Acquisition of new customers for the
HANDELSZEITUNG

Axel Springer Schweiz AG was established in 2007 through a merger of Jean Frey AG and the Handelszeitung Publishing House. Among other things, it publishes the BEOBACHTER, Switzerland‘s largest consumer magazine. In addition to the HANDELSZEITUNG, the BILANZ business magazine is one of the most widely read publications in the business segment. With its TV magazines TELE, TV STAR, TV2 and TV4, Axel Springer Schweiz is the clear market leader in this segment as well. As one of the largest media companies in Switzerland, Axel Springer Schweiz publishes 15 magazines and employs approximately 400 personnel.

In addition to other advertising channels, the tool of telemarketing is used to acquire new customers for the business media. In search of new address sources providing up-to-date, personalised company addresses with an affinity to the target group, the so-called profile analysis by Bisnode came into play. To this end, approximately ten characteristics of the best existing clients were analysed with regard to commonalities.

«We have achieved a significantly better conversion rate than with the usual cold contacts from our previous sources»

Patrizia Serra, Brand Manager Marketing Axel Springer Schweiz AG

«We gave Bisnode a list of those companies that already have a business relationship with Axel Springer Schweiz or the HANDELSZEITUNG», explains Patrizia Serra, Business Media Marketing Manager at Axel Springer Schweiz AG: «Shortly afterwards we received new marketing addresses, namely the ‚Doppelgänger‘ of these customers.»

Once Bisnode has analysed the crucial commonalities of the existing top customers, it is able to conduct a search, targeting the addresses of exactly those companies that most resemble the existing customers. In the process, it has access to the largest database of companies within Switzerland, listing 500,000+ active companies. In addition to an analysis of the market situation, the profile analysis shows the market potential in the target group. The clear profile of the best existing customers allows you to identify ideal new customers. This is how you can target specifically those companies that have a particularly great potential. «We gave the selected addresses from the Bisnode analysis to our telemarketing agency and were very positively surprised by the results,» states Serra: «Apparently, the Bisnode profile analysis generated exactly the right marketing addresses as with these addresses, we have achieved a significantly better conversion rate than with the usual cold contacts from our previous sources.»