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SAS® Marketing Optimization produces ROI for Commerzbank

CARY, NC  (Sep. 16, 2010)  –  Commerzbank, Germany’s second largest credit institution, increased profitability of  its direct marketing program by 55 percent using SAS Marketing Optimization[i]. In a study commissioned by SAS, Forrester Consulting calculated overall return from the SAS solution at 484 percent. The deployment recovered its costs in less than four months[ii]. The study, “The Total Economic Impact Of SAS Marketing Optimization,[iii]” examined the total economic impact and potential return on investment (ROI) companies may realize by deploying SAS Marketing Optimization.

SAS Marketing Optimization provides advanced analytic to enable marketers to match customers and prospects with the right campaign and the right offer, while avoiding competing messages. Marketing Optimization addresses specific objectives, while addressing multiple constraints and contact policies in ways that are mathematically superior to traditional prioritization or rule-based systems.

Key findings from the study include:

  • Commerzbank achieved higher levels of profitability by optimizing its marketing campaigns for a range of financial products. The optimization process ensures that the best customers are targeted for each individual product, improving conversion rates and underlying campaign profitability.
  • SAS Marketing Optimization required no significant organization or process changes, despite the hundreds of campaigns per year produced by Commerzbank’s retail group.  
  • Marketing Optimization’s data and analytics platform can potentially provide value to other groups within the organization that can use the capabilities of this “operations research engine” on other business challenges to which powerful mathematical problem solving can be applied.

“Marketing Optimization has not changed how we market, but rather to whom. There have been no big organizational changes in how we work,” said Heiko Güthenke, Director of Marketing & CRM at Commerzbank. “We have adjusted timelines a bit, the ’when’ part of our business. The ‘what; –which campaigns we run – can remain exactly the same if we choose. The difference is the ‘who’ – the customers. Marketing Optimization has slightly re-arranged our target groups, which affects overall affinity and ROI.”

[i] As measured by comparing the returns from actual campaigns and simulations of those same campaigns under optimized conditions

[ii] The ROI calculation was based on a proof of value test using actual results from historical data projected onto future business and not on actual Commerzbank results, which are deemed confidential.

[iii]   The Total Economic Impact Of SAS Marketing Optimization  At Commerzbank, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of SAS Institute, Inc., April 2010

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