The challenge
A telephone acquisition campaign needs more than a steady flow of audience records. Prospective customers must be suitable for the product, available to contact and sufficiently interested to consider purchasing.
Working across multiple suppliers created variation in delivery volumes, audience characteristics and sales performance. Some records generated conversations but few sales. Others revealed issues such as outdated dog-ownership information, previous customer relationships or feeding requirements that made the product unsuitable.
The operation also needed flexibility. Delivery volumes had to reflect the number of agents available, the call centre’s capacity to work the data and the client’s changing acquisition requirements.
The approach
aura coordinated the supplier network and worked alongside the call centre to understand what happened after each record entered the campaign.
Call outcomes were matched back to the original supplier and relevant audience characteristics. This connected sales and unsuccessful conversations with the source and selection criteria behind each record.
The analysis distinguished between records that had not yet received an outcome, unsuccessful contact attempts and completed conversations. This helped avoid judging fresh data before the call centre had been given an appropriate opportunity to work it.
Suppliers were assessed against several measures, including sales performance, contact rate, outdated pet-ownership information, previous or existing customer overlap and other unsuitable outcomes. Decisions therefore reflected both commercial performance and the reasons behind it.
Turning outcomes into better targeting
aura used these findings to adjust the campaign while it was running.
Volumes were reduced or stopped where suppliers consistently underperformed. Stronger sources were prioritised, while promising changes were evaluated through structured tests.
Audience criteria were adjusted by supplier and assessed against actual outcomes rather than applying one permanent rule across the entire network. Where a restriction limited supply, broader selections could be tested separately and the results reviewed before wider use.
The process also challenged assumptions. A lower sales rate did not always mean a greater number of invalid records, while a higher contact rate did not necessarily produce more customers. Looking beyond the headline conversion figure helped identify whether an issue related to contactability, product suitability or conversion following a conversation.
Alternative qualification questions were also tested through a separate campaign, allowing their results to be compared with the established approach.
Matching supply to the sales operation
Campaign delivery was planned around the call centre’s team size, dialling schedule and the client’s required monthly volumes.
aura translated accepted-record requirements into supplier submission plans while allowing for duplicates, validation failures and other rejections. Delivery was scheduled across agreed daily windows, with supplier allocations reviewed as capacity and demand changed.
This created a practical connection between audience supply and the people responsible for converting it. Performance reporting informed discussions with the call centre about data priority, contact coverage and follow-up. It also gave suppliers clearer feedback about quality and volume.
The outcome
The partnership established an ongoing cycle of measurement and adjustment across the acquisition programme:
- Multiple suppliers managed through a consistent performance framework.
- Call outcomes matched back to their original sources and audience characteristics.
- Underperforming supply reduced or stopped.
- Stronger suppliers prioritised for future allocation.
- Audience and qualification changes tested against actual outcomes.
- Suppression informed by unsuitable and previous-customer results.
- Delivery volumes adjusted around agent capacity and client demand.
In one monthly review, the strongest supplier delivered a sales rate around 50% above the upper end of the campaign target, with another supplier also exceeding the agreed benchmark. This gave aura a clear basis for reallocating future supply and investigating weaker sources.
aura’s role extended beyond providing data. By working with both suppliers and the call centre, it helped the client manage acquisition as a continuing operational process, with each campaign generating evidence to improve the next.