OUTLOOK GROUP

TASK - CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Analyze Outlook with 2 of its competitors and find out the strategies it
uses to maintain customer life cycle.
The customer life cycle is a term the describes the different steps a customer goes
through when they are considering, buying, using and remaining loyal to a particular
product or service. The steps for the same are:

 Customer Acquisition Strategy- To acquire customers, The Outlook had

come up with offers of giving 1 Duffle Strolley by spending Rs. 8549 and
above and 1 travelling bag by spending Rs. 5899 and above on taking
subscription of magazines.
 Customer Retention Strategy- To retain customers, Outlook provides
different extended subscription plans for their respective 5 magazines that
Spend Rs.8549/- & above: Get an extended subscription for 12 MONTHS,
spend between Rs.5899/- to Rs.8548/- Get an extended subscription for 6
MONTHS, Spend between Rs.4599/- to Rs. 5898/- : Get an extended
subscription for 6 MONTHS, Spend between Rs.2299/- to Rs.4598/- : Get an
extended subscription for 3 MONTHS. Outlook even provides various
subscription plans to retain its customer for 1, 2 and 3 years at a discounted
price which helps the customer to stick to this magazines.
 Customer Development Strategy- For converting potential customers into
actual customers, Outlook sells its magazines at heavily discounted price
which attracts the customers towards buying of Outlook magazine.

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DP- Discounted Price AP-
Actual Price
Term Outlook Traveller Money Business Hindi
weekly Monthly Monthly Monthly Fortnightly

1 year-
DP Rs.2799 Rs.1399 Rs.749 Rs.999 Rs.899
AP Rs.3640 Rs.1800 Rs.840 Rs.1200 Rs.1040

2 year-
DP AP Rs.5199 Rs.2699 Rs.1399 Rs.1899 Rs.1599
Rs.7280 Rs.3600 Rs.1600 Rs.2400 Rs.2000

3 year-
DP AP Rs.7299 Rs.3899 Rs.1899 Rs.2699 Rs.2299
Rs.10920 Rs.5400 Rs.2520 Rs.3600 Rs.3120

Outlook even offers various cash discounts for different ranges of subscription value,
which helps it to develop customers.

Reference taken from: -

https://subscription.outlookindia.com/newoffer/kj.html?vouchercode=WFHE125788

Strategies used by The Week Magazine to maintain its customer lifecycle:

 Customer Acquisition Strategy-To acquire customers, The Week had come

up with offers of giving gifts like Tell Me Why 1 Year, Amazon Gift Voucher
worth Rs. 500, The Week Travel Bag and French Connection Wallet and Card
holder for different subscription plans on yearly basis.
 Customer Retention Strategy- To retain customers, The Week provides
different subscription plans for their respective magazines for 1, 3 and 5 years
at discounted prices, and along with it, it gives a lot of gifts. It helps the
customers to stick to the magazine. It even provides renewal plans and single
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 issue as well.
 Customer Development Strategy- For converting potential customers into
actual customers, The Week sells its magazine at heavily discounted price
which attracts the customers towards buying of The Week magazine. For
different subscription plans that is of 1 and 3 years, The Week provides 58%
off, 56% off on cover price of magazine provided by it.
Reference taken from:
https://subscribe.manoramaonline.com/content/subscription/
subscriptionorderdetails.subscription.TW.html

Strategies used by Forbes India Magazine to maintain its customer lifecycle:

 Customer Acquisition Strategy- To acquire customers, The Forbes had come
up with giving access to Forbes India Events, exclusive access to Forbes India
Editor's picks. Even, Forbes India is one of the best seller books worth up to
Rs.2000. All this helps Forbes India to acquire customers towards it.
 Customer Retention Strategy- To retain customers, Forbes India provides
different subscription plans for their respective magazines for 1,2 and 3 years at
discounted prices. Forbes India provides both digital and print magazine for 3
years subscription at discounted price of Rs.6434, its cover price is Rs.26,805,
providing 76% discount. This helps the customers to stick to the magazine.

Customer Development Strategy- For converting potential customers into actual

customers, Forbes India sells its magazine at heavily discounted price which attracts
the customers towards buying of Forbes India. Like for giving print subscription of 1,
2, 3 years, The Forbes India provides heavy discounts of ranging from 60% to 75%
depending on the subscription plan taken and for giving digital subscription of 1, 2, 3
years, The Forbes India provides heavy discounts of ranging from 40% to 60%
depending on the subscription plan taken.

Reference taken from:

https://www.forbesindia.com/subscription/

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Primary survey taken for NET promote score of OUTLOOK

 NAME

Your answer

 Are you satisfied with Outlook India magazine?

Yes
No
Maybe

 How satisfied are you with the subscription and offers of Outlook?

Lowest 1 2 3 4 5 Highest

 Will you recommend Outlook to friends or colleague?

Yes
No
Maybe

 How do you rate the content of Outlook?

Lowest 1 2 3 4 5 Highest

Primary survey taken for NET promote score of The WEEK

 Are you satisfied with THE WEEK magazine?

Yes
No
Maybe

 How satisfied are you with the subscription and offers of THE WEEK?

Lowest 1 2 3 4 5 Highest

 Will you recommend THE WEEK magazine to friends or colleague?

Yes
No
Maybe

 How will you rate the content of THE WEEK?

Lowest 1 2 3 4 5 Highest

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Comparing the NPS for each of the company and find the reasons behind the
score.
A Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a marketing tool used to measure people’s
loyalty towards a company or a brand and their willingness to recommend the
company’s or brand’s products to other people so as to build and strengthen
relationship with customers.
To calculate NPS, I circulated these below stated three questionnaires in my
network and got it filled by 35 respondents so as to conduct NPS survey.
Calculation of Net Promoter Score-
To calculate NPS, you need to count the number of Promoters, the number of
Detractors and the number of customers who participated in your survey. The
customers who turned out to be Passives are not taken into account when calculating
the Net Promoter Score.
The scoring of the NPS scale lays between 0 and 10: 0 - not likely at all, 10
- extremely likely, or else it will be a normal rating scale.
GROUP SCORE CHARACTERISTICS
Promoters 9 - 10 These are your most loyal customers, ready to promote your
products and help other customers to implement and use your products more
effectively.
Passives 7 - 8 These customers are loyal, but not enthusiastic about your
products. Working with this group is especially important when the number of
people in the group is relatively high.
Detractors 0 - 6 These people are unlikely to promote your product and are very
likely to give it a negative review. They are very often unsatisfied customers and are
very sensitive to competitive offers.

The NPS calculation formula is:

Net Promoter Score (NPS) = % of Promoters - % of Detractors Calculating
NPS score for Outlook magazine: -
Promoters: 18 people gave scores of 9 and 10. The % of
Promoters = 18⁄35*100% = 51% Passives: 7 people
gave a score between 7 and 8
The % of Passives = 7/35*100 = 20%
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Detractors: 5 people gave a score between 0 and 6. The % of
Detractors = 5⁄35*100% = 14%
Net Promoter Score (NPS) = 51% - 14%= +37

Calculating NPS score for The Week magazine: - Promoters:

15 people gave scores of 9 and 10.
The % of Promoters = 15⁄35*100% = 42%
Passives: 9 people gave scores of 7 and 8. The %
of Passives = 9⁄35*100% = 25%
Detractors: 11 people gave a score between 0 and 6. The %
of Detractors = 11⁄35*100% = 31%
Net Promoter Score (NPS) = 42% - 31%= +11

NPS global standards treat +50 as ‘excellent’ and +70 as ‘world class.’ Any NPS
that is above 0 is considered to be ‘good,’ as this means that the number of loyal
customers is higher than the number of disloyal customers.

Reasons behind the score:

Outlook magazine-

The NPS score of Outlook magazine is +37 that is above 0 which indicates that the
number of loyal customers is higher than the number of disloyal customers.
As +50 is considered excellent, so +40 score clearly states that the client perception
and brand loyalty is good of Outlook. Even, the customers encourage others in their
network to take its subscription leading to increase in Outlook’s business.
The Week magazine-

The NPS score of The Week magazine is +11 that is above 0 which indicates that the
number of loyal customers is higher than the number of disloyal customers, but still
this score needs a lot of improvement because when compared to its competitors, The
Week magazine has the least score.
The reason for this score when surveyed was that sometimes, gifts to be given with
magazine gets out of stock and this leads to dropping of subscription by the target
market. Even, the customers are not satisfied with the service provided as the magazine
doesn’t reach out to them on time.
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 Task – Digital Audit Report for Outlook India

Summary of Outlook India with the competitors – THE WEEK and FORBES

Performance Analysis

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Graphs overview

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 TASK – Product And Brand Management
 Take a Raheja group company and analyze the following aspects (brand
positioning, jingles, logos etc.) between the competitors of the same segment.
The Raheja Group Company taken by me is The Outlook India. The competitor
company taken by me which is operating in the same segment is India Today.
Analyzing brand elements of The Outlook India and India Today-

Brand Positioning

The Outlook magazine has positioned itself as a news magazine that gives more
than just news whereas India Today magazine has positioned itself as a
magazine that offers a thorough insight on India.

1. Brand Positioning Strategies used by both the brands are-

 Quality Positioning
Quality plays a very essential role in building a brand. Both the magazines have
positioned itself well in terms of quality and therefore India Today has Rank1
and Outlook India has Rank2 overall in India.
 Benefit Positioning
Communicating the unique benefits of a product or service has long been a
popular brand position. Outlook India uses a benefit strategy with an effective
message: “Think beyond, stay ahead.” India Today uses a benefit strategy with
an effective message: “Making Sense of India.” The goal is to highlight
company's most powerful attributes.
 Value/Price Positioning
Outlook is providing their magazine subscriptions at an affordable price and on
the other hand India today is charging a bit high price from the consumer.

2. Brand Repositioning
It occurs when you make changes to what your customers associate with and
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expect from your brand that is change the customer’s understanding of product.
Outlook India eliminated its luxury magazine subscription because it was
costlier as compared to other subscriptions and it has middle class as its target
market, who would never invest in that subscription willingly. There was no
brand repositioning strategy taken up by India Today.

3. Logo
A logo is a symbol, or stylized name used to identify a company, organization,
product, or brand.
Physical shape, like “O” in outlook and “inverted triangle” in India today can
also be used as a brand identity element.
Red background in logo of outlook and India today represents the quick attention
to the consumer from the distance. A loyal consumer can notice brand through
their colour itself

4. Communication Strategies used by both the brands are-

There are several ways to reach potential customers. Some of the main and
common communication strategies are-

• Brand name
Outlook India published its first magazine in India in 1995 whereas India today
launched its first publish in year 1975. Then, gradually they became a brand.
• Product positioning
Both companies has their own product positioning strategy as discussed above
and are working on it.

• Corporate events
It enhances our company image in front of the public. Both the companies have
made their presence in corporate events by conducting them or being part of it.
• Efficient advertisement
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Outlook and India today do promotion on social media as well as television.

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5. Brand Personality

Brand personality is a set of human characteristics that are attributed to a brand

name. There are five main types of brand personalities with common traits: -

Excitement Sincerity Sophistication

Ruggedness Competence

Outlook India and India Today falls under competence category.

6. Reference Groups

Reference groups are considered a social influence in consumer purchasing.

The consistent use of brand elements in all marketing programs helps
communicate the brand character to the market place.

7. Jingles
The theme lines allow brand communications to develop sub themes to help it come
to life. The theme line of Outlook India is “Thoughtful, thought-provoking,
irrelevant” and the theme line of India Today is “Silent heart attacks”

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You are an entrepreneur. You are coming up with a company in the
same segment as the above two companies. Make an action plan
pertaining to product and brand management for your company.
I am coming up with a company say D-DAY Ltd. in the same segment that is
magazine. This company’s magazine with which I would be coming up will have
magazines in which there would be complete information about co- curricular
activities like dancing, singing etc. in which one wants to pursue their dreams.
Along with-it news, career magazines would also be there.

Action plan pertaining to product and brand management for D-DAY Ltd.
company: -

• Positive brand association

Building of positive brand association is very important. The customers must be
persuaded that the brand possess the features and attributes satisfying their
needs. The magazines which would be marketed by my company would
associate target market that is lower, middle and upper class with fulfilling their
dreams.

• Price Penetration Strategy

Price penetration strategy would be used by my company wherein magazines
would be sold out to target audience at lower prices as compared to its
competitors. It would help my magazine to grab a good market share and once
this is done, I would increase the prices so as to grow in the market.

 Logo
The logo of my company would be having yellow colour in it because this warm
colour is the shining example of friendliness and cheer.
 Use of social media
Posting on social media is getting easier and easier over time and is has a
commendable influence on public.
 Leverage Social media influencers
I would be finding the right influencer in my circle so that we are targeting the
right audience and also to ensure that target audience is being influenced as per
the expectation

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