Smart Direct Mail Reaps New-Mover Bounty

New-mover lists provide direct mailers access to one of the most valuable event-triggered consumer segments. A family move drives a leap in purchases of goods and services--household furnishings and appliances, home-improvement services, phone services, insurance, banking and financial services, medical services, pet care, restaurants and even nonprofits. In fact, research shows new movers spend more in the first three months after a move than most people do in a three-to-five-year period. A timely introductory mailer can not only reap immediate revenue, research also shows new movers are five times more likely to become long-term customers. Depending on promotion, final counts and costs, mailers may want to further target a new-mover mailing by factors such as household income, age, home value, presence of children, move distance, geographic radius and more. Because of proven response, new-mover mailings are popular, so it's worth some creative thought to stand out in the crowded mailbox of a new resident. A recent Target Marketing magazine article by Paul Bobnak, director of Who'sMailing What!, provides examples of four ways to improve impact. The first response-booster is a no-brainer: Offer a new-mover discount. Bobnak cites Pottery Barn's 5 3/4" X 10 3/4" self-mailer with three 15% off coupons redeemable in-store, online or by phone, plus promotion of free design services. Idea No. 2: Leverage marketing's tried-and-true emotional copy motivators (greed, guilt, fear, exclusivity, need for approval), such as the GEICO auto insurance mailer touting a potential $500 savings based on the new address. Hook No. 3: Offer desirable content with the promotion, such as a retail furniture chain's 16-page mini-catalog with tips on interior design along with coupons. Finally, Tip No. 4: Make it easy to respond. Bobnak shares a local hospital's postcard with mobile-scannable QR code leading to a pURL welcome landing page and pre-populated form, plus a gift (thermometer) for adding data such as insurance and e-mail address. For the examples: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/4-hooks-mover-direct-mail/

Want to Rev 2016? Commit to Data-Driven Marketing

Whether it's the latest digital marketing trend or traditional direct mail, bottom line success depends on smart use of targeted customer and prospect data. So for all those seeking growth and profit in 2016, we wanted to pass along five great data-driven marketing goals proposed by database marketing veteran Mike Ferranti, founder and CEO of Endai Worldwide, in a recent Target Marketing magazine post. Ferranti starts by urging investment in a scalable prospect database program, which requires mating transactional data about your best customers with other data about them (demographic, psychographic, behavioral) to find the most predictive factors for targeting prospects who will respond and convert into more good customers. His No. 2 suggestion is identifying the gold customers in your database for new loyalty programs to "retain and delight"--and that means going beyond personalized e-mail and a nominal discount now and then. A true investment in VIP customers pays big dividends. A third idea for data-driven growth is to use your analytics-optimized database to identify customer purchase patterns for targeting by next likely customer purchase (before competitors snatch a sale). Similarly, the database can be modeled for targeting by next likely product or segment purchase, timing to close gaps otherwise filled by competitors or lower-priced buys. Ferranti's fifth suggestion is aligned with all of the above: improved segmentation that structures for queries and segmented targeting to optimize sales from both existing customers and acquisition of new customers. Are these easy goals? Heck, no, but they pay off in terms of profit and sales growth--and we are ready to help any clients who want to get started. For more discussion, see the full post at
http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/5-data-driven-marketing-catalysts-2016-growth/