4 R's of Direct Marketing
Remember the 4 R's… Reach + Repetition = Retention + Response = ROI
Reach. Many a direct campaign has faltered due to not having a qualified list. The foundation of a direct campaign relies heavily on this list being resourced. I know of one investment company that thought they had a qualified list that found out 12% of the list went to minors as another 2% were undeliverable because the recipient was deceased.
There are a myriad of ways to obtain a qualified list and target a potential customer.
The majority of publications are BMA certified, meaning that their list is audited for accuracy.
For a European automotive client whose sales were sinking fast I needed to develop a finely tuned list. I targeted affluent early adapters with interest in performance driving. Sifting the list of multiple publications supplied by one publishing company yielded a finely honed target list with outstanding results.
Another method is using the various data bases your client may have acquired from customers such as online opt-in, business reply cards, coupons, or telemarketing to name a few.
An example of developing a list from inconsistent resources is a healthcare system in the deep south. Each service line used different methods of capturing information from their customers and the customers had a variety of health plans and methods of payment. One constant throughout all the databases was the patients social security number. With this piece of information I was able to clean up the list for launching a successful CRM program. As an additional precaution, being that this is a healthcare institution, I filtered the list through public information to be sure I reach a live audience.
Repetition. Without repetition you will never gain retention. to send one postcard to a prospect is a drop in the bucket. Now, you don't have to fill the bucket, but you do need to make sure someone notices that the bucket has ripples.
Multiple contacts during a program with a prospective customer will increase retention. An average of six hits is recommended for best results.
Retention. Make it memorable. As mentioned above multiple methods of contact will increase your customers awareness of your service or product. Be sure to incorporate other marketing tools at your disposal. Earned media, public relations, will reinforce name recognition as well as enhance your company's image.
Standard size postcards and envelopes get lot in the clutter. Dimensional mail by nature stands out of the crowd. Oversized and interactive pieces scream to be handled and viewed. There are many dimensional and interactive solutions, some being a pop-up, slide rule, lenticular, hologram, or clever folding techniques. But interactive goes beyond dimensional products. It is how you manage what the customer will do and the value they perceive. What they view first and what action will they take next. The physically simplest yet intellectually deep are the mailings from Publisher's Clearing House and Readers Digest. Read the letter, find the sticker, move the sticker to the response form, drop it in the mail and you could win big.
Dimensional direct mail posts an overall response rate of 3.67%, compared to 2.77% for flat mail. Source: The Direct Marketing Association, The DMA 2005 Response Rate Report.
Response. Give the customer a choice. Having multiple methods of contact allows your customer to choose how and when they will respond. Make it easy. Have the response, if by mail, postage paid and pre-addressed. In this way all your customer needs to do is check the appropriate box and drop it in the mail.
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