Direct Marketing - What Kind of Response Rate Can I Expect with Postcard Marketing?
Saturday, November 23, 2013
With the growth of social media marketing strategies such as Facebook and Twitter, it's tempting for marketing companies to forget about how powerful direct marketing tactics can be. Direct marketing is done through the mail in an attempt to establish a personal foundation or connection with your customer. Some of the most common ways direct marketers can reach customers are through packages, fliers and postcards. According to the Direct Marketing Association, overall direct mail response rates are usually between 1 and 3 percent.
Effectiveness of Direct Mail
Direct mail may not be as talked about today as social media marketing, but business owners still rate direct mailings to be one of the most effective forms of communication. In a 2010 survey conducted by Internet and integrated marketing information source Marketing Sherpa, 79 percent of business owners found direct mail to be a "very effective" or "somewhat effective" medium for reaching their customer base. Many businesses have begun to use direct mail as a means to connect their customers to other forms of media -- drawing attention to their website, email or social media websites.
Postcard Marketing
Coupons and special offers are what have really driven postcard marketing to be as effective as it has been for so many years. Coupon-oriented postcards enable business owners to add a coupon code to a postcard to track how successful their promotion is and how they should approach future marketing tactics. Coupon code redemptions help determine the response rate of these advertisements. For example, if you send out 200 postcards and receive 40 back in the form of coupon redemptions, your response rate is 20 percent.
Specific Postcard Marketing Tactics
Hundreds of marketing firms conduct studies every year by to see which tactics are still proving to work and which ones are on their way out. A study by Vertis Communications in Baltimore, as reported by Ideamarketers.com, revealed that 72 percent of adults responded to a "buy one, get one free" offer they received in 2007. Furthermore, 85 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 44 responded that they read direct mail pieces. This suggests you may find it more effective to aim postcard marketing toward women.
The Importance of Personalization
Bob Martel of Drive Marketing, a personalized direct mail company, has called mail tailored to the specific needs of a customer "an often overlooked and under-leveraged component of any great campaign." In "The Future of Mail 2007," a study performed by market research company InfoTrends, 61 percent of consumers stated a preference for personalized direct mail. This was nearly triple the percentage of people who said they preferred receiving information via email. Personalization can be as simple as putting a customer's name on the piece or as complex as using your company database to research a few of your current customers' favorite products to picture on the front of your postcards.
Tags:
Direct Marketing, Marketing
Effectiveness of Direct Mail
Direct mail may not be as talked about today as social media marketing, but business owners still rate direct mailings to be one of the most effective forms of communication. In a 2010 survey conducted by Internet and integrated marketing information source Marketing Sherpa, 79 percent of business owners found direct mail to be a "very effective" or "somewhat effective" medium for reaching their customer base. Many businesses have begun to use direct mail as a means to connect their customers to other forms of media -- drawing attention to their website, email or social media websites.
Postcard Marketing
Coupons and special offers are what have really driven postcard marketing to be as effective as it has been for so many years. Coupon-oriented postcards enable business owners to add a coupon code to a postcard to track how successful their promotion is and how they should approach future marketing tactics. Coupon code redemptions help determine the response rate of these advertisements. For example, if you send out 200 postcards and receive 40 back in the form of coupon redemptions, your response rate is 20 percent.
Specific Postcard Marketing Tactics
Hundreds of marketing firms conduct studies every year by to see which tactics are still proving to work and which ones are on their way out. A study by Vertis Communications in Baltimore, as reported by Ideamarketers.com, revealed that 72 percent of adults responded to a "buy one, get one free" offer they received in 2007. Furthermore, 85 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 44 responded that they read direct mail pieces. This suggests you may find it more effective to aim postcard marketing toward women.
The Importance of Personalization
Bob Martel of Drive Marketing, a personalized direct mail company, has called mail tailored to the specific needs of a customer "an often overlooked and under-leveraged component of any great campaign." In "The Future of Mail 2007," a study performed by market research company InfoTrends, 61 percent of consumers stated a preference for personalized direct mail. This was nearly triple the percentage of people who said they preferred receiving information via email. Personalization can be as simple as putting a customer's name on the piece or as complex as using your company database to research a few of your current customers' favorite products to picture on the front of your postcards.
