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Direct Mail on HGH - 3 New Technologies That Boost Results Without Breaking the Bank

August 23, 2007 – 1:01 pm

By Matt Hamilton

Using direct mail to reach prospects and customers is one of the tried and true methods to generate leads and sales for small businesses. New technologies available today can increase the impact that direct mail can have on the bottom line. Here are three simple ideas to consider adding to your direct mail project.

Segment your list. Okay, this is not a new concept but there are new resources available that make it easier. Develop a profile of the most likely candidates for your offer. What criteria did you use? If they include things like geography, profession, family size, age, income, gender, or mortgage interest rate, a list vendor may be able to help. In fact, vendors dedicated to a certain industry can provide even more options. Lists companies have grown more specialized in recent years and have made their services available online. I have used InfoUSA to get segmented consumer list with success. They allow you to build and purchase custom lists online, without even speaking to a sales representative and segmenting tools are included in their price.

Now that you’ve built a great list it’s time to tailor your message to their particular wants and needs. Again, this has always been a good idea for direct mail users, but technology now allows you to go further. Today’s print vendors use digital presses that allow use of variable data, without compromising print quality. (i.e. “hello bob, try acme lawn service and have the best lawn in golden ponds” Variably printed direct mail, or one to one marketing, can boost response rates and conversations and hardly costs any more money than traditional methods. (In fact, it doesn’t cost the printers any more at all in terms of printing costs.) Modern Postcard offers variable printing on postcards as do many other vendors. Type ‘variable postcards’ into Google and see what you find.

To maximize your variably printed mail, try to tap into your target list’s unique interests. In addition to using their name on your project, why not add information on their favorite team (based on their location) or make different offers to different parts of your list, based on age or gender? As a cross selling tool, variable printing works great – simply determine which products would complement what your customers have purchased already and send them a post card.

The third way to improve your direct mail results is personalized URLs or PURLs. Companies like Cierant and BlueTreeDirect will help you set up a mini site to complement your direct mail campaign including a URL containing your recipient’s name. For example, if you mail to a prospect named Jane Smith, her PURL could be located at janesmith.acmelawncareoffers.com. Once she arrives, the message will again be personalized for her (Hi Jane, Welcome to Acme!)

In addition to being attention grabbing, personalized URLs add the ability to track direct mail projects more closely. By being able to view each individual’s response to your project, you can tweak and test your offers until you find the one that gets the best response. PURLs usually cost a few cents a piece plus a one time set up fee.

If you are a small business owner, direct mail continues to be a great option for generating leads for your sales funnel. Try adding these emerging technologies as a catalyst to supercharge the process and enjoy the results that you get.

Matt Hamilton has worked in the field of niche marketing for the past 5 years. He operates MerryStockings.com, offering personalized Christmas stockings and a place to discuss Holiday traditions.

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Tim Mahan | Direct Marketing, PURLs, Variable Data Printing, Direct Mail | Comments (0)

More about VDP - Variable Data Printing

August 5, 2007 – 2:16 am

New high speed presses that are able to create different versions of a marketing piece have revolutionized the way companies communicate. State of the art printers such as the XEROX IGEN III draw information from a database to produce personalized copy, offers, and art for individual recipients.

Variable data printing campaigns allow for one small print run to contain multiple designs. This eliminates the need for inventories of different versions, resulting in a low buy in and no outdated reprint. Some industries are deeply involved in this process already. Real estate brokers, faced with ever changing
inventories, utilize VDP to feature different properties without having to invest in large runs. Variable data printing allows for mall print runs to be combined into one job so that economies of scale can be reached by low volume users.

To lower costs, several disparate designs from multiple firms can e printed together, presorted as a group, and mailed in bulk as long as the dimensions of the piece are the same. This is a win-win situation. Efficiency is improved for the printer because down time and set up are minimized. For the marketer, larger print runs mean reduced production costs while maintaining a custom-tailored message for each recipient.

James Michelson | Direct Marketing, PURLs, Variable Data Printing, Direct Mail | Comments (1)

What Is VDP?

August 5, 2007 – 1:57 am

VDP is an acronym for Variable Data Printing. A lot of people do not know what VDP is. Surprisingly even a lot of people in the printing industry. Some of them think is means simply adding some variable text or a customers name to a printed item, which is NOT VDP.* This article then, as well as some linked quotes, will try to explain, in more detail, what VDP is.

The term was first coined by Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus, School of Print Media, Rochester Institute of Technology, and if you are interested in knowing more, there are a number of good articles on the subject by Romano and others at Amazon.com.

Another excellent source, which also has some further links, is Wikipedia which defines Variable Data Printing as

Variable Data Printing or VDP (also known as Variable Information Printing, or VIP) is a form of on-demand printing in which elements such as text, graphics and images may be changed from one printed piece to the next without stopping or slowing down the press, using information from a database or external file. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter. Variable data printing is mainly used for direct marketing, customer relationship management and advertising.

The most common and prolific use of VDP is in direct mail advertising and interestingly the Wikipedia article goes on to point out

The returns for variable printing vary from double the normal return at the basic level to 10-15 times the return for fully variable jobs. This naturally depends on content and the relevancy of that content, but the technique presents an effective tool for increasing ROI on marketing campaigns.

In some future articles we will also be explaining PURL’s, or Personalized Web Pages, AKA landing pages, including some case studies and response rates using both VDP and PURLs.

*In regard to printers who simply ink jet or laser print some variable text, a 2007 white paper entitled “What’s in the Mailbox? The Impact of One-to-One Marketing on consumer Response” prepared by Winterberry Group LLC in conjunction with research and perspective provided by Mintel International Group Ltd/Comperemedia, Responsys and Vertis Communications, they point out …

“Simple” personalization—commonly exercised as the addition of a recipient’s name, address or basic personal information to a message— is no longer a competitive advantage given its proliferation and the advent of highly sophisticated targeting methodologies

P.S. Next week will be reviewing this important White Paper, with some selected quotes

Tim Mahan | Variable Data Printing | Comments (4)

Case Study shows 9 fold increase in response

August 1, 2007 – 7:19 pm

Company: Church Extension Plan
A financial services provider to families, individuals, churches.

Over the years, CEP has tested a number different direct mail approaches to market their loan programs. Current response rates were flat, 1.2% to 2.1%, with conversion to actual loans substantially lower.

KEY BENEFITS

  • 9 X increase in response rate
  • Sales cycle dramatically shortened
  • Process for qualification of customers dramatically improved resulting in higher quality of inquiries

SOLUTION
The program allowed CEP to develop a targeted message to every individual. Data driven content was used to create personally relevant images, photos, quotes and offers for each member of CEP’s campaign contact list. Messages were customized based on the recipient’s name, geography, their church’s name, level of qualification and first-language (English/Spanish).

In response to CEP’s concern that their client base wasn’t ready for the internet, …three methods of call-to-action were tested: a business reply card, a toll-free number and a personalized micro-web site. Closed-loop analytics would show which response method was most effective without risking lost opportunities.

NET RESULTS
CEP experienced a significant 9 fold increase in responses. CEP started receiving results the first business day after the Campaign was dropped.

They had previously waited about 13 days for this activity. There was a clear preference for responding through the web in place of the more typical call-center, saving CEP significant time, money and resources while considerably expediting the loan approval process.

The conversion from inquiry to loan pre-qualification, which used to take a month and consisted of numerous mail exchanges and phone calls, has all but been eliminated.

The quality of inquiries is much higher than previous campaign strategy—more than doubling
the conversion ratio to actual sales.

“Increasing ROI has always been the charge of our marketing team and I know
they are always experimenting with better ways to meet this objective. But this
program really caught my eye. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen such a
marked improvement in our campaigns.”
Pat Clements, President
Church Extension Plan

Reported by K/P Corporation
A Personal touch Increases Reponse

Tim Mahan | PURLs, Variable Data Printing, Direct Mail | Comments (0)

Opt In Email Marketing

July 31, 2007 – 10:22 pm

According to well known marketing experts Ernan Roman and Scott Hornstein, “The consensual marketing opt-in process provides both immediate and long term value to the customer. Short term, customers
begin to receive more relevant and useful communications. Over time, marketers have the ability to provide increasingly focused and targeted exchanges of information that will raise each customer’s satisfaction and life time value. This process rewards marketers with an immediate increase in their return on investment and the ability to exponentially increase revenue and ROI over time.”1 Variable data printing greatly simplifies the mechanics of opt in marketing.

Once the customer has visited the website, the next logical step – short of a sale – is to open an ongoing relationship. Consider offering recurring materials such as a newsletter or email bulletin to keep your information and brand in front of the customer. The same database that is used to produce the unique URL’s and display the offer can also be used to automatically populate the opt-in form for the prospect. This ensures success for two key points: first, it makes the process painless for the customer; and second, the data entered is not mistyped, increasing accuracy.

To keep the program effective, materials must be timely, informative, and relevant. Variable data printing is ideal for providing these highly tailored marketing messages. Research has shown that this type of sales effort returns dramatically better results.

1 Ernan, Roman, and Hornstein, Scott. Opt-In Marketing. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.

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James Michelson | Direct Marketing, Opt In Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, Web Site Advertising, Variable Data Printing, PURLs, Direct Mail | Comments (7)

Reporting and Tracking

July 31, 2007 – 8:28 am

A key advantage to using unique URL’s is the ability to more accurately calculate the effectiveness of a campaign by recording visits to the web. It is possible that an offer was relevant to the recipient but it was not the right time to move forward, the prospect was distracted, or the piece slipped their mind. By identifying those recipients that showed at least some level of interest to the offer, we can begin to rank prospects and concentrate marketing efforts on those most likely to respond. This level of targeted
marketing takes time to develop, but has been extraordinarily successful for many firms.

James Michelson | Tracking Results, PURLs | Comments (1)

Personalized Direct Mail Improves Response Rates

July 31, 2007 – 7:46 am

With new technology using Variable Data Printing (VDP) as well as Personalized web landing pages or PURLs, direct mailers have seen increases in responses rates 3 to 6 times the average response. This type of personalization is quite different from simply using a person’s name in the address or even using their name in the text.

With Variable Data Printing, commonly referred to as VDP, any or all of the text and even images can be personalized for each recipient. VDP can also add a “Personalized” Web Address, such as www.Joe Sample.Weblinkvdp.com.

When the recipient type this PURL in their web browser, it takes them to a personal web landing page. The web page is pre-populated with the name and address, and even their phone (if available).

They can then update their information, add their email address, Opt-in for email follow up, request more information, or even answer survey questions.

In a another post we will detail how this new technology, will then track all this, send instant emails, keep responses statistics, and even create a database that can be exported to almost any software like Excel or you favorite CRM.

Tim Mahan | PURLs, Variable Data Printing, Direct Mail | Comments (3)