Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is a form of advertising where organizations communicate directly

to customers through a variety of media including cell phone text messaging, email, websites,
online adverts, database marketing, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters and targeted
television, newspaper and magazine advertisements as well as outdoor advertising. Among
practitioners, it is also known as a direct response.

How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing

Measurements
John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, “I know that half of my
advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half.” Fortunately for today s marketers, there are scientific ways to
determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements.

Advertising is, and has always been, part art and part science. With direct marketing, the science part takes center
stage as there are common direct marketing measurements that can be utilized to verify the results of the advertising.

With the increased popularity of direct marketing, the success of advertising can be measured through a variety of
common direct marketing methods such as cost per acquisition, cost per piece, and response rate.

Before continuing in describing these common direct marketing measurements in detail, it is beneficial to review one
of the direct marketing tools needed to determine the success of the mailing. The most important direct marketing tool
is the response mechanism. This is how you can gauge the success, or lack of success, of a direct mail campaign.
This is the mechanism by which the prospect will use to respond – it may be a postcard to request more information,
an 800 number to call, or a website address to place an order. You can than utilize this response to determine the
success of the direct mailing.

The first of the most common direct marketing measurements is the cost per acquisition.
The cost per acquisition can be determined by taking the total cost of the mailing and dividing it by the number of
responses. For example, let s say the total cost of a mailing is $2,000 and 20 people respond. The cost per
acquisition is $100. This is an important tool to find out if the cost to obtain a new customer is in line with the profits
that you will receive.

The second of the most common direct marketing measurements is the cost per piece.
To find the cost per piece, you would take the total cost of the mailing and divide it by the total number of pieces sent.
For example, if the total cost of the mailing was $4,500 and you sent 2000 direct mail pieces, the cost per piece
would be $2.25. This is an important figure to keep in mind, because by lowering the cost per piece (as long as the
number of responses stays the same), you can lower the cost per acquisition.

The third of the most common direct marketing measurements is the response rate.
The response rate can be calculated by taking the number of people that responded and dividing it by the number of
people that were sent the direct mail package. For example, if 2000 people were mailed a direct mail package and 20
people responded, the response rate would be 1%. This is an important tool that you can utilize to forecast the
success of future mailings.

By using all three of these common direct marketing measurements, you can finally determine which half of your
marketing is working, and which half is not.
3 ways to measure your Direct Marketing Campaign
August 22, 2017

Written by Nilda Cerna, Marketing Manager, Romax.

Are you afraid to run a Direct Marketing Campaign because you don’t know how to measure it?
When you use the digital channel it appears easy to find the conversion path of a visitor from a
website, and understand the impact of the campaign, but how does offline measurement work?

With the recent re-birth of printed communication, launching a direct mail campaign is a
must. This statement is not because we’ve producing direct marketing for 20 years, it is because
there are studies that confirm that the impact of printed communication increases the overall
campaign ROI up to 20%.

But it’s not only about the responses and facts, it’s about the engagement also. A recent survey
from Bauer Media US shows that “87 of readers said they found themselves more engaged when
reading a print magazine”. Moreover, print material left a deeper footprint on the brain,
involved more emotional processing and produce more brain responses
connected to our internal feelings, suggesting we “internalise” adverts, giving
them greater resonance.

How can you persuade your Head of Marketing to include a DM campaign? Or your agency
client? The answer is: with facts.

Here are 3 ways to measure your Direct Marketing Campaign:

1. Include a measurable way to contact you.

Including certain ways for your clients to communicate with you, that you only include in your
printed communication, such as a specific link to a landing page that it’s different from other
channels: an email or telephone number different to your other campaign so you can measure
calls, including a code that your client can mention or use on your website is a good practice
also. Using a different code for every type of customer helps you to track the impact in your
communication across each data segment.

Using the technology as an ally, include a QR code to redirect to your website quickly.

With these techniques you will have the metrics for website visitors, actions are taken on your
landing page, email or telephone calls received, and calculate the conversion rate for your direct
mail piece.

2. Control groups
If you are targeting your client database, you can send your print communication to a group of
them and compare the response rate of whom haven’t received. You can track a third group who
have received both email and mail also.

For a higher Direct Mail result, we recommend including a personalised communication.

Sending the same communication template but changing text or image depending on your
client’s profile or purchase behaviours; such as past purchase or personal income. The data
management gives your database socio-demographic profile and helps to reduce the printing
cost.

3. Create a unique offer

Digital marketers are used to developing exclusive online campaigns, such as launching a new
product that so that it sells on the website only, why you don’t incorporate this philosophy into
direct marketing. Creating a unique offer that your customers can receive only by the printed
communication will give you the exact response to the piece that you have sent. You can re-
launch a product, sell a group of products or services or offer a discount.

If you would like to include the direct mail in your campaign, you can create a particular offer to
recipients via the letter or postcard, why not add a free shipment for those quoting a specific code
mentioned on the DM?

In both, you can track the response to the number of enquiries received or products sold, the
amount of the purchase.

Considerations

Direct mail has a collateral impact on your brand. At a time when online channels are losing
credibility thanks to “fake” news, printing is playing a vital role giving brands the “trust” factor.
Consider the qualitative ways to measure your direct marketing campaign and their impact in the
long-term.