46.4 million contacts. And yet, by late 2023, M6 Audio's CRM team couldn't tweak a newsletter without calling IT or tell in real time what was actually working. Frozen templates. A tech dependency slowing down every campaign. Analytics that couldn't say what worked. That's the picture Ghislain Thomas, the group's Head of Digital Strategy, was looking at. One question kept coming back: how do you take back control of listener data, in real time, without depending on IT for every change?
Our newsletter templates had been frozen for years. Since moving to Batch, we've updated them several times fast, and reliably.
What was holding back M6 Audio's listener relationship?
M6 Audio is France's number one private radio group. RTL, RTL2, and Fun Radio reach 7.9 million listeners a day and rack up more than 40 million monthly podcast plays. The group has been around for 29 years. Its CRM database holds 46.4 million contacts, 1.1 million active users, and sends 1.5 million emails a month.
Before the migration, that database ran on a platform with thin analytics and rigid templates. Every newsletter tweak meant a call to IT. The CRM team couldn't tap real-time data or test new ideas fast. The goal for the migration: one platform to run the entire listener relationship, unifying email, app push, and web push, with the marketing team back in control of its own performance.
How do you migrate a 46.4-million-contact CRM in 3 months, without downtime?
Batch wasn't a new vendor to M6 Audio. Since 2022, it had already been running the group's app and web push notifications without a single incident in two years. When the question of migrating email came up in late 2023, it wasn't settled by an RFP or a demo: a platform that hadn't failed on two channels deserved a shot at the third.
The migration ran from December 2023 to February 2024. Three months to move the newsletters, the welcome flow, and the transactional scenarios of a group sending 1.5 million emails a month without a single service interruption.
The move wasn't risk-free, though. Some teams internally worried about losing part of the contact base, or having to relearn a tool overnight. Batch got ahead of that friction with tight support: a dedicated Implementation Manager, a dedicated Customer Success manager, and hands-on tracking before, during, and after the switch.
The migration was completely seamless. The interface is intuitive enough that a single training session got the teams using it.
M6 Audio: the full case study
Welcome flow, transactional emails, a phased newsletter migration: the full case study breaks down all 3 scenarios M6 Audio's CRM team tested open and click rates included.
How do you protect deliverability during a newsletter migration?
The group's seven newsletters (five for RTL, one for RTL2, one for Fun Radio) followed a progressive warm-up plan: the best-performing newsletters ramped up in volume first, protecting deliverability across the whole database.
A year on, the numbers tell a different story: 99.7% deliverability. A 45.7% unique open rate, up from 40% pre-migration. A 6.2% unique click rate, up from 3.5%. A 13.6% reactivity rate.
Why choose Batch over a standard CRM platform?
Three reasons come up in M6 Audio's account. Marketing autonomy first: the CRM team runs its own campaigns end to end, with scenarios built, configured, and tested in under an hour, zero technical dependency. Native A/B testing next, for challenging any variable without extra complexity. And sector expertise, similar to what Batch brings to media peers like Prisma Media on web push, which keeps marketing pressure in check to protect the listener experience.
Beyond being available around the clock and quick to respond, our account manager brings genuinely detailed quarterly reviews. Her expertise and outside perspective give us concrete, relevant optimizations.
What results can you expect from a media CRM migration?
Three scenarios now make up M6 Audio's CRM backbone. The welcome flow greets every new user and guides them to account validation: a 68.7% open rate, a 37.5% click rate. Transactional emails forgotten passwords, portability requests, address changes answer in real time: an 82.2% open rate, a 73.3% click rate.
What the migration changes day-to-day for M6 Audio's CRM team
Batch's media-sector specialization gives you a market culture you won't find elsewhere. Instead of advice from thin air, Batch's recommendations are concrete, actionable, relevant.
Migrating a CRM isn't an IT project. It's taking back control of the relationship with 7.9 million daily listeners.
FAQ: CRM migration in media, what our customers ask
How long does a CRM migration take for a media group with millions of contacts?
At M6 Audio, migrating 46.4 million contacts to Batch took 3 months, from December 2023 to February 2024, covering 7 newsletters, the welcome flow, and transactional scenarios with zero service interruption.
How do you protect deliverability during a newsletter migration?
The safest approach is a progressive warm-up plan: start with your best-performing newsletters before ramping up volume. M6 Audio now runs at 99.7% deliverability across its full database.
What open rate should you expect from a welcome email in media?
M6 Audio's multi-step welcome flow hits a 68.7% open rate and a 37.5% click rate well above a standard newsletter.
Do transactional emails outperform marketing newsletters?
Yes. M6 Audio's transactional emails (password resets, portability, address changes) reach an 82.2% open rate and a 73.3% click rate, versus a 45.7% open rate for newsletters.
Can a marketing team run a media CRM without depending on engineering?
M6 Audio proves it can: every scenario is built, configured, and tested in under an hour with zero technical dependency, giving the CRM team full marketing autonomy.
Anna Guigner
Content Marketing Manager @ Batch
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