of an overlay page which offered users three ways in to the content. This was very well-received. The Widget technology was also updated to streamline the download and installation by removing the need for a .zip file, making it a more intuitive and easier experience.

The results were exceptional:

• Downloads exceeded the plan by 259.9%.
• Installations exceeded the plan by 147.7%.
• Engaging and task-specific online media were optimised throughout the campaign wave.
• Visits to the home page were 176.3% above plan.
• The number entering the site was 112.5% above plan.

The September – December 2008 promotional wave included the roll-out to three additional markets: Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Better and better

Further enhancements were made to the microsite content to create a richer experience and increase the time people spent on the site. This included:

• New Web shows.
• Thumbnails to encourage Web show viewings.
• Tool tips and ‘highlights’ to landing-page objects.
• An updated laptop application to drive downloads and demonstrations.
• An additional landing page to drive more users to the microsite to learn more and download the application.

The metrics as of December 2008 showed home page traffic exceeding 18,000,000 visits, with 179,972 downloads, 300,201 demo views and 107,452 Web show views stemming from the September – December 2008 campaign alone.

The UPS Widget campaign was thus a step change for the shipping sector. Driven by consumer insight, UPS radically revamped its targeting and developed a tool that could help its customers do their jobs better. Making Widget the hero of the marketing created a communications tool which encouraged them to use UPS every day.

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