Why We Test

Today's blog is written by guest blogger Jacqueline Causa; take a moment to read her bio at the end, and enjoy what she has to say!

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With companies being bullied, bailed out, and in some cases bankrupted, it is no wonder many are holding tightly to their marketing dollars. So in this type of economy, why does the direct marketing industry continue to test? Why should we allocate prime pieces of our budgets into what seems like the abyss of online acquisition and its choices?

The answer is simpler than you think: what you don’t know can hurt you. More often than not lately, I find companies and brands don’t know who their target audience is, and how they want to be contacted. With capital being swept away from marketing departments over the last two years, companies have lost sight of who their customers, clients, and subscribers are. Testing online media can quickly tell you who you want to reach out to and more importantly, who you don’t.

Decision-makers get caught asking questions before agreeing to test an email list, for example, about average click-through rates and how many conversions they may see. While important and justified, querying about the demographics of the file and source of the data has the same direct effect on a campaign as does an offer and creative. The point is that percentages and clicks vary: it’s the nature of the beast. However, multivariate testing and gusto can give a company priceless data even when a campaign is not considered a success. Metrics from a clean company and respected sources do not lie. The best direct marketers are savvy enough to know that the most opportune time to test is now. and they do it often!

Without a hefty cost commitment, an online campaign consisting of emails, banners, and co-registration can help jumpstart profitability and product awareness. Commit to the longevity of your brand and invest in an online media service that can actually answer you back. If a consumer isn’t converted today, it doesn’t mean they won’t become a buyer tomorrow. Re-test and remarket. Remember, it’s never a loss when it’s knowledge you’ve gained.

After working for The Catamount Group as an account executive in list management, Jacqueline Causa’s concentration moved from traditional offline marketing to online media services, where today she focuses on some of Catamount and eWay’s larger accounts. Working closely with advertisers, mailers, publishers and agencies she helps clients drive customers to their websites through online ads such as banners, enewsletters, co-registration, and more. She enjoys the realtime, fast pace of the online world and continues to stay on top of the current trends in the industry through frequent seminars and events.

It’s All About Cross-Channel Marketing

Marketers are still getting caught in the either/or trap. While many marketers are using both email and direct mail to get their campaigns out, there’s a sense that these are very separate discrete campaigns.

But the reality is that having a cross-channel mindset can help both your email and your direct mail campaigns!

Consider sending out an email to your customers with a direct mail follow-up package. The email can say something like, “Look in your mailbox next week for this special offer.” Then be sure that the direct mail piece has the same look and feel and the same branding as the email, so that the customer associates the two immediately.

This kind of testing has shown a 20% to 30% lift in response rates!

It’s not an expensive endeavor, as you’re emailing your own established customer base, and you would be sending out the direct mail piece in any case. The coordination is not difficult to do as long as you lay out your strategy, your message, and your creative to all come together correctly.

More and more consumers are using different channels for their shopping experiences; it’s time that marketers also integrate online and offline to reach the most people. More and more often, people are no longer just “one kind” of customer; one person interviewed answered that while she orders online, she likes the paper catalogs to peruse at her breakfast table. This is becoming a typical customer, and marketers need to meet their needs.

The challenge is to see whether or not this lift in response rate and the success of this sort of campaign will translate to an outside list. Will it work with prospects? It’s certainly worth testing to find out!

Let’s Bring Direct Marketing Back!

So here’s the question: has the old-fashioned direct marketing technique, sending brochures, catalogs and postcards to customers’ physical mailboxes, gone the way of the dinosaurs? That’s what a lot of us hear. The internet is here to stay and old-fashioned mailings … well, what’s that?

A lot of people feel that way. But I’m not so sure.

I have to ask the question: is it possible that right now is the best time to engage in direct mail? Is it time to bring direct mail back?

Think about it. What’s in your mailbox these days? Not very much, if it’s anything like mine. Not only has much marketing gone online, but so have bills, newsletters, donation requests … all the things that used to clutter up our physical mailboxes.

Yesterday when I looked in mine I found one lonely bill. And I have to say that if a flyer had been there, I would have looked at it!

One of our clients told us recently that response to their January direct mailing is the best that it has been in years, and that’s in the middle of a recession. Think about that: they got that response because no one else was there.

So maybe it’s time to come back into direct mailing while the competition is elsewhere. It’s not a complete marketing plan, but it’s an important component of one.