Using a No-Cost Tracking Mechanism to Justify Direct Mail

by Bobby Deraco

OK, let's admit it. When it comes to justifying the results of our marketing campaigns vs. their expense, we've all had The Boss that expected the moon, stars and sun.

Your last letter pulled a 100% response and he'll ask you why you didn't get better results. He demands that you use Standard Mail to keep postage costs down but gets upset when in-home dates are compromised. Your team comes up with a tight concept and over-the-top creative, only to have the proof sit on his desk for a week. Sound familiar, anyone?

Sorry. We don't have enough space to address his issues here. However, I can help you satisfy The Boss who's attempting to justify all the money the Marketing Department is spending at the Post Office. Typically, he's just trying to get his boss — or the bean-counters in Accounting — off his back so he can go back to doing whatever it is he does while you are working. (Twitter, anyone?)

So he comes to you with a simple question: What results are we getting from our direct mail campaigns?

Covering Your Bases

Gulp. Nothing new here, right? As marketers, we tend to spend so much time devising the perfect list, tweaking the creative, and writing witty copy that it's easy to forget to include some sort of measurement device so we can keep our jobs (and maybe, just maybe, someday get a raise). Of course we all know that direct mail works — no argument there — but sometimes telling the Boss that "the sales team is busier than hell" comes short of the proof he's looking for.

So how can you measure the effectiveness of that next postcard without blowing the budget? (I'll apologize now to pURLs, micro-sites, segmented mailers and variable data. Your time will come...we're watching our budgets right now).

Send 'em to the Web

Think about what happens when you get a piece of mail. You either:

  • Toss it.
  • Do something with it NOW.
  • Throw it in your To-Do pile and do something with it later.

Let’s skip "a" for now. We'll cover that in a future issue. Instead we'll focus on "b" and "c".

Typically, the difference between "b and "c" has to do with The Almighty Offer. The Offer has to be so compelling, so attractive and so urgent that the prospect will take a break from what they're doing and do what you want them to do – NOW.

And the easiest, least painful thing for the prospect to do NOW is to go to a website. (Chances are they are going to check out your website anyway at some point. May as well be NOW).

Pulling the prospect online is pretty simple. Everyone loves a chance to win a prize, get a special discount, hook up with a free sample, whatever. Just make The Offer cool (think about your audience), make it seem easy to get (people are lazy), and make it worth their time (don’t make The Offer too substantial. Prospects are cynical, especially if they don’t know you).

Direct mail opens the door. Now, get them to go to online to a landing page, enter some basic contact info, and get the prize.

And since The Boss wants to know how effective the mailing is, take advantage of the situation and build in your tracking mechanism on the front end. Here's one way to do it while watching your costs.

Building a Tracking Mechanism

Think about what happens when you get a piece of mail. You either:

  • On the mail piece, ask your designer to include an area to the left of the address section with a Promo Code box (this is the best area anyway, because - guess what? – everyone heads to the address panel first to make sure this piece of mail is for them).
  • With simple copy, explain to the prospect that they'll need to go to the landing page and enter this Promo Code to get the offer.
  • Add a box on the landing page form where the prospect can enter the Promo Code. This will be a really basic request for your web designer.
  • Include the Promo Code as a separate column in your mailing list. This takes 20 seconds to do in Excel.
  • Instruct your mailing provider to inkjet the Promo Code in the box on the mailing panel at the same time they are inkjetting the address information.

VOILA! As prospects go online and fill out the form, the results are easily captured by tracking the Promo Code they enter. Your web designer can run reports for Sales to follow up on, and can give you a neat little list that indicates which prospects came from the mail piece. Better yet, if your campaign includes multiple channels – like banner ads, paid search, SEO, affiliate, print advertising, and email blasts – you can assign unique codes to each channel. Send 'em all to the same landing page (this alone can save you a ton of $$$) and make it easy to compare and track ROI.

The best part: many mail houses can inkjet this unique Promo Code into the box at no additional charge (as long as you have the creative designed correctly). You now have instant tracking on direct mail ROI at no additional cost. There are creative ways to screw this up badly enough that you'll have to pay extra, so just make sure you are working with a marketing-savvy print provider that understands what you are trying to accomplish.

So do yourself a favor. Think about The Boss before your next direct mail campaign. Build tracking mechanisms into the mail piece on the front end and arm yourself with a response before you're put on the spot. It may not keep him out of your office, but at least it'll be easier to ask for a raise when review time comes around.