Case Study: Encyclopaedia Britannica achieves digital transformation and stronger customer engagement with Salesforce

A trusted educational leader embraces its digital future with Salesforce

Encyclopaedia Britannica, a 244-year-old reference publisher serving K–12 schools and libraries, faced a dramatic shift when customers moved from expensive print sets to low-cost digital sources. Print sales plunged (a 97% drop in the 1990s), and the company had to reinvent itself as a digital products and services provider while managing lower per-unit revenue and higher expectations for up-to-date content. At the same time, a homegrown CRM couldn’t scale or integrate with back-office systems, limiting the company’s ability to support a much larger, digitally driven customer base.

Britannica implemented Salesforce (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Chatter, Pardot and the Salesforce Platform) to unify sales, service and product teams, integrate legacy accounting/invoicing data, and capture real-time customer feedback. The platform reduced support headcount needs, enabled faster product improvements driven by user input, and improved marketing and onboarding with Pardot. Results include subscription renewal rates above 95%, an 8% increase in profit margins, and group profits growing 17% year over year.

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Jorge Cauz

President