Tag Archive for: campaign testing

how to measure marketing success 3 coworkers looking at data web

How to Measure Marketing Success in Direct Mail Campaigns in Just 6 Steps

You’re a marketer who manages many moving parts. Your responsibilities include how to measure marketing success in every campaign. Plus, you must target the right audience, choose the right images, create a compelling message and offer, and select the right direct mail experts to guide you.

An expert who has managed thousands of direct mail campaigns can help you choose the methods and metrics that yield the data that can help you see the results of your hard work. In addition, they can help you use the information to shape future direct mail campaigns and drive long-term success.

Here’s how to measure marketing success in six steps, in two distinct categories:

How to Measure Marketing Success Using Tracking Methods

Each mailing should have a way to measure how recipients respond. When a new or returning customer makes a purchase, you must be able to trace the action back to the mailer or campaign.

Each campaign can have more than one tracking method, depending on whether you want to measure response from different types of customers, each phase of the campaign, or more. You can even track whether customers prefer one method. Conduct an A/B test to see if you capture more sales using one tracking tool over the other.

Now, let’s dig into it:

Step 1: Coupon Codes

how to measure marketing success couponAn easy way to track the effectiveness of each mailing, coupon codes have been used for decades. Simply print a code on the mailer or postcard, near the offer, and ask the customer to enter it for online orders or turn in the coupon for a face-to-face sale.

A distinct code can be issued for postcards that are sent to each customer list, and a different code for prospective customers. You can even use different codes for mailers that are sent in different quarters. For instance:

  • Quarter 1 – Customers   –   Coupon code: 1C2022
  • Quarter 1 – Prospects     –   Coupon code: 1P2022
  • Quarter 2 – Customers   –  Coupon code: 2C2022
  • Quarter 2 – Prospect       –  Coupon code: 2C2022

Thanks to the affordability of digital printing, variable data printing makes adding different coupon codes, messages and offers much easier to execute today.

Helpful Hint: It’s easier to get sales from customers versus prospects, consider giving prospects a deeper discount for their first sale.

Step 2: Trackable Phone Number

If you’re advertising a service that requires customers to make an appointment – pest control, landscaping, or handyperson services, you can measure the response to your mailer by setting up a specific telephone number. This number would only be active during the sale’s timeframe.

Helpful Hint: If a separate phone number is too much of a hassle, use the coupon code as a measurement instead and ask the caller for the code on the postcard when they call in.

Step 3: Landing Page

Create a landing page to capture visitors who want to find out more information. Measure conversions when they fill out the “request for information form” (RFI). or schedule an appointment.

The forms should include a field for email addresses and an opt-in opportunity that will allow you to email offers to visitors in the future.

If your goal is to capture conversions, the landing page should have text to convince visitors to try your product, service, or download a flyer.

Helpful Hint: To ensure that conversions are driven by the mailer, add a field to the RFI or Appointment form for the coupon code.

How to Measure Marketing Success Using Metrics

Direct mail campaign success is usually measured by greater market awareness or sales. Choose the measurements that will show you whether your direct mail campaign is performing.

Step 4: Response Rate

how to measure marketing success woman working on data webMeasuring the results – coupon codes, calls, visits to websites – is critical in determining whether your direct mail campaign is creating awareness. According to the 2019 Data and Marketing Association, the average response rate for direct mail is 9% for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists.

If your campaign isn’t performing to average levels, assess key marketing elements. Could your offer be better? Is your message clear? Would a larger postcard or 4-color mailer perform better?

On the contrary, if it’s exceeding expectations, take note of what is probably working so you can duplicate it again and again.

Step 5: Conversion Rate

If you want to go beyond awareness to engagement, measure how many prospects request more information or purchase your product. Capturing the coupon code is critical in determining whether the sale was influenced by your mailer.

Each sale or completed RFI form that’s driven by the campaign is a conversion. A conversion could be influenced by how your company and product are represented, or the advertised offer. It’s valuable information that lets you know whether your mailer is performing or needs to be adjusted.

Step 6: Profitability

Find out if your campaign was profitable. Calculate the cost that went into creating the postcards, mailing them, and gathering the sales data. Subtract the cost from the revenue that’s attributed to the campaign.

If you spent $12,500 for postcards, lists, the cost of mailing, and the cost of extra staff to take phone calls, and the campaign brought in $20,000, that’s a 32% return on your investment.

The average return on investment for direct mail is 29%, so the results from our example are better than the average. Your fictional campaign is performing better than most direct mail campaigns, but that doesn’t mean you can’t drive your results even higher.

Implement a review process following every campaign. Here, with marketing staff and a direct mail consultant, identify the key elements responsible for your success and plan how to utilize or improve them for future campaigns.

How to Measure Marketing Success Using Direct Mail Pros

how to measure marketing success group of young workers webYour business health depends on the success of your direct mail campaign. By executing each step perfectly and knowing how to measure marketing success, you have the best chance of creating profitable campaigns with each mailing.

To further your success, a trusted advisor with a proven track record in direct mail marketing is essential. One Stop Mail has more than 15-years of experience with direct mail and commercial printing success. From the campaign, conception to list production, postcard and mailer creation, to mailing and calculating the success of your program – the staff of One Stop Mail is here for you.

If you’re ready to succeed with your next direct mail campaign, get a quote or more information, or contact Marty at 602.932.0365.

Direct Mail Campaign Examples

Proven Direct Mail Campaign Examples – Define The Best Target Market

Have you identified a potentially lucrative part of the market you want to target? Or, do you simply want to grow your customer base? Doing the groundwork is the best direct mail campaign examples that can be the difference between a positive and a negative return on investment (ROI). The first thing you should do is start with what you know.

Analyzing Your Current Customers

Even if you are targeting a new target market, you should not disregard what you know about your current customers. These people have already purchased your product. To get more customers, you should compile details regarding past customers such as what area many of them are living in. If you can identify some key ZIP codes that stand apart, you can look up information through the Census Bureau to get other pieces of data such as average household income and age.  

Purchasing A Targeted List

To supplement any in-house research you do, take it a step further to follow successful direct mail campaign examples and acquire a list compiled by a third-party company. These lists can usually be broken down by certain demographics so you only get the most relevant people to target. These lists can be targeted down to fathers with children under the age of 5 with a bachelor’s degree. You can get even deeper, such as if they own a home, and have a credit card. 

If you need support choosing or purchasing a direct mail list or have questions, check out our Mailing Lists & Data Services page.

Crafting Copy and Design That Is Successful

At first, you will probably be doing some guessing in regards to any new target markets. However, you can educate your guess with what you know about your current customers, and infer what will be attractive to this new market. Once you have a clear picture of this target market, you can do a smaller campaign to test the waters at a reasonable price. As you collect this new data, you can start to change the campaign so that you can improve your ROI.

More Proven Direct Mail Campaign Examples – Seek Out Experts

Not only do you need to be targeting the right people, but you need to take some time to determine what kind of copy and design will be the most successful. You want to not only make it eye-catching so it stands out, but also have a concise message with a clear call-to-action. You will at most have 3 to 5 seconds to get your message across.

So whatever you decide to go with, you need to make it count. To get an idea of what you can do with your budget, contact One Stop Mail to get a quote for your specific project.   

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Testing Your Direct Mail Campaign

Testing Your Direct Mail Campaign

There are many marketers that believe they are above testing because they have enough experience to know what works and what doesn’t. However, this sort of thinking prevents one from improving or confirming their marketing decisions. Testing your direct mail campaign should not be thought of as a one-time chore. It is a routine task that needs to be maintained because it is really the only way you can improve your campaigns, even ones that are already successful.

If It Is Already Successful, Why Test?

It is easy to disregard testing when your campaign is already successful. But even so, there may still be room for improvement. Moreover, for all you know, your competition may be testing a lot more and achieving greater results. In the article “Successful Direct Mail Is All in the Testing,” by Lois Geller, she tells an interesting story about how they “… developed a completely new and more expensive creative approach for a correspondence school. The client mailed it with the same offer to the same kinds of lists as the control. Our new creative brought in the same percentage of responses, so the client thanked us and said they’d stick with their cheaper control to save money.” Naturally, if you are getting the same results for more money, most would see this as a waste of money. However, the story takes an interesting twist as she continues, “Two years later our creative director ran into the client at a convention. The client said that our package had become the company’s control because, for some reason, it brought in a better class of customer, the kind of people who stick with the program a lot longer—and who are willing to pay a lot more money.” This is a perfect example of a client overlooking one of the most important metrics when testing—customer value. In this case, the client only focused on response rates rather than the quality of the customers who were responding. This is why testing when you already have a successful campaign can take your business to the next level.

What Should You Be Testing

Now that you have decided testing is a critical component to your direct mail marketing success, you need to determine what you actually need to test. According to the article “Direct Mail Testing – A/B split and multi-variable testing,” the top priorities for testing include two things: your list and the offer. The actual creative is an important component, but it should not monopolize your time. This is because the list and the offer are really going to have the most influence on your results at the end of the day.

Testing Strategies

Typically, you only want to test one element at a time. To do this, you need to establish some sort of control. So if you have a current campaign that is receiving some success, that can be your control. You can then develop a test campaign that you will send out at the same time and monitor the results. Perhaps you try different lists or a different offer. You can even try a different creative and see how it performs in comparison to your current design. This is called A/B split tests, and is the most common form of testing. If you are starting from scratch, you will just have to make an educated guess on what the best components will be and then test it. Make sure you track where all of your data so that you can make sure you are making the correct decisions based on reliable information. From there, you can combine the best elements to make an optimized campaign.

It’s Not A Chore, It’s How You Improve

Check your ego at the door. No one cares how much you know, or what success stories you’ve had in the past. What matters is in the present, and each campaign is different. From the outset, everyone must change their perception on direct mail testing. It is not a chore, but a necessity of life if you want to improve. Never stop at success, because there is always more success to be had if you are willing to put in the work.