Direct Mail Personalisation

The first challenge Donahoe detailed is to make mail personally relevant. “Your mail should know you as well as your spouse does,” he said. He alluded to targeting available to digital marketers—such as Facebook features that allow businesses to target customers based on preferences they exhibit on the social media site.

By contrast, Donahoe conceded that the mail industry currently “does not use data as effectively as we should.” He gave a hypothetical example of the way personalization should be used in the mail stream: An individual searching for a car online browses the site of a local dealer, but doesn’t take further action, like scheduling an appointment. The dealer might then send that prospect a direct mail piece detailing the specifications of the car she looked at on the website. On the mailer would be a smart code, which the recipient could use to quickly schedule an appointment.

Donahoe conceded that this scenario is more complex to execute than it actually sounds. However, he said that current technology makes it “a much more attainable goal.”

Donahoe also emphasized the benefits of personalized mail over targeted online advertising. “Paid digital advertising has a lot of unique characteristics,” he said. “But it’s not effective getting people to slow down and focus on their messages. No one slows down to read through spam emails. But if we can take the targeting power of online advertising and combine it with the mail experience, we can make mail more valuable to the receiver and the sender.”

Actionable

The car dealer scenario Donahoe detailed also exemplifies the second challenge marketers face: Making mail more actionable by reducing the number of steps customers must take to make a purchase or interact with a business. “If we make mail more actionable, it becomes more valuable,” Donahoe said.

Functional

By using digital technologies, mail will become more functional—the third challenge for direct mail marketers. “Mail should be able to interact with smartphones and smart TVs,” Donahoe said. “If you get mail from a bank, you should be able to tap on your phone and get a representative. If you get mail from a restaurant, you should be able to tap and make a reservation.”

Creativity

The final challenge for direct mail marketers, Donahoe said, is to get more creative. “That single piece of mail in your mailbox doesn’t compete against the internet or television,” he explained. “It competes against whatever is in your mailbox that day. Mail should be colourful, it should have images. We see a lot of creativity in digital and mail should have that same amount of creativity.”

“Mail must stay affordable,” Donahoe said. “The faster we can reduce costs, the better we can take the pressure off rising prices. That’s why we need flexibility in our delivery model.”

Thirty years ago, marketing mail was 12% of marketing spend in the U.S. That number, Donahoe said, has not changed. “The strength of our channels comes down to the interaction that occurs when our content is in the consumer’s hands,” he said. “We have to defend and strengthen that experience.”

Source: http://www.dmnews.com/national-postal-forum-four-challenges-for-direct-mail-marketers/article/284897/

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New insight from Kantar Media’s TGI survey reveals:

• Eight million British adults fall into the heaviest 20% of consumers who respond to direct mail
• And these people are 28% more likely than the average British adult to be aged between 25-34
• Close to a third are more likely to have a family income of at least £50,000, with 81% more likely to work at senior management level

Direct mail respondents are certainly a worthwhile group for marketers to target, but understanding what will catch their eye amongst the pile of envelopes is the key to making the most out of this powerful medium.

While their income may be high, they are not averse to hunting for a bargain as they are over twice as likely as the average Brit to look out for coupons. This indicates they are a shrewd group on the lookout for the best deal, in spite of their spend power.

Use of celebrities in ads is also a tactic that can help to sway this group as they are 76% more likely to enjoy ads featuring their favourite celebs. Encouragingly they are also 36% more likely than the average Brit to buy new brands, just to see what they are like.

Source: Postal Choices Ltd – Post Impressions magazine Issue 50

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Deliver magazine recently published a statistic: Customers who received a printed catalogue spent more meaningful time on the company’s website and purchased 28% more on average than customers who did not receive a catalogue. And that held for every age category.

So, when people say the Internet and social media have made direct mail obsolete, I can’t help but strongly disagree. Though not a silver bullet, a direct mail campaign that’s strategically and consistently applied will deliver results.

The truth is that to have the most effective marketing strategy possible, you will need direct mail and online marketing working in tandem. A successful direct mail marketing campaign drives traffic to your website or landing page, where you prompt prospects to fill out a form, thus capturing a lead. But if you are using only online marketing like pay-per-click advertising, you may have a prospect’s attention only for a split second before they click on your competitor’s ad.

The key is integration.

Integrate Offline and Online

Here are three examples of how postcards and online marketing can work together to help you build your business.

1. Use postcards to point prospects to a landing page

There is just no better way to ensure your prospects see exactly what you want them to see than a well-designed landing page. It makes your sale (offer, special, etc.) the only information available. On your homepage, there are many distractions that can interrupt the sales process. Use landing pages to guide a prospect through the sales cycle. Never leave them to wander aimlessly.

2. Follow up with online leads using Google’s Remarketing

Once you drive prospects to a landing page or your website, you want to follow up with them, because not every lead will close right away. The easiest way to do so is with a new service from Google: remarketing. Activating it with your AdWords account allows you to have your ads follow prospects around the Internet once they visit your site. After they navigate away from your site, your ad will appear to them anywhere they go on the Google marketing network, which includes thousands of sites, including big names like dictionary.com and CNN.com.

3. Collect email addresses with a postcard campaign

You want email addresses for your leads because email provides an extremely affordable way to stay in front of customers and prospects alike. Also, it is an excellent way to follow up with leads who opt in to your mailing list. The combination of email and Google remarketing follow-up provides excellent exposure for your company and increases your close percentage.

The Benefits of Direct Mail

Here are two major benefits you get from direct mail that you won’t get from a solely Web-based strategy.

1. Targeting your ideal customer

You can compile a mailing list based on a model of your current best customers. You are able to filter results by age, gender, income level—almost anything—and by doing so, you are putting your ad in front of prequalified leads.

2. More prospects reading your message

As great as online marketing strategies are, the fact is that email and online advertisements are opened at much lower rates than direct mail postcards. A direct mail piece, even if it does find its way into the rubbish bin, stands a much better chance of getting its headline read by your target audience. The more consistently you mail, the more likely you are to increase awareness of your business.

* * *

The Internet will never be able to compete with direct mail in terms of targeting a specific audience and gaining superior exposure, and direct mail can’t always offer the cost-efficiency that online platforms provide for staying in touch with prospective clients. When both are used hand-in-hand, they can increase the efficiency of your marketing plan and help you get the most out of your budget.

Source: MarketingProfs.com

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Yesterday I received a personalised direct mail piece from my local supermarket which immediately caught my attention. The mail piece was personalised on the outside with my name in colour, and it promised great deals and coupons on the inside. I opened it right away.

I was quickly disappointed when I looked at the contents, however. Not a single coupon in the mail piece was for something I would actually buy. There was £2 off a 12 pack of fizzy drinks. Is that a good deal? I have no idea because I never buy fizzy drinks.

As a consumer this mail piece did nothing but frustrate me. Every time my family shops at this supermarket we use our “rewards card,” so they literally know every single item we purchase. If the purpose of the mail piece was to get me to try a new product, the data stewards at this company should know from my buying habits—organic produce, no pre-packaged meals, hormone free milk, etc.—that I would never purchase fizzy drinks. If they had offered a new, all natural pomegranate juice I might have been interested.

If the purpose of the direct mail piece was to get me to shop at their store then they have missed their mark again. We shop at their store approximately two times every week, so sending a direct mail piece to my home to entice me to go to their store was a waste of their marketing pound. Or even worse, if I use a coupon to save money on an item that I would normally have purchased at full price then they have wasted their marketing pound while at the same time getting one less pound from me.

Personalisation in the Physical and Digital Era

I see marketing information and advice on Big Data and “the year of the consumer” practically everywhere I turn. As marketers we are all in violent agreement that every communication should be Personalised, that you need to marry physical and digital, and that you should strive to create a more personalised, uniquely relevant experience for each and every customer. But how do you make this all possible?

It is easy to envision how a marketer can personalize digital communications, and I see examples of it every day. Last night I decided I wanted something to read and five minutes later I had purchased and was reading a new book on my Kindle. The entire experience through Amazon was extremely Personalised—starting with the list of recommended books based on my prior purchases. As a consumer this is extremely helpful, and it keeps me coming back.

But what about physical communications?

Since studies and surveys all show that physical communications are more effective than digital, then why are physical communications lagging behind when it comes to personalization?

Are physical communications lagging behind because marketers haven’t realised yet that today’s physical communications can actually be digital? I don’t mean that your physical communication is suddenly going to start looking like something from one of the Harry Potter movies. What I do mean is that with today’s technology it is now possible to treat physical communications just like you would treat any email or online communication. You can completely customise all of the content in any piece of direct mail, and with today’s high speed production print and mail technology you can cost effectively create visually powerful direct mail—or transactional mail with a marketing component—that is Personalised to the same extent as an online communication.

Source: Pitney Bowes Brilliant Communications

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• 8 out of 10 people will open direct mail
• 34% of these open all direct mail
• And, as to be expected, where there is a relationship with the company, some 45% will open messages.

This is the eighth edition of the fast.MAP Marketing Gap report and throughout this period consumers have always been most likely to open and read personally addressed mail from brands or companies they know and about products or services which interest them.

The report assesses the gaps between consumers’ perceptions of direct marketing and how marketers think they feel.

It is interesting to note marketers have always underestimated the number of people who will open mail.

Meanwhile many marketers believe that consumers are more than happy to receive direct marketing via texts and social media… they are out of touch with reality!

• For example, only 6% of the 1,000 people surveyed say they would be happy to receive direct communications about entertainment from brands through social media.
• But this is far below the average marketers expectations… who estimated that 19% of people would be happy to receive such messages through social networks.

Source: Postal Choices Ltd – Post Impressions magazine Issue 48

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