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Case Study of CABI Publishing and Lyris ListManager

Company Background

Scientists, government officials, and NGOs from around the world depend on CABI Publishing, one of the world's leading publishers in applied life sciences. CABI Publishing, a division of CAB International, provides bibliographic databases, books, CD-ROMs, and Internet resources covering a tremendous array of subjects, from entomology and parisitology to leisure and tourism. In books alone, CABI Publishing produces over 60 new titles each year; its major markets include academic textbooks and reference tools, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

A not-for-profit organization located in the United Kingdom, CABI Publishing also partners with international development agencies to assist developing countries acquire and manage the information they need to support sustainable development.

Goals and Challenges

Traditionally, CABI Publishing's approach to informing current and prospective customers depended heavily on direct mail, conference attendance and face-to-face conversations with key customers, all costly and time-consuming activities.

CABI Publishing wanted to use email to announce its new publications and resources, but did not have an effective solution to do this. The organization needed something that would effectively integrate its own customer databases with its email system, particularly as it was trying to manage email alerts for fifteen journals and twenty-one subject specific groups.

It also recognized the need to change practices to comply with the anti-spam provisions of the European Commission's Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications. CABI Publishing needed an email solution that could handle opt-in and opt-out requests organization-wide.

Lastly, CABI Publishing required a highly scalable system to reach its world-wide audience, as well as targeting capabilities to deliver specific messages to prospects and customers with special interests. Ultimately, CABI wanted to track the results of its email initiatives — to see which campaigns brought customers to the website most effectively, and to target decision makers who purchased CABI Publishing's products.

The Solution

CABI Publishing conducted a thorough review of in-house and outsourced options, and determined that email marketing software would best fit its needs. Richard Sullivan, the Product Manager tasked with finding a solution, worked with systems integrator Xpedita to evaluate Lyris ListManager. Xpedita is Lyris' exclusive representative in the UK and Ireland, and provides services to other notable businesses as Morgan Stanley UK, Ryanair, and Thomson Financial.

"The immediate reaction from our IT department when they used ListManager was one of joy," recalled Sullivan of his team's evaluation process. "We started to test a competing product, but had to abandon it due to repeated problems with installation — it never seemed to be compatible with our other systems. ListManager, by comparison, was easy."

At the same time it was implementing ListManager, CABI redesigned its Web site to include a registration form for its various email alerts. ListManager's marketer-friendly interface helped CABI Publishing's non-technical users administer those lists and manage members' subscriptions — a critical element in today's tough-on-spam legislative climate.

To complement all of the back-end technical work, CABI Publishing's partner Xpedita ran a one-day workshop for the CABI marketing team. Xpedita's professional trainer and system expert introduced CABI associates to ListManager, and gave the team confidence to get started.

"It was a great introduction to the system," said Sarah Harris, Promotions Services Manager. "The combination of technical expertise and good training techniques meant we were ready and raring to go."

The Results

Up and running with ListManager for several months, CABI Publishing now communicates directly and efficiently with thousands of people who want the latest information on the organization's journals, books, and databases. The signup form on CABI Publishing's website allows subscribers to manage their interests, and ListManager's automation features keep CABI Publishing's list member databases up-to-date — and give its administrators far more time to tackle other important projects.

Sullivan is delighted. "It's great! We have had many customers and prospects signing up for information on our website. We have been able to get the information to them fast, effectively, without having to spend hours in preparation and at a fraction of the cost of a normal mailing." Sullivan believes they'll be able to cut CABI Publishing's direct mail campaigns in half, saving the organization tens of thousands of pounds annually.

Future Plans

The company is now looking to the future and how it take advantage of ListManager's other benefits.

Topping Sullivan's list are Clickthrough Tracking and Action Tracking (Interest and Purchase). CABI Publishing has an excellent opportunity to evaluate its list members' behavior on its Web site — which email alerts generate the best initial response, page visits, and purchases — and then optimize subsequent campaigns based on those results. And CABI Publishing's marketers are interested in using ListManager's HTML templates, to streamline the process of creating new mailings.

For CABI Publishing, Lyris ListManager has great potential to improve customer relations and increase revenue — in large part through the latest email innovations. And that's only befitting an organization that is, itself, a leader in science and technology.