Q8 - The great oil auction

"The Great Oil Auction" made contact between Q8 and thousands of potential new customers

The challenge
There’s a great deal of market competition for furnace oil. It’s a low-interest product for the end users and the number of buildings and households that use oil furnaces is declining. As well, the purchasing of oil only occurs a few times a year, usually when the furnace season is approaching or about to end. Q8 therefore needed some fresh ideas for the hunt in identifying potential customers and making them open to a sale.

The strategy
To involve potential customers in a new and entertaining way, we launched “The Great Oil Auction” online. Fifteen auctions each auctioned off one thousand liters of furnace oil – and participants also got to save a significant amount of money on a necessary purchase. All participants were identified as potential customers that Q8 could continue to work with in ongoing sales ventures.

• Involvement letters were sent to chosen existing customers encouraging them to visit the website. The letters included personal codes that gave the chance to instantly win two cinema tickets
• Banners on a number of websites challenged people to try their luck on the oil market
• Participants received auction status emails
• When an auction was over, the winner was contacted directly
• All other participants received an email with a good offer from Q8: Give the family secure warmth all winter
• Those who didn’t buy got the chance to sign up for their own oil price agent via text messages so Q8 could keep them as leads

Results

• The campaign gave Q8 the chance to give thousands of potential customers a special offer
• Q8’s customer database grew by 15%
• The campaign gave ROI