Case study
How Virgin Media successfully met the End of Contract Notification Regulation
Summary
The Ofcom regulation launched 15 February 2020 outlining that customers must be sent an End of Contract Notification (EoCN) 10-40 days before their contract ends. These should include details of the account such as current contract deal and associated offers. The regulation is designed to raise awareness to the customer that they’re out of contract and their price may change. Virgin Media, a major provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile services in the UK, had never previously sent out such a notification, nor were their systems ready to do so.
Company size
10,000
Industry
Retail
Services used
Products used
Challenge
Virgin Media requested support from a dedicated CACI Adobe Campaign consultant to assist with the creation and the facilitation of the end-to-end solution. CACI’s Senior Consultant, Fraser Rallison, joined the team to support Virgin Media with its EoCN campaign.
Implementation
Virgin Media faced significant challenges in implementing EoCN. Its existing systems were not equipped to produce these notifications, necessitating the creation of an end-to-end solution from scratch. Not only was this a complex task, but it had to be managed within a very tight timeline, with substantial financial implications if the deadline was missed.
Communication
Additionally, Virgin Media needed to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the notifications to avoid customer misunderstanding. In addition, they needed to identify the most appropriate and accessible way to contact customers, whether via email or special formats like audio or braille.
Solution
The EoCN approach consisted of passing data through several different data systems. The process began by selecting all eligible customers using Virgin Media’s source billing system. This data is then released to be transformed into a more customer friendly format. Once complete, the customer specific offers are appended and the data is delivered into Adobe Campaign.
Within Adobe Campaign, six individual workflows were created to release over 20 different data files. These workflows ensured that the data coming through was correct and accurate with no missing values which could cause confusion to the customer. The data is also checked to ensure all offers are correct and make sense to the consumer.
Once these steps are complete the data is reviewed to identify the most appropriate way to contact customers. This is identified by reviewing their previous email engagement, quality of email address and whether they require a notification in a special format (such as audio or braille).
Once these checks and classifications are complete a bespoke report is built from Adobe and shared with project stakeholders with a request to approve the accounts should they match the project plan. Once sign off is agreed the data passes a final two-stage quality assurance check before then being released to separate email and direct mail agencies.
Results
The level of granularity within the workflows allowed Virgin Media to better understand the offering provided to customers. The flexible and dynamic approach has also lead to a significant amount of customers communicated to since 15 February 2020 when the regulation came into force. With the support of CACI, Virgin Media has kept within the EoCN regulations and avoided substantial fines.
