Franklin Madison Direct, formerly SeQuel Response

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a meal delivery company. Our goal is to help our users stay healthy while improving the food’s sustainability system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SeQuel Response?

We were looking to grow and diversify our marketing mix.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SeQuel Response manages our digital marketing efforts, including social media marketing (SMM) and direct email marketing. We recently expanded our brand to the US East Coast region, which was a new market for us, and SeQuel Response has helped us launch our brand there. 

We’ve asked SeQuel Response to focus on identifying new prospects and customers that have never used our services. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with teammates from SeQuel Response’s sales, creative, and data teams. We initially talked to a sales representative. We then worked with SeQuel Response’s data and creative teams. 

How did you come to work with SeQuel Response?

I had worked with SeQuel Response before at a previous company and had a good experience with them. I originally found them through a B2B marketing email I received from a SeQuel Response salesperson. I was looking for direct email marketing partners, and I contacted and tested a few companies. 

I had a hard time finding the appropriate company for our needs. When I received the message from SeQuel Response, what stood out to me was their data model. Other companies tried to convince me by showing me a list of other clients they’ve worked with, and SeQuel Response didn’t try that. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested around $5 million–$6 million with SeQuel Response throughout the different projects I’ve worked with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with SeQuel Response since August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since we started working with SeQuel Response, we’ve unlocked a new and efficient channel, in addition to being in other channels’ marketplace. Moreover, SeQuel Response has also improved by 25% our customer acquisition cost (CAC). 

By partnering with SeQuel Response, we’ve been to offset some of the rising digital ad costs. SeQuel Response’s direct email campaign has been a key component of our marketing efforts.

SeQuel Response not only tries to maximize budget dollars, but they also try to maximize business impact because with that comes the dollars.

How did SeQuel Response perform from a project management standpoint?

SeQuel Response meets deadlines and keeps me on track. They’re also great at receiving feedback; if something from their plan isn’t working, they dig in and analyze our insights to understand the issue. They adapt to our business goals and are responsive.

Overall, SeQuel Response has been collaborative and understands our company’s needs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with SeQuel Response's creative team and data analysis skills. They’re great at targeting audiences and tracking. SeQuel Response is also very creative. They have great expertise, and their prices are fair.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Early on, SeQuel Response created a campaign with a long attribution window, which allowed us to send several ad pieces to the same audience. Since then, SeQuel Response has worked on improving their email marketing campaign, which can take a while since it requires several iterations and tests.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a data security software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SeQuel Response?

We wanted them to manage our direct mail program for our brand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SeQuel Response has been doing direct post mailing for us, including surround display, which is displaying ads to our audience. We also share assets that our creative agency creates so they can develop material and leverage that material for our campaigns.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with around four members of their team, including Jay (CEO), Erik (President), a senior marketing strategist, and an account manager.

How did you come to work with SeQuel Response?

They were already working with our company when I took my current position.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We’re going to spend $12.5–$15 million with them this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them over a decade ago, worked with a competitor briefly, and re-engaged our partnership a few years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Thanks to their work, we’ve had frequent CPAs below $100. Also, they’re great at onboarding me into growing the direct mail program, which is my task; their team is responsive, answers my questions, and are awesome partners for me in this process.

How did SeQuel Response perform from a project management standpoint?

They go beyond my expectations with project management in terms of meeting deadlines and staying within budget. Regarding tools, we use Zoom meetings and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a trustworthy team; we trust their recommendations, communicate clearly, and try to help us offset some of our costs. Overall, they lead an excellent partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Agree to their testing strategies and trust their data model optimization; they come up with good recommendations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a higher education institute that offers academic programs in natural health care. We also operate a number of clinics that we train our students in.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SeQuel Response? 

Our goal was, and continues to be, actively managing and optimizing a multi-network digital marketing paid search campaign with the objective of generating prospective student inquiries.  We've expanded the scope and added an additional objective of generating clinic patient inquiries.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SeQuel helps us generate interest in prospective students by managing paid search campaigns run through Google, Microsoft, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other digital audience platforms.

One part of their scope is to identify and target our key audiences. They do this by optimizing and testing bids, keywords, ads, landing pages, etc. Their goal is to ensure we’re capturing inquiries.

They work primarily on our landing pages – when someone responds to an advertisement, they’re directed to landing pages that SeQuel develops, tests, and hosts. They’ve also made recommendations for enhancements to our main website.

Typically we provide them with most of the assets (videos and photographs), but they usually work on the copywriting and design of the ads. It’s a joint effort in many ways.

What is the team composition?

We work with two individuals: one is a VP and the other is a senior digital media analyst. The first is a direct contact, and the other handles their monthly reporting.

How did you come to work with SeQuel Response? 

They were engaged before I came on board. Their contact was fairly new when I joined, but one of my coworkers had previously worked with them and had a great experience.

How much have you invested with them?

The price is well over $1 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I don’t have metrics at my fingertips, but they provide lots of reporting on a monthly basis. We set their goals by academic program in terms of reaching our audience and attracting leads. We then evaluate their work based on cost per lead and other metrics.

They’ve exceeded expectations many times and are willing to collaborate with us.

How did SeQuel Response perform from a project management standpoint?

Our primary communication was our monthly meetings where we went over analytics and reviewed our progress. There were also periodic phone calls and other meetings and email exchanges.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their strong point is their deep understanding of digital advertising. Additionally, they really understand paid search as well. They’re always on top of what’s happening in the digital world; they’re also open to experimentation. They feel like a true extension and partner of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at this point there isn’t. I can’t think of anything we’ve brought up that they haven’t been responsive to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear and upfront about what your organization’s goals are. Also, be honest and forthright about the challenges, as well as the opportunities you face.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a single-line insurance product that sells through various channels and partners. I am the VP of our company's direct distribution channel and responsible for the growth, profitability and marketing of our consumer branded insurance products sold online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SeQuel Response, and what were your goals?

I was asked to rebuild and relaunch our consumer-direct insurance distribution as well as procure a digital marketing agency that could scale and grow its services with our business relaunch. Our goal was to grow the newly relaunched online insurance business more than 400% by Year 4.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had experience and success working with SeQuel utilizing direct mail  previously, and they were instrumental in helping me build a consumer-direct business that experienced double-digit growth YoY for nearly 8 years. With my new company's relaunch goals, we planned an initial digital-only marketing plan, and I was extremely impressed and comfortable with SeQuel's service and area of expertise in their digital marketing offerings.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

When we first engaged with SeQuel we shared our search results, lack of content strategy and SEO, the competitive landscape, and multiple challenges we had in the marketplace. Before we had a signed agreement as our agency of record, SeQuel came to us with a high-level plan and budget that clearly articulated how we could scale and meet our 3-year goal.

We first hired SeQuel to help us with our paid search engine marketing, then added content and SEO optimization and management, expanded into display, paid social and video. We have plans to expand into other channels as our business bounces back from the impact of COIVD.

I manage our agency relationship as though they are members of our internal team and empower them to use the tools they need to efficiently manage our campaigns.

They also take ownership and accountability of our campaign analytics via our Google Analytics account, manage our content and SEO strategies with SEMrush and other tools, and most important to me, provide monthly custom reporting and analytics that are easily digestible and action-driven for us to collaboratively make quick decisions.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

• Paid search/Social/Display/Video (2 )
• VP digital services and digital media analyst (+ whatever creative assistance is needed for digital asset creation)
• Content/SEO (3)
• Account manager
• writer
• analyst

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Prior to even implementing our accelerated growth plan (which was put on hold due to COVID), SeQuel has already helped us improve our overall web revenue by +200%.  A large part of that growth is being driven by the paid digital campaigns they manage which are up more than 500% since working with SeQuel.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have monthly meetings to go over customized campaign reporting. SeQuel never flinches when we asked for something different each month, or to provide additional reporting any given month after we meet. Any one-off analyses requested by us are also fulfilled in a very timely manner.

The creation of content and creative assests for our campaigns must run through a lengthy internal compliance review process, and SeQuel is very accommodating with our navigation of that process so that we can continue to put new creative in market on a timely basis.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

SeQuel operates with a passion for their clients business' success and operates with scale and flexibility. As a smaller start-up tasked with lofty growth goals early on, the SeQuel team worked with us with scale in mind, but is also never afraid to suggest more aggressive strategies to help us meet our growth goals. Even during the pandemic which greatly impacted our sales, SeQuel was flexible in meeting our budget constraints. They suggested strategies to help us begin to scale back up.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager at a vegan meal kit subscription service startup. I handle the acquisition channels, deal with outside agencies, and do retention initiatives and lifecycle management for our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SeQuel Response?

We brought SeQuel Response in because we were trying to drive brand awareness and growth. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we ran through our main objectives. Since we are a subscription service, we have a couple of different buckets of customers that we’re always looking at. Those are the people who haven’t yet subscribed — prospective customers that we want to try and reach.

SeQuel Response is 100% full-service in terms of direct mail. Their amazing data department handles all of the information and comes up with amazing lists of all prospects and different tiers. When campaigns are over, they give us an analysis of their performance. They track all of the mail for us and keep us in the loop with timelines and deadlines. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with the same core group of three people for a couple of years now, so I know them pretty well. The account executive manages all day-to-day efforts, and the sales executive handles all client relations — he’s amazing. He comes in person and grabs lunch with us, which is awesome.

The third member handles all of the deliverables when it comes to organizing with creative departments about actual postage and all types of deadlines. She works directly with vendors and keeps things in line and on track. 

How did you come to work with SeQuel Response?

SeQuel Response approached us with this great idea of using direct mail for marketing purposes. We are an e-commerce company, so we’re constantly working with digital channels and putting a lot of our budget into them. However, we were really curious to see if in-mail marketing could be something viable for us. It was a very different strategy, so we decided to test it. 

How much have you invested with them?

We don’t do drops every month, but overall, we’ve spent around $1.5–$2 million at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought SeQuel Response at the end of 2017. That was probably 2–3 years into our companies existence. We worked with them for a couple of months to get everything lined up, and our first mail drop test in the market was in August 2018. We are still working together. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

January 2019 was a huge month for us, and it was only the third drop that we did with SeQuel Response. We get full-scale presentations going through what the campaign looks like compared to past performances, and different ways to scale for the future. They created data lists for us, and even though they only included a certain percentage of targets, the conversion rate was absolutely insane — it was just so great. They offer analysis at the end of every campaign, which is absolutely amazing. 

We always know that if we’re doing a direct mail drop, we’re going to see great numbers come in, and we always have. We are a seasonal company, so being able to push conversion and subscription rates any time of the year is always great. It is something that we’ve been able to celebrate with them over the past few years. 

How did SeQuel Response perform from a project management standpoint?

SeQuel Response’s performance is great. They always have an agenda for meetings and upcoming deadlines. The whole timeline is ready for us every time we sign on a project.

We send our deadlines to them, and they send their deadlines back to us. They’ve just been super organized from the very beginning. SeQuel’s team is buttoned up from a project management standpoint. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

SeQuel Response’s data collection, lists, and recommendations for prospective campaigns have been really great and spot-on. We’re able to comfortably put a big budget in their hands, and it always performs.

Even though SeQuel Response is focused on a channel that is not digital, they really tie in as much as they can to data, analytics, tracking, and performance — which offers a great comfort level for e-commerce companies. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

SeQuel Response offers creative services as well, which helps them have full ownership for a company that offers direct mail services. However, when you compare their amazing data and organized project management to their creative side, it falls a little below. When you’re trying to do everything, there’s something that stands out above others. That’s the only thing. Luckily, we have our in-house creative services, so we’ve never used theirs. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Direct mail is a very unique and costly channel, especially for smaller companies. SeQuel Response works with different-sized companies, so just find what works best for you — it’s not always about mailing out as much as humanly possible. Just test it out and get your feet wet.