Measuring the success of a direct mail campaign is an important factor in judging whether the return on your investment has been worth it. Marketers are often obsessed purely with response rates to a direct mail campaign and whilst response rates are a key performance indicator, they’re not the only measure of success. It’s important to have an idea of the key objectives of your campaign in the planning stage so you can measure how well these have been achieved at the end of the process.

Key objectives of direct mail campaigns

These can include:

• Retention of customers
• Increasing brand awareness
• Increasing response rates and
• Showcasing new products and samples

According to Mailchimp whilst 20% of readers open marketing campaign emails, as little as just 2 or 3% may actually click through to the link. When you compare that to direct mail marketing, it was found by the DMA that direct mail response rates are between 10 and 30 times higher than digital campaigns.

Whilst this is important, it doesn’t tell the whole picture. We all know how we are bombarded with marketing emails via our inbox, many unsolicited or unexpected. So, receiving mail in hard copy format is more effective. Kantar Media discovered that 80% of adults out of over 12,000 respondents still had mail in their homes 28 days after receiving it. That’s nearly 10,000 adults who keep mail and look at it after receiving it. Indeed, proactive marketing found that whilst email offered an instant return on investment, direct marketing was more effective at acquiring new customers.

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Customers react positively and more emotionally to personalised direct mail

The reason for this could lie in the emotional response which direct mail has in that:

60% said this effect made a more lasting mental impression on them, making it easier to recall later on. 57% of respondents said that postcard marketing makes them feel more valued and creates a more authentic relationship.”

Source: Forbes

So, this seems to suggest that customers enjoy opening mail and handling it which backs up the theory that direct mail is a preferred way to receive information from companies. Direct mail feels more personal and is also, importantly, a much less cluttered channel.

Ways to increase your direct mail response rate could include a free trial, providing a free same and also including a discount voucher. These methods can really kickstart your campaign and increase your return on investment for response rates. However, it’s also important to be aware that customers may just be interested in your freebies rather than your actual product, so it’s important to distinguish between those customers who trust brand loyalty and customers who are only interested in what added extras they can get.

Acceptable Direct Marketing Response Rates

Measuring your response rates against acceptable direct marketing rates can be difficult depending on what you offered your customers. So, for example targeting customers on a 1:1 basis and adding a person’s name will increase your response rate by 50%. Tailoring samples and mail to capture personal criteria will raise response rates by 135% according to Compumail.

Let bakergoodchild help you to increase response rates

If you want to reach out to your customers in a more effective and direct way, then contact bakergoodchild on 0800 612 1972 so that we can help raise your direct mail marketing response rates.

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