Ryan Mattek
Marketing Manager, Mansueto Ventures
2010 AD ALL-STARS: FULFILLMENT
Mattek has successfully launched an expedited option for new subscribers, which is capable of shipping the first issue within 24 hours.
In late 2008 after receiving yet another customer note grumbling about the 6-8 week turnaround time, Mattek single-handedly embarked on a mission to see if he could devise an “expedited shipment” option for new subscribers—one that could ship the first issue within 24 hours.
“We could not use the traditional system to fulfill a magazine in a 24-hour time,” he says. “We had to find an alternative that counted toward a subscription and not a single copy. I also had to figure out how to take into consideration the main file pulls, serve the current issue on time, and coordinate with the Web sites which go live with an issue’s content a week before the newsstand date.”
The bulk of the work, however, was devoted to breaking down silos at the publisher’s fulfillment company. “They had the tools to do it, but I was modifying their resources and their software,” says Mattek. “So many people were siloed in their own departments, and being on the outside I could see where there were opportunities for these systems to work together.”
After six months, Mattek finally reached a point where he could begin testing the service. Fast Company was the guinea pig. A standard A/B test was devised using a text-link offer. On the order page the customer was presented with the standard offer and the expedited delivery option for $3 more. For expedited, payment was required on order and there was no bill-me option.
Results split down the middle, 49 percent chose the expedited option, 51 percent chose standard.
The results were strong enough to propel the test into a live scenario. Up to that point, Mattek was fulfilling the test subscriptions by hand. “In our test phase I was the fulfillment house, I was getting a list of names and sending the magazines out.”
Since its March launch, the service has resulted in “hundreds” of expedited subscriptions, not a lot, but orders are a higher percentage of credit cards, which puts them ahead on net.
Vital Stats: In Mattek’s testing, 49 percent of subscribers chose the expedited delivery option, enough to propel his project into a live subscriber service.
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