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SmartTalk E-Newsletter Articles - January 2008
Time to Test a PURL?
Variable Coupon Gets Twice the Attention
Jumping on the
Brandwagon
Direct
Mail is Still DM Champion
The MDI Group Home
Time to Test a PURL?
By Karen Riley
How would you like to launch a new acquisition
campaign for your next subscription effort…and
measure its success within hours?
Or what about creating a new lead-generation
campaign and getting hundreds – if not thousands –
of leads within days?
And what if this same campaign not only doubled – or
even tripled – your original list count, but also
self-corrected your list…at virtually no cost to
you?
Welcome to the PURL – a dynamic marketing solution
that uses highly-personalized direct mail to entice
your prospect or customer to visit a personalized
URL microsite created exclusively for them. Although
opinions vary on how long PURLs will be a driving
force in direct marketing, there’s no disputing that
PURLs are now becoming increasingly popular for
lead-generation efforts, sweepstakes, marketing
surveys, driving traffic to retail, and other
applications.
One of the beauties of a PURL campaign is its
curiosity factor. It offers prospects something
quite different, even fascinating to respond to…a
website personalized with their name. As direct
marketers, we know that personalization lifts
response, and a PURL campaign takes that knowledge
and leverages it against the interactive potential
of the Internet. Industry figures reveal that the result
can have dramatic effects on both response and
conversion.
In either a BTB or BTC environment, a PURL campaign
can begin with highly-personalized direct mail that
speaks easily and quickly to all ages and interests.
Once your target audience has logged onto their
personalized URL, the marketing possibilities are as
endless as your database. You can customize the
content of your PURL landing pages according to your
prospect’s interests, gender, purchase frequency,
and more, thereby delivering a very targeted,
relevant message. You can further tighten your
message by utilizing “dynamic formatting,” text,
images, and even video that relates to the
demographic and lifestyle of your target audience.
The only real limit to the use of a PURL is your
imagination…
• Want to capture email addresses, marketing data,
and drive prospects to retail? Use a PURL to offer a
sweepstakes, quickly survey purchasing behavior, and
close with a redirect to your home page.
• Looking for new subscribers for a magazine that
appeals to both males and females? Customize the
graphics – or imbedded video – to appeal to each
gender.
• Want to drive previous car buyers back into your
dealership? Offer them an added personal discount
beyond the standard rebate, accessible only via
their PURL.
• Looking for potential homebuyers? If your list has
estimated income, display the graphics in the
landing pages with homes in their price range.
As robust as the user experience is, the marketers’
experience is equally engaging. With custom
reporting, you get feedback on your prospect’s
response impulses, enabling you to engage in more
targeted mailings in the future. Once your prospect
enters into the PURL, you know when they were there,
how often they visited, and whether they shared the
PURL – regardless of whether they choose to respond
to your offer or request for information.
If they do respond, the PURL captures the data and
offers numerous reporting options: immediate alerts
to a sales team; immediate bulk or one-offs to
fulfillment; or any part of a chain in a
trigger-point, multi-channel effort.
However, if your prospects don’t complete the
response cycle, you’re able to see what part of your
message they wanted to see or read more than once,
or what part they shared. To respect online
confidentiality, you can’t tell whom they shared the
data with, but your list will self-populate, and
with the proper appeal in your creative, you have an
opportunity to easily capture this new-user data.
Just as important, you also get to see where your
message was lost because the reporting can tell you
exactly how far your prospects drilled down into
your offer and response structure.
When the MDI Group tested a PURL BTB lead generation
campaign, it yielded a 9% gross response.
Considering that our offer was very simple (more
information about a proprietary strategy development
process we use called Smart Response™) we were
pleased with the results. Other sources that are
willing to hint at PURL results state the following:
• Once the prospect has completed the cycle of
initial response, engagement with your offer, and
submission of required data, a PURL appears to
qualify respondents very effectively and can thereby
help deliver a positive ROI.
• As a data-gathering tool to capture email
addresses and perform simple research tasks, a PURL
campaign is proving to be an effective marketing
tool. Once you retrieve respondent information, you
can target your prospects with tailored
offers for virtually any product or service.
• A unique security code attached to each piece
of direct mail tracks visits, and also helps
ensure the highest level of prospect
satisfaction by directing respondents to the
appropriate information on the microsite.
The PURL. It’s powerful, it’s getting popular, and
it might be right for you.
Sample PURL
Karen Riley is President of The MDI Group, Inc. — a
direct-response agency with experience in strategy,
creative development, and execution. She can be
reached at 914-402-7100, or at
kriley@themdigroup.com
Top
Variable Coupon Gets Twice the Attention
West Marine Inc., the nation’s largest specialty
retailer of boating supplies and apparel, wanted to
boost Christmas sales. The company was intrigued by
the concept of using variable data to customize
direct mail messages, and wanted to test its
effectiveness compared to generic messaging.
A postcard was created that would accommodate both
customized and generic messages and graphics. For
the variable version, the recipient’s name was
spelled out in the sand while the generic version
simply said S.O.S. Both versions offered $20 off any
purchase of $100 or more when customers shopped
between December 16th and December 24th. A secondary
offer was the chance to win one of three handheld
GPS units. The variable mailers also incorporated a
point-to-point map inside the GPS image directing
recipients from their home address to the nearest
West Marine retail location.
60,000 postcards were mailed to existing customers.
Half received customized mailers, the remaining half
a generic version. A UPC code, tied to West Marine’s
point-of-sale system, allowed the company to track
sales. Result: the variable version received almost
double the response of the generic version.
Source: Condensed from 2007 Deliver magazine
case study.
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Jumping on the
Brandwagon
Now embraced by some of the most upscale brands,
insert-media pieces are suddenly enjoying renewed
popularity. Inserts have gotten a boost in recent
years from companies like 1-800-FLOWERS.com, which
often allows its marketing materials to ride along
with materials from Omaha Steaks, the gourmet foods
distributor, and premium coffee maker Gevalia.
“These are not down-market companies, and you’re not
reaching a down-market consumer,” says Jill
EastmanVidal, director of third-party marketing.
So why
has the approach become so attractive again, even to
high-end brands? Simple, says Vidal: “It’s
affordable.” Insert campaigns typically carry about
one-third to one-fifth the cost of other direct
marketing efforts, Vidal says. If two companies
distribute each other’s inserts, “the only costs are
commissions to the broker and manager of the program
and printing costs.”
Omaha
Steaks relies heavily on package inserts, says Beth
Weiss, corporate communications director for the
company. “We feel that higher-end companies are
returning to package inserts as they are a proven
media option, providing an acceptable return on
investment.”
Source: Condensed from 2007 Deliver magazine
case study.
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Direct
Mail is Still DM Champion
We’re seeing an explosion of new technologies and
advertising possibilities in handheld devices, rich
media, personalized URLs, digital billboards, SEM
and more. But, let’s be clear: Ignore direct mail at
your peril. It’s still the most reliable way to
reach people in business or at home. It offers
richer list and targeting possibilities, few
restrictions for formats or message, and no
blacklisting or filtering issues.
People like to receive direct mail. A recent survey
revealed that 73% percent of respondents prefer
receiving new product announcements by mail, versus
18% for e-mail. 86% said they prefer direct mail for
official correspondence, such as bills, bank
statements and financial reports, compared to 10%
for e-mail. And, fewer people trash unsolicited
direct mail when compared to e-mail, 31% to 53%.
If you want to reach specific individuals, deliver a
message in the way you want, in a format you choose,
with the least possibility of getting ignored, use
direct mail. It will always be part of the mix for
smart, aggressive direct marketing companies.
Source: Condensed from DMNews article
by Dean Rieck.
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TESTIMONIAL FLYERS
25% of
respondents have used testimonial flyers in the past 12 months,
but only 3.9% of respondents use them as a control.
ENVELOPES
#10s still dominate, but preferred practice testers* used
significantly more 6"x9" (75.0% vs. 50.0%) Snap-Pak (25.0% vs.
7.4% overall), and invitation-look envelopes (60.0% vs. 42.6%)
than other groups in the last 12 months.
*High
quantity mailers who also tested creative elements more than the
average respondent.
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