DHL Japan celebrated at ‘2007 DMA International ECHO Awards’

DHL has received a Bronze ECHO Award in the ‘Business & Consumer Services’ category at the ‘2007 DMA International ECHO Awards’ for its promotion of DHL’s services via seasonal greeting cards designed in the motif of cities around the world. The awards, sponsored by the U.S.-based Direct Marketing Association, are given for outstanding direct marketing programs based on the three criteria of strategy, creativity and results.

At DHL Express Japan, the Sales Division’s Direct Business Unit has been conducting the DHL Rank Up Program to actively promote sales since October 2003. This program includes the sending of effective direct mail based on the frequency of customers’ use of DHL services, as well as collaterals that stimulate DHL’s brand recall. The sending of seasonal greeting cards that led to the Bronze ECHO Award win was conducted as part of the Rank Up Program with the objective of promoting ongoing use of services by small-lot and less frequent customers. The greeting cards, based on the theme and motifs of cities around the world, featured an illustration depicting a scene of DHL and a message in connection with that city to demonstrate DHL’s intimate local knowledge of the business scenes of various cities across the globe. As a result, the sending of greeting cards boosted revenue from those customers by close to 30 pct year-on-year.

The DHL Rank Up Program divides customers into five segments and uses direct marketing methods tailored for each segment. This sales promotion program, which is unique to DHL Express Japan, improves customer retention rates and turns dormant customers into active ones. The program’s aim is to increase customers’ usage frequency and volume, by providing them with carefully-tailored services based on information obtained through day-to-day customer relations. Program activities include recommending services that match the unique requirements of customers’ businesses, and sending campaign information by e-mail, fax and post. In addition, the program ensures that customers always feel close to DHL by sending them miniatures of DHL delivery vans and office supplies with the DHL logo. These initiatives, as well as coordination among sales, customer service, and collection and delivery staff, have made the program increasingly effective, and it was introduced in many other Asia Pacific countries and territories from August 2004.