The Direct Marketing Voice

Tag Archives: Direct mail

Quality Over Quantity, The Importance of List Management

Posté par Cynthia Fedor le June 22, 2011 – 2:45 pm

Quite a while ago I read an article that described the list woes of a mail-order gourmet brownie company. They ran into some issues trying to effectively manage and grow their mail catalogue distribution lists. Because the majority of their business, or all of it, depended on responses to their catalogues, the company decided to expand their customer mailing list by acquiring multiple purchased lists from an agency. The rapid growth of their mailing list caused them to increase catalogue production and, as a consequence, increase costs associated with their direct marketing campaign. The tough part for this company, though, was that they didn’t see a correlating increase in response rates. After investing all this money, the responses were not sufficient enough to recuperate the growing cost of catalogue production, let alone producing any bump up in profit.

So, what went wrong? A lot of people assume that if you increase your marketing campaign’s reach, the ratio of responses should grow at the same rate. Statistically, this theory might be true if you’re talking about something like playing the lottery – the more you play, the more chances you have to win. Unfortunately, this rule doesn’t apply in direct marketing. Success isn’t necessarily dependent on quantity, but rather on quality of your marketing message and the relevancy of it for the people that receive the message.

Proper list management is an incredibly important part of a successful and effective direct marketing campaign. The effort of reviewing and refining your mailing lists should be constant and should hold just as much importance as things like defining your marketing message or balancing your budget. Read More »

Connecting the Dots: Using QR Codes, Direct Mail, and Video to Ramp up Local Marketing

Posté par Cynthia Fedor le May 12, 2011 – 7:19 pm

dans Integrated Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Mobile Marketing, Real Estate Marketing, Small Business Marketing

It’s no secret that word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals are important in developing strong local business, especially for service-based business—think about cleaning services, roofers, lawn care, real estate services, and so on. In fact, 70% of consumers consult reviews or ratings before making a purchase.¹ And, according to a June 2010 Harris Interactive poll of adult US consumers, “71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a great deal or fair amount of influence on purchase decisions.” (Source: Business Week, October 2008)

Businesses that recognize the impact of user testimonials to spur growth are participating in conversations about their brand on sites like Yelp, Facebook, Twitter, and others. The benefit is a potential move up in search engine results and the ability to influence the decision-making process of people that are actively searching online for specific products and services.

Is this the most effective approach for increasing market share in local neighborhoods where a business is already delivering services? Read More »

What’s the Difference: Static vs. Unique QR Codes

Posté par Cynthia Fedor le March 18, 2011 – 10:25 pm

dans Direct Mail Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Marketing Technologies, Mobile Marketing, Real Estate Marketing

A QR code is a square, two-dimensional barcode that, when scanned with a smart phone’s reader app, directs people to a website, launches a video, or serves up other digital content. It often serves as a bridge between offline and online content.

Emerging now are two different types of QR codes: static codes and unique codes.

Static QR Code: A generic QR code connects a wide audience with digital content. Static QR codes are a one-size-fits-all proposition and does not track details of individuals that scan the code to access content.

Intended for public use (not targeted to an individual)
Serves up generic content that is available to a public audience
Provides basic reporting: number of scans, time of each scan, phone’s OS
Great for use on billboards, store signs, POS materials, in mass media/print

Following are practical examples of static QR codes intended for public consumption: (left to right) storefront signage, bus stop billboard, print ad.

Unique QR Code: A personalized QR code that is meant to provide a specific individual with either generic content or content only intended for their view, such as a PURL.

These types of QR codes are generated via variable data technology and are often used to track responses to direct mail campaigns. Since the QR code is unique and tied to a specific recipient, the marketer will have the ability to see who responds to a marketing piece and when. This type of data could then be used to further refine and personalize marketing messages or for targeted follow-up campaigns. Read More »

Direct Mail Strategy: Bed Bath & Beyond’s Missed Marketing Opportunities

Posté par Cynthia Fedor le January 18, 2011 – 10:32 pm

dans Direct Mail Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Marketing Strategy

Every month I see a Bed Bath & Beyond direct mail postcard land in my mailbox. I’ll glance at it for a second, flipping the card from front to back, before tossing it in the trash. Like many direct mail recipients, I try to make a snap decision as to whether a particular piece of mail is important or relevant to me and my needs. And, in looking at the most recent Bed Bath & Beyond postcard delivered to me, all I could see was a cluster of marketing messages mixed with multiple calls to action.

As a marketer, I view that postcard as nothing more than a wasted opportunity and an inefficient use of marketing dollars. There is hope, however, for Bed Bath & Beyond or any company, to turn a direct mail mess into a clear, concise, relevant, and cost-effective marketing communications piece.

Deconstructing Bed Bath & Beyond Postcards

Upon review of their postcard, I noticed several missed opportunities to:

provide relevant content
track the performance of individual promotions
collect key data that could aid in refining future messages
or to generate additional revenue via co-marketing

Here’s a breakdown of some issues to overcome along with a few recommendations for improvement.

Problems: Message Overload, Cluttered Design, No Personalization, No Tracking

I was able to count up to five action requests and three other marketing messages. That’s eight things for the consumer to process—all on one postcard! Just about all of them lacked relevancy to me, a past customer, or a way to track performance.

Direct mail postcard tips

Message #1: Subscribe to email list or tell a friend to subscribe

The URL to the email registration page is not personalized or uniquely matched with the recipient’s physical mailing address. Once on the registration page, consumers are required to type in their mailing address in order to join the email subscription list. This is a negative because the more information required, the less likely consumers are to complete the form.

Recommendation: Use QR codes or PURLs along with unique key codes to lead recipients to a simple sign-up form. The data included in the PURLs or QR codes can be used to pre-populate form fields, reducing the actions required to subscribe. Additionally, by using these technologies, marketers will be able to measure traffic to the form from the postcard even if the consumer does not follow through with subscribing to the email list.

Message #2: Register for and/or purchase from the Bridal & Gift Registry

This call to action is randomly placed on the postcard and lacks any mechanism to track registrations or purchases made in response to the card.

Recommendation: Consider limiting the use of this call to action, including it only on mail pieces intended to drive bridal registrations and purchases. Use a PURL to drive traffic to more information online.

Message #3: Go online to opt-out from receiving future postcard mailings

It’s great that Bed Bath & Beyond is helping to reduce waste by following the DMA’s recommendation to provide a way for consumers to opt-out of future postcard mailings. However, the actual page online where one can opt out is cluttered and confusing.

Recommendation: Direct recipients to a simple landing page that makes it easy for them to complete an action.

Message #4: Go online or call to find locations nearest you

New technological advances in variable data printing allow marketers to include content on printed collateral that is unique to each recipient… like a map of the nearest store location.

Recommendation: Provide a unique QR code or SMS text marketing element on printed postcards enabling consumers to have driving directions to the nearest store location delivered to their mobile device. It’s trackable and convenient.

Message #5: Bring coupon into physical location to redeem one of two offers

This staple offer for Bed Bath & Beyond is, at this point, integrated into their business model. But, they’re missing an opportunity to potentially develop an auxiliary revenue stream by working with a supplier to feature a product on which the consumer can use their coupon. Additionally, a colorful image of a product could be useful in capturing the recipient’s attention and getting them interested in seeing what other products the store has to offer.

Recommendation: Feature a product or two on the postcard and include a QR code that enables the consumer to make a purchase instantly via their mobile phone.

Message #6: Gift cards available

In my opinion, this is a misplaced message that can confuse or frustrate consumers. Including the message so prominently on this postcard implies that the discount offer may be used to purchase gift cards. If consumers read the lengthy terms of the offer, they’ll discover that “the discount cannot be applied to gift cards…”

Recommendation: Don’t include this message on the card.

Message #7: Competitor’s coupons are accepted

This is a great message to feature. It’s just misplaced.

Recommendation: Reconsider the placement and font treatment.

Message #8: Price-match guarantee

This is also a great message to feature. Coupled with the above message, however, and displayed in a bold white font against a black background, the two messages become a big block of blah.

Recommendation: Reconsider the placement and font treatment.

Some may argue that nothing is wrong. Some may note that the retailer has been using postcards and discount promotions in this way for years; therefore, there is some evidence that it’s working. I’ll respond by saying, without any tracking capabilities other than scanning the card when consumers bring it into the physical store location, it’s impossible for Bed Bath & Beyond to truly understand the cost per acquisition or per promotion. To me, and many marketers out there, that’s evidence of marketing dollars going down the drain.

Watch this quick, 3-minute video to see how marketing agencies can blend digital technologies with direct mail and print to track campaign elements, collect valuable data and generate ROI metrics.

Do Printed Catalogs and Direct Mail Still Have a Place in a Digital World?

Posté par Cynthia Fedor le December 16, 2010 – 7:59 pm

dans Mobile Marketing, Production & Printing

I came across an article via Luxury Daily that makes a great case for keeping print around in a landscape that is rapidly adopting digital media.

The article also offered ways marketers could integrate new digital technologies with print catalogs in order to engage audiences, enhance content, and improve ROI.

From the post:

…. add utility to…offerings by integrating technology such as 2D bar codes.

“The real estate in a store and a catalog is expensive, in terms of how much information you can put there” Mr. O’Keefe said. “Putting that bridge to the Web site allows you to much more cost effectively provide information to consumers to make a purchase.”

Meanwhile, Luxury Marketing Council’s Mr. Furman suggested that luxury brands could get more bang for their buck by using databases to more effectively segment consumers and target more precisely to send catalogs to those consumers most likely to buy.

Blended with print, mobile technologies such as QR codes and SMS can deliver more information about a product, service, or brand to the consumer while giving marketers the data they need to refine future content, track campaign performance, and improve return on marketing investment.