Using Data, Technology & USPS to Rev Mail Response

Recent research provides compelling reasons to include direct mail in marketing plans--and also highlights opportunities to further pump response and ROI. Direct mail response rates actually jumped in 2016 per the Data & Marketing Association (DMA) 2017 "Response Rate Report," hitting 5.3% for house lists and 2.9% for prospect lists, the highest levels the DMA has tracked since 2003. Also consider last year's InfoTrends' direct mail statistics: 66% of direct mail is opened; 62% of consumers who responded to direct mail made a purchase within three months; and 56% of consumers who responded to direct mail went online or visited the physical store. But direct mail is expensive, and response is no slam dunk, so marketers must plan carefully to leverage positive trends. Luckily, 2017 offers data and print technology options, and U.S Postal Service support, to aid in direct mail success. We suggest committing to six key steps: First, start with data quality. That requires updating, cleaning and aggregating the customer database. Look for data gaps and append important targeting factors, such as contact info, demographics or firm-ographics. Second, analyze the data to identify and profile your best customers and their attributes, preferences and transactional history so that you can find and target lookalikes in acquisition, as well as tailor more profitable retention. Third, use your data to create effective targeting and personalization with tactics such as segmentation, variable data printing and timely triggered mail. Segment the audience into target mail groups, based on factors ranging from age and gender to purchase history. Use variable data printing technology for hyper-targeted messaging with multiple variable-content fields. You also can automate digital-activity mail triggers so that, for example, a relevant postcard is sent within 48 hours of an online purchase. Fourth, use print technology's PURLs or QR codes to leverage multi-channel investment, boost response ease, and create a seamless brand experience by linking physical mail to website, mobile and social. Fifth, test innovative creative that will stand out in the mailbox. Summer Gould, president of Eye/Comm, recently offered some suggestions in Forbes magazine, including Augmented Reality, dimensional mail, "endless folds" pieces, and video mailers. Finally, take advantage of the U.S. Postal Service's postage discounts and incentives! In 2017, programs include Earned Value; Color Transpromo; Emerging & Advanced Technology; Tactile, Sensory & Interactive Engagement; Direct Mail Starter; and Mobile Shopping. For details: https://www.usps.com/business/promotions-incentives.htm

Are Self-Mailers Effective for Your Target Market?

Looking to tighten budgets in 2017, some direct mail clients are taking another look at self-mailers. Is it the right move for your market? Drawing on the experience of mailing experts, Target Marketing magazine has a great article with four key questions you'll need to answer before spending on self-mailer testing. First, consider your industry. Is it an industry with self-mailer success? Retail marketers have long used self-mailers and continue to do so, plus educational, auto dealer, catalog, telecommunications, travel and event marketers have used the format successfully, say direct mail pros, with some seeing new converts in business-to-business marketing and publishing. Why the interest in self-mailers in those markets? A simplified piece generally allows for reduced production and postage costs without a postcard's content limits or sacrifice of response vehicles (a self-mailer can include phone, website, QR, PURL, plus tear-off BRC/reply card). Targeted personalization also remains a response driver thanks to variable printing. So what markets don't fit self-mailer promotion? If you need a lot of space to explain and persuade, such as high-dollar B2B technology or machinery, self-mailers aren't likely to perform as well. Magalogs and tabloids also remain more popular formats for financial newsletters, business opportunity or nutritional supplements. And where letter packages still rule, such as fundraising, experienced direct marketers say they aren't seeing inroads by self-mailers; in fact, Who's Mailing What! reports the self-mailer format is at its lowest percent of mail by nonprofits of the last five years. Last question: If your market is a match for a self-mailer effort, how can you maximize results? Take a lesson from the pros in retail and keep the message and offer simple and timely ("act before this date for a special offer"), say experts. And put extra effort into design, starting with an arresting mail panel, a cover that drives opens, a clear offer, a strong call to action and easy response. To download the article with self-mailer examples: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/resource/4-key-questions-to-ask-about-the-self-mailer/

In Busier Holiday Mail Season, Get Creative to Stand Out

With the mailbox distractions of the election finally past, retail mailers can now focus on the challenge of grabbing recipient attention in a holiday direct mail season that is projected to be even busier than last year's. The U.S. Postal Service just announced that it expects to deliver roughly 15.5 billion cards, letters, flats and packages for the holiday period, with around 600 million packages delivered just between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, representing a 10.5% annual increase. The more successful mail efforts are likely to be those that stand out in the flood of promotions, so if you haven't already come up with something more creative for this year, take some inspiration from Target Marketing magazine's Summer Gould. Her recent article offered four ideas for spiking your creative's holiday punch. First, use direct mail's unique tactile advantages for more interactivity, she suggests, citing endless folds, scratch-and-sniff or coatings as fun options. While it's standard now to urge combining mobile with mail, Gould urges going beyond the standard QR code inclusion this year to augmented reality, a la Pokémon Go. She also pushes the envelope, so to speak, by advising consideration of a video direct mailer. This less-used idea is certainly a way to stand out--as long as you can figure out how to make the video both entertaining and promotionally effective. Finally, she supports holiday-inspired die cuts, a proven boon to postcard response but also a way to create more interactive, complex dimensional mailers. "We have even seen mail take on a whole new shape with each unfolded panel as you open it. This is fun for recipients and draws them into the mailer," she notes. To read her article, go to http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/direct-mail-fun-for-the-holidays/

Mail Can Boost Home Services Contractors--If Done Well

Changing seasons signal a burst of direct mail from clients in home services contracting, especially HVAC promotions. And we've seen some great and some not-so-great examples. So we'd like to pass along a timely article from Contracting Business by Matt Michel, CEO of The Service Roundtable, who draws on his experience to create a helpful list of common direct mail pitfalls for contractors. To whet your appetite, we'll pass along just five of the first points in his series of 21 tips on direct mail mistakes. Michel's focus is HVAC contractors, but we think his tips have wider application to a range of consumer mailings. The No. 1 mistake on his list is leaving out a main headline. Yes, some mailers still forget that that they have only seconds to grab consumer attention in the pile of junk mail. But just any headline won't do the job. Marketers need to work hard to summarize appeal in compelling, clear, attention-grabbing text. And that doesn't mean trying to hedge bets with multiple competing headlines; a confused message is the same as no message. Second, remember to play to emotion in the copy and the images; emotion, not logic, moves people to buy, and research has found leading emotional motivators include greed, fear, guilt, exclusivity and need for approval, with convenience and pleasure as icing on the cake. If the images and words in your piece don't touch a nerve, it will get tossed. Third, choose images with people, not product arrays, Michel advises; a parade of boxes, which is all consumers see in pictures of condensing units and furnaces, has little marketing power. Plus, the people pictured should fit the target audience and evoke motivating emotions along with the copy. Fourth, consider the gender of the target decision-maker. Since many HVAC contractors are male, they often make the mistake of marketing to a male audience, but research shows that women make the service and replacement decisions in most households. In that case, images should feature women, and copy should recognize the different emotional triggers of female buyers. And fifth, whether the target audience is male or female, speak directly to the consumer in a conversational and engaging tone. A dry recitation of facts and figures is more likely to bore than persuade. For the rest of Michel's tips, read http://contractingbusiness.com/residential-hvac/21-direct-mail-mistakes-avoid-part-1

Survey Shows Holiday Shoppers' Offline-Online Mix

Heading into the holiday season, what should retail marketers do to maximize 2016 holiday sales? Start by asking the shoppers. Global marketing firm Epsilon has just released the findings of its 2016 holiday shopping survey. More buyers are likely to be in-store than online this year; 87% of Epsilon's 2016 respondents say they are “very likely” or "somewhat likely" to purchase at brick-and-mortar stores, compared with the 76% who say they are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to purchase online. However, the shopping journey will probably involve a mix of channels from marketing trigger to final purchase. More than half (55%) of respondents are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to look at a product online and then go to a store to buy, for example, while almost the same percentage (54%) are "very likely" or "somewhat likely" to look in store for a product and go online to find the best deal. Clearly, retailers will want to integrate messaging and create a seamless customer journey across channels to prevent dollars from slipping through the cracks in this multichannel environment. Since DBM Designs specializes in direct mail and supporting data services, we're happy to report surveyed shoppers cite direct mail as a potent offline marketing channel, with a big 77% of respondents saying advertisements received by mail will have at least “some influence” on their buying decisions this holiday shopping season. That's a lot more than the 41% who say banner advertisements will have “some influence” on buying decisions. Why does direct mail work so well in an increasingly "digital-first" world? No surprises: Respondents say they are influenced by direct mail because it usually contains an offer or discount, and the format allows for leisurely review time. Retail marketers can't afford to neglect online ads, e-mail and social media, of course; most respondents (90%) say they plan to access online sites or e-mails to learn about the best deals before starting to shop, and that's up from 88% of respondents in 2015. For more data from the survey, go to http://pressroom.epsilon.com/survey-results-indicate-consumers-more-likely-to-shop-in-store-than-online-this-holiday-season/

Are Your Direct Mail Plans Election-Ready?

After Labor Day, the nation will be heading full tilt toward the election--with TV, online and mailboxes full of national, state and local political appeals. Have you adjusted your direct mail plans for that political mail deluge? Because, despite the dominance of TV and the growth of digital, leading market researcher Borrell Associates forecasts political direct mail spending will still hit over $380 million in 2016. The biggest challenge for direct mail marketers will be delivery delays. Political mailers get preferential rates and expedited processing from the U.S. Postal Service, while commercial direct mail marketers generally use Standard rates or Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), which are processed on a time-available basis and thus pushed back by political mail volume. So we thought it would be a good time to help our nonpolitical clients prepare for the coming political promotion flood by passing along a timely post by the Planet Central ad agency. The biggest spike in political direct mail usually comes at the end of September and continues through Election Day, the post points out. So marketing plans need to take into account potentially delayed in-home dates during that period--assuming an added two to three days for local mail delivery and up to a week longer for national campaigns. So how can marketers minimize the impact of congested mail delivery? The simplest option is to accept delays and help meet target in-home dates by mailing earlier, the post notes. A second option is to avoid delays by switching to First Class postage to earn equal delivery priority with political mailers--assuming the added cost makes bottom-line sense. A third option is to reduce delays by drop-shipping mail closer to its destination. So, for example, rather than following the multi-step path from the originating USPS sectional center facility (SCF) to the regional Bulk Mail Center to the destination SCF and finally to the local post office for delivery, drop-ship mail as close to the destination as possible to shave delivery time. For the complete post, including planning for election impacts on media and online advertising, read http://planetcentral.com/2016/08/04/is-your-marketing-plan-ready-for-the-election/

Fundraising Letter Fall Flat? Check for These Mistakes

Nonprofits around the country are starting to gear up for year-end fundraising campaigns, and that means scrutinizing any disappointing direct mail results from last year for areas to correct. We can help them analyze response by list, segment and package, but when it comes to marketing copy missteps, we'll pass along the advice of Joanne Fritz, nonprofit charitable orgs expert for about.com. In her June online post, "8 Things You Should Never Do in a Fundraising Letter," Fritz starts with a fundamental error that our mailing data services can help nonprofit clients avoid: lack of personalization or faulty personalization. It's hard to say which is worse in the eyes of a donor, an impersonal "Dear Friend," using the wrong name or misspelling a name! Fritz also notes various copy and design flaws that can make the mailing so difficult to get through that potential donors toss it. For example, a mail package overwhelmed by inserts can confuse recipients into inaction. Appeals can sink under the weight of fancy vocabulary, too; the most effective promotions are written at the 4th-6th grade level, say experts. Hard-to-read design elements--such as reverse-out type or small fonts--can frustrate others, especially older recipients. And remember that urgency drives action. If you don't want donors to set aside your appeal and forget it, stress that you need a donation now and what will happen to needy people, animals or causes if those funds don't come. As added incentive, offer to match their gift if they act right away. Fritz provides links to real-life effective mailings as examples of how to succeed with simple yet emotionally resonant appeals. For more of Fritz's fundraising letter taboos, read http://nonprofit.about.com/od/fundraisingbasics/fl/8-Reasons-I-Did-Not-Respond-to-Your-Fundraising-Letter.htm

Retail Leaders Still Count on Mailings to Deliver Sales

Any retailer hesitating over the role of direct mail in their marketing mix should read a recent Entrepreneur magazine article that spotlights how much today's retail leaders count on physical mailings for sales success. For example, Costco, which sends 8.6 million magazines per month, reports that 56% of members who receive the magazine buy something based on what they read in it, according to article author Shaun Buck, CEO of The Newsletter Pro. Costco did consider dropping the print version in favor of a digital version to cut costs during the Great Recession--until it found affluent members overwhelmingly preferred a print edition. It's no surprise Costco now projects print circulation growth for the foreseeable future. Williams-Sonoma, parent brand to seven companies including Pottery Barn and West Elm, also considers catalogs "a very, very important part of the marketing strategy,” and 50% of the company’s marketing budget is spent on catalogs each year. Online men's retailer Bonobos, which only entered mailed catalog marketing in 2013, now sees more than 20% of its website’s first-time customers placing orders because they received a catalog in the mail--and spending 1.5 times as much as first-time buyers who did not receive a catalog. Author Buck adds that when The Newsletter Pro is late with its own print newsletter, phone consultations with prospective new customers drop by 25% to 33%! For the complete article, read https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275303

Pairing Mail and Digital Can Max Marketing Power

Digital marketing and traditional direct mail marketing often seem to run on parallel but separate tracks. However, several recent articles show why an intersection of online and offline is a more desirable destination for marketers. Consider a Forbes magazine article by Jenna Gross, CMO of the national direct marketing agency Moving Targets, who explains how her agency combines digital marketing with direct mail to deliver a powerful one-two marketing punch. In her June 1 piece, Gross describes how her agency pairs all direct mail campaigns with digital advertising, using the identical demographic and behavioral data, and leveraging e-mail marketing to boot. As a result "prospects see an ad in their mailbox, inbox and social media feed." Using such "cross-media tactics produces an exponentially better response rate, typically 25% or higher than direct mail alone, based on my agency’s findings," Gross says. Meanwhile, a MarketingLand.com post by Lewis Gersh, a leader in retargeting and e-commerce, argues that the marriage of digital and direct mail is also an ideal way to deal with the tough problem of cart abandonment and lost digital conversions. Currently, digital marketers spend 10% to 50% of budgets on retargeting efforts, he points out, yet many fail to capture attention in the noisy digital landscape, or fail to even reach the growing number of customers who resort to ad blocking and unsubscribes to escape the digital marketing onslaught. In contrast, direct mail has the advantage of guaranteed arrival and attention as a physical, tangible presence in the home of consumers, where it can be saved and referenced in future and also can be seen by people other than the intended recipient, which is rare for digital media, Gersh points out. So, leverage digital and direct mail advantages to solve the retargeting challenge, he urges: Apply digital's valuable real-time, intent-driven data to direct mail, transforming online activity into mailing of a highly relevant piece that retargets a known site visitor. To read the full Forbes article, http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2016/06/01/how-to-deliver-a-one-two-punch-combining-direct-mail-with-digital-marketing-tactics/#7216e69f4342

How Direct Mail Joins in Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing is a strategy that sometimes has more buzz than sting, embraced by 88% of B2B marketers but with only 30% saying they are effective at it, per a 2016 MarketingProfs/Content Marketing Institute survey. But more than half of B2B marketers are planning to increase their budgets for content marketing, with a focus on digital delivery for social media content, case studies, blogs, e-letters, website articles, videos, white paper downloads, infographics, webinars, etc. Direct mail is notable by its absence. Yet we think it's a mistake to assume that mail can't fit into a content-oriented pull strategy to build leads and sales. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as "a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience--with the objective of driving profitable customer action." That certainly works with direct mail, too. In fact, a recent business2community.com post by Yvonne Lyons, Right Source vice president of content marketing, cited five reasons to include direct mail as a content marketing tactic: 1) the unique ability of print to engage via design, dimension, and sensual appeal (color, texture, and even sound and scent); 2) targeting with mailing list selection and segmentation that is unmatched digitally; 3) trackable response devices; 4) integration with digital content via PURLs, QR and AR; 5) and high response rates--3.7% for a house list and 1% for a prospect list, compared to 0.62% for all digital channels combined. More specifically, Paul Bobnak, director of Who's Mailing What!, offers some great examples of mailers delivering content marketing's "valuable and relevant content for the defined audience," such as Williams-Sonoma and Trade Joe's. See his presentation at http://www.piworld.com/xchange/dm-spotlight/content-marketing-direct-mail/

Planning B2B Mail to Win Decision-maker Attention

Business-to-business direct mail must leap basic hurdles to get through to decision-makers and prepare the way for sales. For one thing, there is usually a gatekeeper sorting the mail before it ever gets into the hands of a decision-maker/buyer. Getting past this gatekeeper means designing a mail package so it stands out and looks important/interesting, yet doesn't scream junk mail. Successful design tactics include dimensional mail and oversized formats (No. 11, 9X12 or 6X9 envelopes, for example). Then the copy (from teaser to letter) must do some heavy lifting. Studies have shown that, especially for the C-suite level, this means 1) focus on a topic that is significant to the target market, 2) provide a solution to a problem/pain point, 3) prove value with third-party endorsements, 4) intrigue with new information or perspective, and 5) as with any direct marketing, include a call to action--an attractive, time-sensitive offer. But probably the most important part of a B2B direct mail effort will be the list targeting. Selecting by industry and company size, based on profiling of best customers, is useful, but what about the title/department targeted? Here's where it gets trickier--especially when you move from the small business realm to the mid-sized or enterprise company where decisions involve multiple players. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Newly released research by LinkedIn, based on a survey of 6,000 buyers, marketers and salespeople in seven countries, shows the number of departments involved in a B2B purchase decision varies significantly by industry. As an example, the number of departments involved in buying ranges from 3.4 for the travel industry up to 4.6 for manufacturing. When it comes to which department is most influential, results again depend on industry and product. For example, promoters of marketing and advertising services tap the marketing department as the most influential in buying, while adtech products choose Finance as a top target, and online media platforms go direct to media and communications buyers. For details relevant to your B2B targeting, take a look at the LinkedIn report "Which Departments Influence Buying Decisions in Your Industry?" at https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-b2b-marketing/2016/which-departments-influence-buying-decisions-in-your-industry---

Want Your Mailer Opened? Check These Envelope Teasers

An envelope "teaser" is one way to win attention in the critical seconds determining whether a direct mail piece is opened or tossed. We've watched clients struggle with teaser copy, so we thought it might be useful to offer recent examples that won marketing praise. First, we note that the best teasers often tap into marketing's proven emotional drivers for spending on a product, service or cause. Various marketing pros have identified those drivers as exclusivity, fear, flattery, greed and guilt, and others have expanded the list to include anger and salvation. Recently, a Target Marketing magazine article by Paul Bobnak, director of Who's Mailing What! global mail monitoring, highlighted his selection of the top seven envelope teasers of 2015. Agree or not, they provide food for thought and may inspire imitation. Here is a sample of just four. GEICO leads with the greed-driven "GEICO just made it easier to help you SAVE MONEY on auto insurance," plus a QR code on the envelope for those who don't want to waste a second to hop on the deal via mobile device. California College San Diego uses a teaser to flatter, along with a monetary lure, in "earn your degree and the income you deserve." Lifelock taps into fear, the fear of identity theft, with "Attention: Major Health Care Breach Could Affect Up to 80 Million." Quantum Wellness Botanical Institute knows lots of folks are angry at "big pharma" and their prices, so it teases with "Big Pharma Sparks OUTRAGE Trying to Patent This POWERFUL HERB" (which also implies pharmaceutical value), and then sells the herb curcumin inside. A caveat: A teaser can spark an open, but response requires the rest of the mailer to fulfill expectations! For all seven envelope teaser examples, including nonprofit appeals, go to http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/the-7-best-direct-mail-teasers-2015/

Surprise! Political Direct Mail Key to Wooing Millennials

In this 2016 election season, candidates and causes are leaving no channel untapped in the drive to woo support, with the investment in digital media higher than ever before. Indeed, it is assumed by many political pundits that digital channels are vital to reaching the millennial age group, the digitally connected, under-30 crowd that makes up 20% of today's electorate. Traditional direct mail is for older traditional voters, right? Wrong. According to a survey jointly conducted by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), younger voters not only pay close attention to political mail, they actually favor it over other forms of political advertising. The survey found that at least 42% of millennials prefer direct-mail political ads over online ads, with 38% favoring both equally. Equally important for political marketers, millennials are more likely to read, discuss and use political mail than older generations. Over twice as many millennials thoroughly read political mail received when compared with non-millennials (40%  to 18%), and milliennials are more likely to discuss political mail with others than older counterparts, too (78% to 63%). Finally, political mail works in prompting millennials to take action. Because of political mail, 66% said they are likely to research the candidate, with 54% visiting the candidate’s website. Read the news release at http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2016/pr16_035.htm

The Right Mail Helps Local Firms Compete for Sales

Direct mail is a great way for local businesses to draw traffic and compete for sales--if it is crafted to win attention. A recent Target Marketing magazine piece by Paul Bobnak, director of Who's Mailing What!, offers real-life examples of seven basic direct mail tactics that work to woo local customers. 1) Start by selling the benefits rather than the features of a product or service, and put a personal face to the company with names and photos while you're at it. 2) If you are a competitive local service (plumbing, painting or HVAC, for example), make sure you show the range of tasks you can do to set your business apart from other service professionals. 3) Deliver essential information to alert custumers to their potential need, such as the water heater sticker with emergency shutdown instructions and troubleshooting checklist sent by a plumbing contractor. 4) Generate trust and show expertise by educating consumers, like the eight-page, soft-sell brochure on replacing a heater or air conditioner from a home services provider, which leveraged credibility to then promote the company. 5) Make smart use of the calendar to tie into holidays and seasons, such as Mother's Day retail specials or Halloween "scary furnace" checkups. 6) Make it easy to order and then retain contact info, such as a pizzaria's mailed menu sized to post on a refigerator door. 7) Create innovative and personalized call-to-action devices. Going beyond coupons, a local nursery mailed a personalized gift card that snapped out of a postcard, for example. To see real mailing examples: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/7-direct-mail-ideas-drive-local/

B2B Lead Gen Rediscovers Direct Mail

Direct mail is enjoying renewed interest as a lead generation tool among business-to-business marketers, according to Demand Gen Report. Demand Gen Report's "2016 Demand Gen Benchmark Study" found direct mail not only still in the B2B marketing mix but earning increased spending by some marketers. Besides working to drive leads at the top of the funnel, direct mail was seen by surveyed marketers as an effective way to drive conversions later in the buying cycle, with 21% citing it as most effective at boosting conversions, tied with social media. A recent Demand Gen Report article interviews some B2B marketing execs to find out why they opt to invest in direct mail along with their digital lead-gen efforts like e-mail, search and social media. The CMO of Salesfusion sees direct mail as a way to stand out with the target audience, citing over-exposure in the digital space and touting a 10%-15% conversion rates for direct mail. Aptos is trying the same tactic and increasing direct mail spending, including a high-end mailer to nurture "suspects." Ricoh Americas also is sending out "high-end and very targeted dimensional mailers," especially to global and major accounts, and combining mail outreach with an interactive website and phone follow-up. B2B agency Babcock & Jenkins has "leveraged direct mail as part of an account-based marketing approach" for clients like CSC, IBM, Jive Software, Lifelock, Tripwire and Xerox, per the article. Stressing direct mail's place in an integrated strategy, Ruth Stevens, president of B2B consultancy eMarketing Strategy, explained why mail can be more effective at outreach than other channels: "In the B2B world, there's an increased understanding that you cannot get all the business you need by using e-mail as an outreach medium, since e-mail address data is far less available than physical addresses." Read http://www.demandgenreport.com/features/industry-insights/direct-mail-reborn-b2b-marketers-integrate-more-physical-mail-with-digital-channels

Crafting Direct Mail That Woos Millennials

Don't assume millennial customers are digital-only responders. Direct mail is a great way to reach this desirable demographic (aged 19 to 35). In fact, research shows more than half of millennials purchase based on direct mail offers. But you can't necessarily win them over using the same mail tactics that worked with their parents. A recent Retail Merchandiser magazine post by Joan Patrick, director of Marketing for Vision Integrated Graphics, offers good tips for crafting direct mail specifically for the millennial market. One thing is obvious: Most millennials are attached 24/7 to their mobile devices, so mail packages need to include mobile-friendly connections--such as QR codes linked to online video. On the other hand, messaging and offer should not treat millennials as a single buyer persona; yes, there are at-home dependents in the cohort, but more are married, parents or homeowners, so segmentation will improve response. Then, to appeal to a generation weaned on digital and media creative's visual cues, direct mail packages need eye-catching colors, images and graphs. Millennials also tend to prefer a personal, casual style of communication, but mailers need to guard against personalization, humor and slang that don't fit the brand--because millennials value "authenticity" even more. Yes, the direct mail pitch to millennials should still include a WIIFM hook (What's In It For Me?), but marketers must accept that this group can evaluate offers differently. The majority say they prize happiness and life quality over money; so don't just list features and prices, cite personalized benefits. The majority of millennials also say they prefer to do business with socially conscious companies--so let them know your mailer uses recycled materials, or highlight a promotion's charitable giving link. Finally, millennials tend to stress connecting and collaborating; almost half say they'd like to help companies develop future products and services. Mailers can play to that response-getter by including user surveys, user-generated content, and social links. For the full post: http://www.retail-merchandiser.com/blog/2802-7-tips-to-connect-with-millennials-through-direct-marketing

Key Lessons From Personalization Backfires

Personalization is at the top of every list of 2016 direct mail strategies--but that doesn't mean personalization is a no-brainer. Indeed, a recent blog post by Greg Cholmondeley, Workflow Practice Director of Caslon & Company and the PODi (Print on Demand Initiative) digital printing organization, warns that poorly executed personalization can create epic fails, too. He provides a great example of personalization gone-wrong: an e-mailed offer of "escape the cold" winter airfare deals--sent to him in sunny Fort Lauderdale, FL, with an offer of a cheap flight to snowy Akron, OH! For personalization to work, all aspects of data, offer and message need to be thought out and tested from a variety of data perspectives, Greg stresses. First, the data must be clean and up-to-date (and, bravo, the offending piece got his e-mail and closest airport location right), and the offer must be appealing (an airfare of $39 from a local airport certainly piqued interest). But special care must also be taken with messaging. And here is where the marketing flopped--by adding personalized elements to a traditionally designed static offer without thinking it through. Simply dropping personalized data into copy does not necessarily create a relevant direct marketing message. Greg notes that the marketers could have avoided the snafu with cold and hot versions based on recipient location. But his basic point is that successful personalization requires "relevant thinking" instead of "broadcast thinking." Are you using your data to create that "relevant" personalized direct mail offer? Read the full article at http://www.blog.podi.org/learning-from-personalized-marketing-fails

In 2016, Celebrate the Marriage of Mail and Mobile

The B2C and B2B purchasing journey increasingly starts on a mobile phone. For example, 65% of consumers start their digital purchase path on a mobile device and 42% of business researchers use mobile in their purchase process, per Google. So what does that mean for non-digital direct mailers? It means it's time to marry mail and mobile! The response synergy between direct mail and digital is already proven. Direct mail will influence 76% of Internet users to buy online, per Exact Target. The first step to a mail-mobile marriage is incorporating gateways to smartphones in your printed pieces. This can be done via QR codes linked to a landing page offer, Augmented Reality (AR) to deliver a persuasive experience such as video, Near Field Communication (NFC) to drive mobile traffic with a tap between phone and embedded chip, and Personalized URL (PURL) to send the recipient to a personalized landing page. Research how U.S. Post Office programs support and reward this technology use. The next step is to make sure your landing pages are optimized for mobile. Tips include use of larger text for viewing on small mobile screens and placement of the call-to-action device "above the fold" of the mobile screen to avoid scrolling. Marketo reports that making these and other mobile-friendly changes to its e-mail templates led to a 28% increase in click-through! The final step is to measure response and ROI across channels. For example, with a QR code, you can create a unique campaign landing page, an individually personalized landing page, or use a special landing page offer to gather contact info. If you are using PURLs, you can embed a campaign identifier or create a unique identifier for each individual. If you send prospects to a landing page, you can create unique offer identifiers or activation codes. If you need more ideas for boosting mail performance, check out the 2016 direct mail predictions of the gurus at C.TRAC interactive marketing: http://www.ctrac.com/2015/12/direct-mail-marketing-predictions-for-2016/

Direct Mail for 2016: Personalized, Mobilized, Analyzed

The holidays are whizzing by, and those 2016 direct mail plans are on the launch pad. Are you sure you're using the right fuel to reach direct mail heights? We like the way a recent blog post by IWCO Direct's Senior Customer Engagement Manager Krista Black boiled down that question into the three top trends to include in any plan for mail success: targeted personalization, mobile phone impact and multichannel analysis. When it comes to personalized mail, simplistic first-name fills aren't enough to generate customer response anymore. Effective personalization, Black points out, is about targeting with the right offer, right audience and right timing--to segment audience by demographics, geography, purchase history and psychographics for best response; to tailor a compelling offer to audience needs and likely objections; and to time mailings to fit recipient buying cycles. Next, mailers must accept that mobile has become the "first screen" of the majority of the target audience, Black advises. Recipients are likely to go first to their mobile phone after reading a mailer to search for a product, service or retail location. Leverage that trend in printed mail by including QR codes, PURLs, and keywords integrated with SEO/SEM. Finally, today's marketing is multichannel, and that presents a challenge in response and conversion analysis and attribution, Black warns. Marketing analysis needs to account for both direct and "halo" effects across channels--such as direct mail sending respondents via mobile to web pages. We would add a key fourth element for 2016 direct mail success: quality data. Marketers will need accurate, complete, up-to-date, verified, integrated multichannel data to achieve all three of Black's goals in direct mail plans next year--and we can help with that! For the complete post: http://www.iwco.com/blog/2015/12/11/direct-marketing-trends-2016/

Just the Facts: Why Direct Mail Is Alive--and Thriving

DBM Designs' experience as a partner with successful direct mail programs has helped us ignore the perennial claims of direct mail's demise. But for marketers who still doubt snail mail's continued marketing power, we're happy to share this year's facts from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) 2015 Statistical Fact Book and its latest Response Rate Report. For one thing, company spending on direct mail continues to grow, not shrink, with $46 billion spent on direct mail in 2014—up from $44.8 billion in 2013. Organizations also are expected to spend $9.3 billion on data for direct mail in 2015, an increase over the previous two years. One reason for direct mail's staying power with marketers is that it continues to lead in response. Average response rates for direct mail are 3.7% for house lists and 1% for prospect names, which are both higher rates than for mobile, paid search, social media. Internet display ads and e-mail. For example, e-mail scores an average 0.1% response for customers and prospects. Only telemarketing beats direct mail in response power at 9%-10%, per DMA data. At $19 average cost per acquisition for house lists, direct mail acquisition also costs less than paid search ($21-$30) and Internet display ads ($41-$50) and is close to the $16-$18 CPA of mobile and social. Direct mail does lose out to e-mail ($11-$15) on CPA for house lists. But DMA's most important metric--median ROI--shows why direct mail in still in the game and not on the bench. Although e-mail and telemarketing lead in median ROI (21%-23% and 19%-20%, respectively) compared with direct mail's 15%-17%, direct mail ROI is still on par with social media and way ahead of mobile, paid search and Internet display. For more direct marketing industry benchmarks and response details by direct mail package type and customer target (business or consumer), see http://www.marketingcharts.com/traditional/direct-media-response-rate-cpa-and-roi-benchmarks-53645/