Collecting data on your customers is easy. Knowing how to work with it is a bit trickier. Conducting a successful direct mail campaign involves understanding your customers and prospects. The goal is to have your direct mail result in a great response rate – up to 9% for in-house lists and 4.9% for purchased lists. Let’s look at how you can successfully work with your data for your next direct mail campaign.
Sourcing data
Like most businesses, your company probably has a request for information (RFI) form on its website. That information goes into a house list for use in future marketing and direct mail campaigns. Other ways to collect data include lead generation forms from downloads, contest entries, event registrations, surveys, and e-commerce. Purchasing lists from third-party companies are yet another resource to develop a mailing list, but be sure to choose wisely. There are good and bad data dealers, so do your homework first or ask your printing partner if they can help.
Saturation vs targeted Campaigns
Saturated campaigns spread across all available outreach methods. It’s not likely that you will communicate to every member of your database regularly, but saturated campaigns work best when there are larger goals or announcements to be made. Targeted campaigns specify groups of individuals that are more likely to take advantage of what you have to offer. Your targets can be geography, behavior, psychographics, or demographics-based. However, there is such a thing as over-targeting, so be careful not to be too exclusive.
Write and design Direct Mail for your audience
Now that you know and understand who your target is, it’s time to create your direct mail piece to attract them. Research what motivates response and incorporate those elements into your creative approach. Will bright, cheery colors and humor convey the message you want, or should the piece be more somber and serious?
Tie into digital
Successful direct mail campaigns coincide with digital marketing. When a customer takes advantage of an offer or visits a personalized landing page (PURL) from the direct mail piece they have received, it will trigger a series of automated actions for follow-up emails and prompts. Another option is the use of social media advertising to reinforce the message and touch new audiences.
Successful Retargeting by mail
Businesses are beginning to utilize a hyper-targeted direct mail experience where website visitors don’t just receive an email to remind them of an item or service they viewed online. Within days of a website visit, the customer will receive a direct mail piece, most likely a postcard with a special offer on the item they had previously viewed. Customers do not need to be in your customer relationship management (CRM) platform to capture the data. Services are available that can delineate this information based on an IP Address.
Working with data to target customers and prospects doesn’t have to be a chore. B&B Print Source can help you successfully execute your next direct mail campaign, help source new data, and work with existing customer information that you already have on hand. Contact us today to learn more!