Creative direct marketing techniques that work
Two powerful creative techniques that have proven to lift response rates to direct communications are personalisation (Dear John) and customisation (Thanks for your order last month…). It’s important that you apply these techniques correctly because getting them wrong could end in losing the customer altogether. For example, overusing someones name throughout a communication can be overkill and could annoy them, especially if you’ve spelt it incorrectly or used the wrong title. Incorrect customisation is also likely to have a negative impact. An example of getting the customisation wrong is telling ‘existing customers’ that you haven’t heard from them for a while when they have been doing business with you all along.
Getting a good balance between both these techniques can be very powerful. It creates a great impression when a company takes the time to send a personal communication that is both timely and relevant.
That’s why data is so important. Name and address information and other data fields need to be 100% correct, otherwise the opportunity to really engage the recipient is lost.
Combining personalised and customised messages with customised offers
To take this customisation one step further, if you actually build offers around what you know about your customers, the communication becomes alot more relevant and meaningful for them. For example you may let people know that if they purchase from you before the end of the month, you’ll reward them with a voucher the following month. Then in the following month, you recognise their purchase activity from the previous month and follow up with the reward promised.
Genuinely recognising active customer segments, saying ‘thanks!’ and providing relevant rewards at the appropriate time is a sure way to encourage continued business from existing customers and generate great word of mouth.
The outer envelope
Where direct mail is being used, one of the most important pieces of the pack is the outer envelope. Whatever you choose to put on the outer envelope is going to influence whether or not people open it. In regards to the envelopes, tried and proven tests have revealed that the following creative tactics lift response:
- Having the offer details on the outside of the envelope
- Including a call to action (offer end x date)
- Customising the messages to reflect the target audience segment if relevant
- Experimenting with different envelope formats (the reverse window faced envelope is a winner)
Once you get inside the direct mail pack, past tests show that more pieces in the pack tend to work better than less pieces. This is thought to be because people are engaged with the communication for longer.
Print versus online channels
In terms of whether direct mail or email is more effective, it really depends on your business, your customer demographic and how your customers want to do business with you. Experience in this area has revealed that offline channels such as direct mail, media inserts, retail brochures etc are better methods for acquiring customers but the online environment is a great tool for cost-effectively driving sales, adding value and engaging with existing customer segments.
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