Case Study — Marketing Automation & Lifecycle Systems

FINCHOICE

Personal finance, real people. Rebuilding a South African lender’s marketing communications from hand-coded, one-size-fits-all emails into a segmented, multi-channel system built to scale  without losing the personal touch.

THE BRIEF

One email, hand-coded, every single time.

FinChoice offers short and medium-term loans to a broad South African consumer base. Their marketing communications hadn’t kept pace with that scale. Every email was individually hand-coded and manually uploaded, with no segmentation, no behavioural triggers and no feedback loop between channels.

SMS, print mail and email all ran independently, with no shared customer touchpoint calendar. The brief was to move from that manual, one-size-fits-all approach to a segmented, data-driven system that could scale and still feel personal.

The Starting Point

What wasn't working.

  • Every marketing email hand-coded and manually uploaded to Silverpop by a dedicated designer
  • No segmentation strategy — every customer received the same message
  • No behavioural triggers to catch non-responders
  • No feedback loop between channels — SMS, print, and email operating in isolation
  • No unified customer touchpoint calendar across channels

The Approach

Three phases. Prove value, then add sophistication.

A deliberate phased rollout — standing up the database and manual process first, then automating it, then optimising it — so live campaigns were never disrupted along the way.

Phase 1 — Foundation

FTP & Database Setup

Established the Silverpop database structure, confirmed data fields across existing customer pipes, and stood up a monthly FTP import process. Segment queries were built for activators, near-paid-up, paid-up, and email templates were rebuilt into a flexible, reusable format anyone on the team could update.

Phase 2 — Automation

Data Integration & Behavioural Triggers

Wrote the functional spec for a direct API integration between FinChoice’s client universe and Silverpop, eliminating the manual monthly FTP cycle. Designed automated triggers — a follow-up for anyone who hadn’t opened an email within three days and restructured campaign scheduling around acquisition and account-management weeks.

Phase 3 — Optimisation

A/B Testing & Continuous Learning

With infrastructure in place, shifted focus to learning: one new campaign test every month, examining creative, offers, audience splits, and tone. Non-responders were identified and retargeted, with opens, clicks, and downstream response tracked per segment to feed the next round of decisions.

What Was Actually Built

Six systems, working together.

Email Template System

A reusable, low-code template on HTML best practices — 60/40 image-to-copy ratio, spam-score optimised, maintainable without a developer.

SMS Co-Ordination

Every SMS send mapped into a unified touchpoint calendar alongside email and direct mail, so messages never cannibalised each other.

Audience Segmentation

Silverpop query logic built for each major segment — A6, Activators, FC Actives, Near Paid-Up, Paid-Up, and retention — tied to cycle dates.

Behavioural Trigger Design

Autoresponder and inactive-responder logic, so every disengaged customer got a timely follow-up without manual intervention.

Performance Tracking

Reporting conventions for opens, clicks, and non-responders per segment, linked through to call centre briefings for inbound volume.

Customer Journey Mapping

Full touchpoint strategy documented across print, email, SMS, and call — flagging which segments were cycle- vs calendar-dependent.

What It Delivered

From manual to scalable.

A single-channel, manual operation became a segmented, multi-channel system with a clear roadmap for continued optimisation.

  • Manual effort reduced: one reusable template replaced all individually coded emails
  • Distinct audience segments targeted with tailored messaging per cycle
  • Channels coordinated: email, SMS, and direct mail unified in a single touchpoint calendar
  • Integration spec delivered to automate the monthly database refresh from FinChoice's client universe
  • Testing programme established: one new campaign test every month, with structured analysis
  • Trigger flows designed for non-openers within three days — reducing drop-off with no manual effort

From one hand-coded email at a time to USING six live segments, three channels & a testing programme that never stops learning.