How The Pratt Re-Engaged Cardholders with OrangeBoy’s Savannah
Savannah Community member Enoch Pratt Free Library, located in Baltimore, has been awarded the prestigious Library Journal Marketer of the Year Award for 2023. The library has been a member of the Savannah Community and a super user since the summer of 2018. As a result of the pandemic, one of the key focuses of The Pratt’s marketing team, led by Meghan McCorkell, Chief of Marketing, Communications, and Strategy, has been re-engaging cardholders who lapsed in library use during facility closures. We had the pleasure of interviewing Meghan to learn more about the thought process behind these successful marketing efforts. Read on to learn how OrangeBoy’s Savannah provided The Pratt with the tools and data to make their vision come to life.
Can you tell us a little about how you used OrangeBoy data for facility closures and after for targeted messaging to your customers?
Answer: When we are closing facilities for renovation, we first analyze the branch usage. Are there a lot of computer users? What does the circulation look like? What are the top needs of the community? Ideally, we'll take this info and try to find a swing space where branch staff can provide some of those services. Is there a rec center nearby where we could provide programs in their computer center to fill those tech needs? Do we need to mobilize the bookmobile for regular stops for circulation? Once that plan is together, we start targeted email messaging to the community through OrangeBoy informing them of the closure. We usually try to start emailing 6 weeks out with regular updates every two weeks. As the facility closes, we run reports before tagging the customers of that branch and seeing how they use their library card during the branch closure. Are they going to another library location? Did they switch to digital users? Are there services like a social worker that's offered in their normal branch that we could pivot to a different location? We continue to communicate throughout renovation projects showing "behind-the-scenes" photos via email and social media, and then launch targeted messaging campaigns as branches are slated to reopen.
What metrics or numbers do you share with your marketing team to measure success?
Answer: The main metric I keep an eye on weekly is Active Cardholders. If we see fluctuation there, I will dig deeper to figure out why. Our Digital Marketing Specialist, who is in charge of emails, keeps detailed records of the success of emails, open, and click-through rates. We meet monthly to evaluate the success of email campaigns and make tweaks based on what is or isn't working. In the past few years, we've really been working on our Market Penetration, and have seen those numbers rise steadily. As we move forward, I'm focused on Retention rates. The data I'm able to get from OrangeBoy really allows me to probe deeper into where we can improve. If we're not retaining new cardholders, I'm looking at new cardholder usage. I want to ensure we are not losing people because we aren't meeting their needs. For example, recently we've seen a slight dip in retention. When I look at new cardholders, I see that their primary use is eBooks and digital. So, I've met with our Collections department to discuss how to cut down wait times on some of these materials to see if that can help move the need back in our favor.
Can you give an example of a piece of data that helped shape your marketing strategy?
Answer: When I'm launching any new marketing initiative, I use Market Watch to see if there is data there that can help me make more informed decisions. So, for instance, if I'm trying to get more signups for our Adult Online High School, I can drop into Market Watch and figure out which census tracts have the highest number of adults 25+ without a high school diploma. Then, we will create a postcard campaign to send to households in that area. We'll also purchase geofenced digital ads in those census tracts and send targeted emails to the branches in those tracts. All the materials will look the same, so it's a repeat message for people. The targeting tools we use help make campaigns like this affordable. I couldn't afford to send half a million postcards to the entire city. But I can send 5,000 to two census tracts that are most likely to need the service. Our Adult Online High School program regularly has a waiting list now.
What's a piece of advice that you would give to a library that is not currently using OrangeBoy’s Savannah?
Answer: Pull data from wherever you can and see if you can make it actionable. I always say I don't want to throw spaghetti at a wall and see what sticks. I know that every dollar I spend on marketing is a dollar that isn't going into a library program or building. So, I better spend it wisely and with a strategy behind it. If I could only pick one marketing tactic to use right, it would be emails. Targeted emails helped change the game for us. Pre-pandemic we probably put out five to six emails a month. Last month alone, we created nearly 40 emails custom-tailored to customer Clusters. Email marketing gives me very tangible evidence of success. We survey customers who take part in our Summer Reading program every year. One question we ask them is “How did you find out about the program?” When I started here six years ago, that number was in the single digits. This summer, nearly a quarter of the customers who participated said email was the number one way they knew about the program, which had 36 percent higher attendance than last year. It's very satisfying to see that level of success from a single strategy.
Want to learn more about how OrangeBoy can provide your library with the tools to reengage cardholders beyond pandemic levels? Contact us today!