Insurance company Hiscox had always focused its marketing efforts on acquiring customers rather than retaining them. So when they wanted to introduce retention communications to existing customers, they found they had a problem - they could only talk to 7% of them.

The problem had arisen during the "quote and buy" journey, when customers were asked by telephone and online to opt in to all Hiscox comms in addition to those from associated third parties, with no option to choose to receive information from Hiscox alone. Not having been persuaded of the benefits of opting in, the majority of customers chose not to.

Hiscox sent a letter to 48,000 of its existing customers who hadn't opted in, asking them to reconsider their contact preferences. They were asked to complete and return a reply card, where they could opt in to post, email or phone communications, as well as carefully selected third parties and customer feedback (for Hiscox's own research purposes). The letter advised customers of the customer benefits available to them, which are mainly as a result of the sponsorship arrangements Hiscox has in place.

Hiscox set a target response rate of 10% but received an actual response rate of 19% - almost double the original goal. That equated to more than 9,000 replies from the 48,000 policy holders mailed. As a consequence the newsletter will now reach over 8,000 customers by post, and Hiscox can also develop an online version to send to a further group of customers who have opted in to receive emails.

"We got such a good result because the letter was honest and straightforward, and the attached form was quick and easy to fill in. We also included a business reply envelope to make the experience easier for our customers," explains Jo Fisher Hiscox UK home direct marketing executive.