Brain Science, Industry Data Boost Mail Fundraising

As digital channels expand donor influence, some nonprofit marketers may wonder about direct mail's role as a fundraising workhorse. Both neuroscience and marketing data underscore why it's essential to keep mail in harness. Technology may be changing rapidly, but the human brain hasn’t changed in about 500,000+ years, and mail marketers have a brain advantage, notes a recent NonProfit PRO article by Christopher Foster, vice president of business development at Modern Postcard. Neuroscience has found direct mail taps two basic parts of the brain: the cerebral cortex and the amygdala-hippocampus pairing. The cerebral cortex is where we process information and weigh the pros and cons of decisions. Unlike truncated digital messaging, direct mail can engage this part of the brain by describing benefits and citing objective reasons for donor dollars. Plus, research consistently shows people trust print/direct mail information more than digital info. Of course, recall and emotion are key drivers, and the amygdala and hippocampus, combining long-term memory with emotional response, favor direct mail over digital, too. In fact, research shows direct mail is 35% stronger than social media and 49% stronger than e-mail when it comes to long-term memory encoding, and 33% stronger than e-mail and social media in engagement. Next consider recent marketing data. The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) 2018 direct mail response rates were 9% for a house list and 5% for a prospect list, way higher than any other channels (such as e-mail, social media and paid search at 1%). As a result, mail's median ROI is also higher than most digital channels. Direct mail, of course, works even better integrated into an omnichannel campaign, where it actually spurs digital results; for example, studies show donors are three times more likely to give online in response to a direct mail appeal than to an e-appeal. Plus, direct mail drives donor retention; 70% of donors have restarted a relationship because of direct mail, per DMA data. And direct mail is efficient at retention; the Association of Fundraising Professionals reports direct mail costs $0.25 for every $1 from recurring donors. However, direct mail's fundraising success is certainly not a given. Another NonProfit PRO article by Jen Linck, chief marketing officer for Corporate Giving Connection, cites some basic strategies: list segmentation and targeting to avoid sending costly mail to bad leads; creative that captures attention and spurs opens, such as dimensional mail or large-sized envelopes; and the inclusion of added value, say via special offers or promotional gifts. Finally, since direct mail works best when it is integrated into an omnichannel campaign, incorporate digital technology with QR codes, short links or text keywords for use across channels. Plus, link donors to a branded, campaign-specific landing page, since 38% more donations happen with branded, campaign-specific landing pages. For more, see our blog post at https://www.acculist.com/brain-science-industry-data-bolster-direct-mail-fundraising/

Latest Data Proves Direct Mail Is Alive & Well

Some marketers theorize that "direct mail is dead" about as often as "Game of Thrones" fans theorize about the fate of favorite characters. So for all current and future direct mail marketers, here is the latest proof that direct mail is alive and well, and still a key direct marketing tool. For example, the U.S. Postal Service reports that revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2019 (October-December 2018) was up 2.9% to a $19.7 billion total over the same prior-year quarter. A decline in First Class Mail dollars and volume was more than offset by Marketing Mail’s 4.9% increase in revenue, up by $218 billion, and 4.8% bump in volume, up by 1 billion pieces, combined with Shipping and Packaging revenue growth of 8.7%, up by $516 million, and a 5.4% volume bump, up by 93 million pieces. Why is direct mail still thriving in a digital age? We’ve reported it before, but it bears repeating: The 2018 DMA/ANA Response Rate Report shows an average direct mail response rate of 9% for house lists and 5% for prospect lists, stellar rates compared with response rates of 1% or less for e-mail, social media, paid search and display ads. In fact, lower mailbox volumes actually have helped turbocharge mail response in an era of digital promotional bombardment. Consider that, each day, an average of 107 e-mails per person are received globally and an average 63 ads per person are viewed, but only an average of two pieces of mail are received per person. It’s clear which channel gets the audience attention and why 75% of households read or scan their direct mail ad materials daily, per a USPS 2016 study. Not only was direct mail the top purchase influencer among Baby Boomers, per a 2015 MarketingCharts study, but even younger, digitally addicted generations are fans of direct mail. According to USPS studies, 77% of Millennials pay attention to direct mail advertising, 90% think direct mail advertising is reliable, 57% have made purchases based on direct mail offers, and 87% of Millennials say they like receiving direct mail. Direct mail works for an even younger group of consumers as well: 69% of 18- to 24-year-olds prefer reading print and paper communications over reading from a digital screen, per paper-producer Sappi. Direct mail work so well across generations of consumers because it has some key advantages. In an age when trust in advertising is at a minimum, 76% of consumers say they trust direct mail when they want to make a purchase decision, and trust it more than digital channels, per a 2016 Marketing Sherpa study. Direct mail is also more engaging, memorable and persuasive, per neuroscience studies. In fact, a 2015 Canada Post neuroscience study of direct mail found that direct mail’s motivation response, its persuasive power, is 20% higher than digital media’s motivation response. Finally, direct mail can harness multi-channel databases to machine learning/AI, variable data printing and behavior-based triggers to produce timely, highly personalized messaging. For more, see our onsite blog post at https://www.acculist.com/latest-data-shows-direct-mail-is-still-alive-well-and-effective/

2018 Direct Mail Surges in Usage, Response, ROI

Direct mail marketers received lots of encouraging news in the 2018 “ANA-DMA Response Rate Report.” Direct mail improved its usage ranking to tie with social media as the second most-used medium (57%), for example, and continued to deliver the best response rates of any medium. In fact, “snail mail” even improved on its response success by doubling median response rates over last year to 9% for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists in 2018. Mail’s Return on Investment (ROI) also leaped by 12 percentage points to beat out online display this year. The only negative in the report is that those surveyed continue to doubt the future of direct mail, with 19% saying they plan to decrease usage in the coming 12 months. But if the report participants follow their behavior after previous surveys, which similarly predicted mail declines, direct mail usage will remain buoyant, which allowed it to rise in 2018 despite planned cuts. One drag on direct mail continues to be its Cost Per Action/Acquisition, which is the highest CPA of any medium and puts budget pressure on mail volume, which did decline for both house and prospect lists compared with the 2017 study. However, high response rates, competitive ROI, online tracking and print-tech advances are keeping marketers loyal to “traditional” mail in a digital world. In fact, direct mail usage for marketing campaigns equals or exceeds 50% for most of the 11 industry segments cited in the study. In usage, direct mail leaders were travel or hospitality (80%), nonprofits (75%), publishing or media (71%), and financial services/banks/credit (67%). Only Technology (44%), Retail (44%), and B2B Services (34%) came in below the 50% usage mark. But when it comes to tracking those response rates, marketers have definitely gone digital, with over half of surveyed marketers (53%) saying they use online tracking capabilities, such as PURLs, followed in popularity by the use of codes or coupons (45%) and call center or telephone inquiries (41%). For data comparing response rates by type of format and B2B vs. B2B campaigns, see our website blog post at http://www.acculistusa.com/despite-doubters-2018-direct-mail-ups-response-roi-usage/

Creative Format Shifts Key Direct Mail Metrics

In planning direct mail campaigns, marketers often turn to standard industry benchmarks courtesy of the annual "Response Rate Report" from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), soon to be a division of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). However, while general direct mail response rates for house lists (5.1%) and for prospect lists (2.9%) far outpace those of digital media, the mailing piece format selected can make a key difference in expected results. For example, an oversized flat envelope package tends to deliver the highest response rate: 6.6 % for a house file and 4.9% for a prospect list. Next most effective in terms of response are postcards, with a house file response rate of 5.7% and and a prospect names' response of 3.4%. At the tail end, but still far above digital efforts, comes the standard letter format, with a 4.37% response rate for house names and a 2.5% response for prospecting. Some marketers hesitate over the more expensive oversized flats, which have the highest cost per thousand (CPM) among formats at $481 for house files and $467 for prospect files. Which is why postcards continue to win fans among B2C and B2B marketers, with the lowest CPM among direct mail formats benchmarked. However, despite their higher CPMs, the solid response rates of flats mean they can deliver the highest ROI (37% and 30% for house and prospect names, respectively). Postcards and letter packages, meanwhile, are tied in terms of ROI, with house mailings garnering a 29% ROI and prospecting turning in 23% ROI. For links to more data, see our website blog post http://www.acculistusa.com/format-drives-differences-in-direct-mail-results/

Why You Should De-dupe Your Data

Anna Kayfitz, CEO of StrategicDB Corp., recently offered AccuList USA this expert advice on why direct marketing success requires de-duping data: 

In today’s data-driven marketing, data is not only the most important asset that your company can have but can also make or break your campaign. Having clean data impacts not only marketing activities but also impacts your reputation, operations and decision-making. De-duping is one of the most important aspects of overall data hygiene. Duplicates can be found on many levels of data; they arise at the household level, individual e-mail level or company level. If you are not convinced that you need to de-dupe, consider the following five benefits. First, you can avoid different offers to the same customer. For example, you send two different direct mail creatives to the same household. As one of the records was a customer, you decided to provide a returning customer 15% off, while the other record was marked as a prospect and only got 10% off. Now the person opening both direct mails will be confused by having two different discounts, and the company also can face a PR nightmare. Second, you can cut unnecessary cost. For example, assume you are doing a direct mail creative which costs you $5 per mailing. Your list contains 10,000 recipients. The total cost of mailings therefore is $50,000. If you decided to de-dupe, you would find out that 10% of your mailing list was duplicated. Therefore, $5,000 was a waste of resources. It would have been much cheaper to de-dupe prior to deploying your campaign. Third, you will get better analytics for decision-making. Analytics is important not just from a perspective of understanding how your marketing and sales is performing but also from a decision-making perspective. By having duplicates in your CRM, you are going to be double-counting your list capabilities, miscalculating your true growth rates, and getting the wrong rate of responses. If you are looking to make a decision on future campaigns, basing it on duplicate data will will give you the wrong list count, wrong budget and possibly the wrong creative picked (especially if you are basing it on an A/B testing done previously). Next, de-duping helps prevent customer service confusion when clients call in, e-mail or come into the store. For example, Mary Smith is found twice in your CRM with the same phone number. She calls in to your customer support to inquire about her order status. Your customer service rep decides to pull up the customer account by phone number and finds two records. Now she has to put the customer on hold while she checks both accounts to try to locate the last purchase before she can even assist the customer. Not only is it wasting everyone’s time and making customer service inefficient, it also makes the customer have a bad customer service experience. Finally, the biggest impact that duplicates have on your business is a potential loss of sale. If you have duplicates, you do not have a true view of all prospect or customer activities. Therefore, you could be excluding prospects from a sales call because your lead scoring system indicated that they are not ready. However, if the data from both records was combined, you would have all signals indicating they are ready to be passed on to sales. With duplicates, by the time you figure it out, a customer may have already lost interest and gone with your competitor. De-duping should be part of your data-cleaning initiative, either prior to any major campaign or on a yearly basis. You can easily de-dupe your list by using a de-duping tool that will require less effort to identify duplicates and establish a master record than is required to deal with the consequences of duplicate data. For more help, see http://www.acculistusa.com/why-you-should-de-dupe-your-data/

How Year-end Fundraising Gets Multi-Channel Boost

Even though nonprofits are deep into year-end donation drives, it's worth checking off fundraising benchmarks to give those final tweaks and finishes before New Year's. MobileCause, a fundraising software and strategy firm, has developed a handy infographic based on marketing research and insights gleaned from its webinar attendees. A key takeaway is that branded, multi-channel campaigns raise both more immediate dollars and have more long-term value, with 61% of donors more likely to give again. The infographic cites Japs-Olson Company data to prove the point: Response rates are 6% for direct mail only, 27% for direct mail and web, 27% for direct mail and e-mail, and 37% for the combination of direct mail, web and e-mail. While direct mail remains the centerpiece of donation drives, with 71% to 81% of donations from mail, greater success requires combining and coordinating channels. It is also essential to make multiple appeals across channels, since research shows that it takes a minimum of three exposures to a message to generate a decision. MobileCause suggests the following tactics for maximum impact: a warm-up letter, an appeal letter, a follow-up letter, and e-mails every two weeks, all supported by website home page articles, customized donation form and personal communication (such as phone calls). Don't neglect to craft social media ads, too. Plus, plan to use video to drive engagement and response across channels--on social pages, e-mail, and website (Augmented Reality can even add video to paper mail, too). You'll be in sync with MobileCause attendees: 61% plan to add video to campaigns, 23% plan a custom donation page, and 21% plan an online landing page. By December, fundraisers should be reaping the results of efforts that launched in October, when website, donation page and videos were readied and the first year-end appeal mailed. But now that we're in December, there's still time for the extra push. Consider a Dec. 26 year-end e-appeal and a Dec. 31 last chance e-appeal, for example. For more data and tips, see http://www.acculistusa.com/year-end-fundraising-needs-multi-channel-multi-touch-effort/

Making the Direct Mail Case in Multi-channel Plans

As multi-channel marketers polish their 2018 plans, it's a good time to remind them of the continued value of direct mail in this digital era. A recent infographic from direct marketing agency US Presort puts together data from The Data & Marketing Association (DMA), Social Media Examiner, Epsilon, Experian and Marketing Sherpa to make the case for a direct mail commitment in multi-channel plans. The majority of marketers (71%) say they believe in an integrated multi-channel approach. After all, a smart multi-channel strategy can combine the pervasive impact of digital (96% of consumers say they were influenced online in making a purchase decision) with the effectiveness of direct mail (digital can't beat mail's 80% open rate or its consumer trust rating of 76% compared with 61% for Google search, 43% for social and 39% for online ads). So why are so few marketers (just 29%) actually implementing those integrated multi-channel campaigns? One misconception, as the infographic points out, that causes hesitation over integrating direct mail with digital is mail's high perceived cost. Yet while direct mail costs more to produce and distribute, its response rates are also much higher than other channels, so its ROI remains competitive. For example, per the DMA's 2016 data, direct mail response rates averaged 5.3% for house lists and 2.9% for prospect lists, compared with online display ads at 0.9%, e-mail at 0.6% for house files and 0.3% for prospects, social media with 0.6%, and paid search at 0.5%. As a result, median ROI for direct mail, while behind e-mail, is on par with social media at 29% and 30%, respectively, and ahead of other digital channels. Others assume difficulties in digitally connecting and tracking paper promotions. But technology and U.S. Postal Service discounts are making mail easier and cheaper to integrate with digital via mobile device-scanned coupon links, QR codes, PURLs, and landing pages. Plus, direct mail can now be tracked in real time thanks to the U.S. Postal Service Intelligent Mail Barcode. To successfully leverage the power of direct mail in a multi-channel strategy consider a few key steps: Include the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode on all mail to track delivery and coordinate with other channels; gather measurable response from multiple channels via tactics such as reply cards, 800-number call tracking, as well as mobile-scanned QR codes and PURLs; create campaign-specific landing pages and make sure they are mobile-friendly; integrate e-mail and direct mail messaging and lists, and coordinate e-mail blasts with mail delivery; create Facebook ad campaigns to target the same audience as your direct mail lists; consider IP Direct Mail or Web Direct Mail to target the same mail audience on Google with coordinated ad banners. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/making-the-case-for-direct-mail-power-in-multi-channel-marketing/

Always Be Testing: Even the Best Mail Control Tires

Successful direct mail marketers seek to optimize response by constantly testing creative (as well as lists), because they know that even the best control package can lose its punch and need refurbishing or replacing. Since direct mail testing can be expensive, especially multivariate testing, it is important to think through why response to a proven control can flag and what changes are worth testing. A recent Target Marketing magazine article, by direct marketing consultant Gary Hennerberg, addresses the issue by reminding marketers of basics: The control has succeeded better than other mailing packages because, using the right list, the marketer has matched the offer's emotional hot buttons and unique selling proposition to the prospects' awareness of both their problem and the marketer's solution at the time. But that alignment between prospect and promotion is not static. After mailing the same direct mail control package over and over (or using the same digital message), the majority of targeted prospects have either seen your pitch or been educated by other media, so your message may no longer fit with their knowledge and needs. "If you don’t stay on top of this changing awareness and understanding, your direct mail control package, or messaging in other channels, fatigues, and you’ll wonder why," Hennerberg warns. He suggests marketers commit to a program 1) assessing prospect awareness of the problem solved by the marketed product or service; 2) creating multiple creative approaches that align with different prospect awareness levels; and 3) testing creatives (headlines, leads, formats, etc.) against each other and the control to find the sweet spot. For more, see http://www.acculistusa.com/always-be-testing-even-the-best-mail-control-gets-tired/

Why Direct Mail Retains a Key Marketing Role

Direct mail, perhaps because of its proven workhorse status, keeps a low profile in marketing trend articles, except for the periodic "direct mail isn't dead" reminder. Yet, despite growing use of digital channels--web, e-mail, social, mobile--the majority of marketers continue to rely on direct mail. Why? Marketing data backs up direct mail's proven response power and ROI. Target Marketing magazine’s latest study “Marketing Mix Trends 2010-2016” shows that 69% of marketers surveyed either increased or held steady on direct mail spending in 2016. The 6% of marketers decreasing their mail budgets were the smallest group since 2010. A reason for direct mail's survival as a go-to marketing channel can be seen in the the Data & Marketing Association's 2016 "Response Rate Report." The report showed 2016 direct mail response rates leaping to 5.3% for house lists and 2.9% for prospect lists, the highest DMA-tracked response rates since 2003. By comparison, 2015's reported rates were 3.7% and 1.0%, respectively. More significantly, no other channel in 2016 had response rates over 1%! Direct mail response allows it to compete in ROI despite higher costs, coming in third at 27%, close to social media's 28% (e-mail leads ROI). Bottom line, direct mail's evergreen power lies in delivering on direct marketing basics. Rather than exploring the diverse creative and tech-savvy ways to meet direct mail goals, it is easier to focus on a few big mail "don'ts," and that's the tack recently taken by Summer Gould of Target Marketing magazine in "5 Things Not to Do in Direct Mail." Gould chooses key, highly avoidable pitfalls: a hard-to-read font; dishonesty; old, bad data in mailing lists (one of our bugaboos); a missing or unclear call-to-action; and a promotional focus on features over benefits. Direct mail--no matter how loaded with interactive QR codes, variable data printing personalization and multi-channel customer analytics--will miss the mark if it misses on these basics! For more, go to http://www.acculistusa.com/how-direct-mail-retains-its-place-in-marketing-tool-chests/

Targeted Lists Are Key to Dimensional Mail Success

Prospecting with dimensional mail is both attractive because of high response rates and risky because of high costs. So what's the key ingredient of success? Mailing lists that are appropriately and tightly targeted, answers a recent Entrepreneur magazine article on dimensional mail. Here are the facts: The Direct Marketing Association's 2015 "Response Rate Report" shows dimensional prospecting mail earns a median 2.8% response that betters the 1% of a letter envelope and postcard, or even the 2% of an oversized envelope. Dimensional mail works because it's often lumpy, bumpy, unusually shaped and/or weightier, which grabs attention in the mailbox and sparks a curiosity about internal rewards that leads to opens. However, while dimensional mail may earn top response rates, it also has the highest cost per thousand, at an average $1,205 compared with a standard letter envelope package's $583, per the DMA report. This raises the stakes but does not disqualify dimensional mail as an acquisition tool. Overall, dimensional mail for prospecting still comes in at the lowest $43 cost per response, compared with the highest cost per response turned in by catalogs ($112) and oversized mail ($105), per DMA stats. Success in this response-cost balancing act depends on another ingredient: list targeting. In his recent Entrepreneur article, Craig Simpson, owner of Simpson Direct, Inc., explains why dimensional mail works best with "a small, highly targeted group of prospects." It is also "invaluable" with "hard-to-reach niches," especially business-to-business  promotions that need to get past office "gatekeepers," he notes. Read the rest of our post at http://www.acculistusa.com/why-targeted-lists-are-key-to-dimensional-mail-success/

'Old-Fashioned' Mail Proves Its Modern Appeal

"Old-fashioned" direct mail spending is expected to hold its own, even rise a tad, in forecasts of 2016 marketing budgets. Why? "Old-fashioned" direct mail continues to have modern appeal quite simply because it's a marketing channel that works, argues a recent Target Marketing magazine post by Carolyn Goodman, president of Goodman Marketing Partners. Mail still reaches target audiences and elicits response more effectively than most digital channels. Goodman cites the USPS "Household Diary Study" that found 42% of recipients read or scan direct mail pieces. Can online ads or e-mail claim the same kind of viewer attention given promotion overload and delivery issues? As Goodman points out, 72% of Internet users say pop-ups are "very annoying," and 49% say the same of banner ads. Goodman urges direct mail doubters to do the math. With a 1% response rate, which is the average direct mail response for prospecting per the Direct Marketing Association's 2015 "Response Rate Report" (3.7% for house lists), a mailing to 10,000 prospects generates 100 responses. In contrast, with a likely click-through of 0.14% and conversion rate as low as 2.35%, an Internet display ad will need to reach 3,035,700 targets to generate the same result, Goodman calculates. But what about mail's higher costs, especially those high postage rates? With its higher response, direct mail's ROI competes with most digital efforts. We can back Goodman's argument with the DMA Response Rate Report's median ROI data, putting direct mail ROI at 15%-17%, on par with social and ahead of mobile (12%-14%) and Internet display (6%). Even without highly targeted lists to up response, mailings to households just by zip or neighborhood, such as local retail promotions, can now be cost-effective with the new USPS Every Door Direct Mail program, with per household costs as low as $0.29, Goodman notes. Of course, direct mail success is not all math. The mail creative package must work, too! For Goodman's creative advice: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/direct-mail-is-it-old-fashioned-if-it-still-works/

E-mail Marketers Fail at Subject Line Split-Testing

E-mail marketers are surprisingly sloppy when it comes to optimizing subject lines, a key element in e-mail response, especially open rates, per a recent study. A minority of surveyed e-mail marketers report consistent use of subject line split-testing prior to campaign launch, according to a study by Phrasee cited in a recent KoMarketing Associates post. Phrasee's "State of Split Testing" report shows that an average 22% of respondents said they had done no split testing of subject lines in their last month's campaigns, and 49% admitted to split testing for only a few campaigns. About a third said they split-tested subject lines for most (about 21%) or all (about 7%) of their campaigns. The low investment in subject line success was also shown by the brief time spent on developing test-worthy subject lines, with nearly 46% saying they spent only a few minutes on the task! Plus, many e-mail marketers who do test then fail to leverage results data for further testing; 44% told Phrasee they "don't really do much" to analyze results for design of future split tests. For the whole post, go to http://www.komarketingassociates.com/industry-news/report-split-testing-is-still-uncommon-in-email-marketing-2912/

How to Pick List Brokers for E-mail Prospecting

Marketers sometimes shy from e-mail prospecting lists, where there is not a direct opt-in or relationship with the target audience. They fear risking dollars on spammy, low-response data. E-mail list rentals via trustworthy, experienced data brokers address that concern, and, as data brokers, the AccuList USA team is happy to pass along tips for choosing an e-mail list partner as provided by a recent Target Marketing magazine article from Regina Brady. Yes, there are some unscrupulous list purveyors out there, so it makes sense to start with broker members of the Direct Marketing Association, who are more likely to follow DMA's code of direct marketing ethics, for example. Internet marketing consultant Brady then advises selecting brokers who are very experienced with e-mail marketing and e-mail lists. E-mail list brokers with expertise in your industry or related industries have an additional advantage, of course. And if your existing direct mail list broker has the e-mail chops, you'll have the added plus of an understanding of your customers and campaigns. In fact, it can make sense to bring in the expertise of more than one list broker, as Brady notes; no one broker has all the answers, and recommendations from other points of expertise can boost the odds for success. But remember, broker recommendations will only be as good as the information you supply about the demographics, psychographics, or firmographics of existing customers and segments; about past campaigns and list testing; about multichannel promotion and response vehicles; and about whatever else may impact results. So we are happy when clients "do a brain dump," as she urges. Finally, you can judge a good list broker by his or her inclusion of proven selects in list recommendations; drilling down with selects increases cost but also improves targeting and thus response. For more of Brady's advice on e-mail acquisition, read http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/how-to-increase-your-email-prospecting-odds-for-success/

Marketers Pick E-mail for ROI, Mail for Response

Articles proliferate about social and online strategies, but the old standbys of direct mail, e-mail and even phone solicitation turn out to be the channels that shine when it comes to what matters: measurable results in terms of response rates, conversion rates, and return on investment. The Direct Marketing Association 2015 Response Rate Report vindicates marketers' continued faith in older, proven channels. Based on a survey of 485 marketers, the report shows that e-mail may have one of the lowest response rates among channels but still leads in ROI, with campaigns conducted with house lists achieving an average 30% to 32% ROI, and those using prospect lists achieving 15% to 17%. Direct mail continues to outperform all digital media in terms of response rates, with house list campaigns generating 3.73% response and an average 18% to 20% ROI. Social media, by comparison, had average click-through rates (CTRs) of 2.1% to 2.5% and 15% to 17% ROI. But social is still ahead of online display ads with CTRs of 1.1% and 1.5%. Meanwhile, phone calls win the highest response rate of 9% to 10%. For a survey synopsis, and a link to download the full report, see the Direct Marketing News article: http://www.dmnews.com/direct-line-blog/email-and-phone-uber-alles/article/406874/

USPS Unveils Real-Time Mobile Notification of Mail

The U.S. Postal Service announced a new product to further marry digital and direct mail channels by allowing mail recipients to see what mail is arriving in real time on their mobile devices, reports Target Marketing magazine. Called “Real Mail Notification,” the soon-to-come product was unveiled to direct mailers by USPS Postmaster General Megan Brennan at the recent National Postal Forum in Anaheim, Calif. Nine out of 10 consumers participating in a Northern Virginia product pilot are checking daily on their mobile devices to see what’s arriving in their physical mailboxes, she told PostalNews.com, which also reports that a New York City pilot of the RMN program will launch later this year. Brennan touted RMN mobile notification to EcommerceBytes.com in the Target Marketing story: “If you see that you’re receiving a mailpiece from a favorite retailer, you can click on that piece for an additional offer that drives you to open that mail when you get home. Or, you might jump directly to a transaction. In either event, the physical mail piece draws you into the interactive experience.” In her speech to the National Postal Forum, Brennan claimed, “We saw a 10-fold jump in response rate for the pieces we tested.” For more detail and a link to Brennan's speech transcript: http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/usps-goes-digital-with-daily-real-mail-notification/

Messy Marketing? See Stanley Steemer's Cleanup

Stanley Steemer's e-mail and direct mail strategies were sending customers on a messy path through channel silos and poorly targeted messaging, until the company decided to clean up its marketing. Take a look at the national carpet and floor cleaning firm's successful marketing revamp, as reported recently by Direct Marketing News magazine. Stanley Steemer's e-mail and direct mail weren't working together and results were hard to track, the company says of its pre-2014 marketing efforts. The cleaning firm decided to tackle one channel at a time, starting with upgrading e-mail frequency, content, and segmentation. So it went from one promotional e-mail a month to three, with the same offer at the beginning of the month and end of the month and a content-driven e-mail in between. Its e-mail welcome series' design and content were also refreshed. Then Stanley Steemer changed its e-mail segmentation strategy, going from segmenting only by branch or franchise contacts to segmenting by customer engagement (opens and clicks), purchase behavior, and offers, as well as branch or franchise group. By April 2014, it was time to tackle direct mail segmentation and content targeting, too. Now Stanley Steemer sends nine direct mail pieces a year with 10 to 20 different segmented versions per campaign, based on list information and purchase behavior. Results? Stanley Steemer saw a 33% increase in direct mail-generated bookings, and a 200% increase in mail response rates after launching its acquisition strategy. For e-mail, campaigns have delivered a 20% month-over-month increase in online bookings. Just introduced this March, a new e-mail trigger program for incomplete or cancelled orders had delivered a 50% rise in average open rates by April. For more details, read http://www.dmnews.com/email-marketing/stanley-steemer-cleans-up-its-email-and-direct-mail-strategies/article/410071/

Rev Direct Mail's Offline-Online Conversion Power

In the age of paperless digital communications, why bother with old-fashioned direct mail marketing? Well, even digital giant Google uses direct mail in some ad campaigns! The tech leader's strategy acknowledges direct mail's advantages even in a digital world: Direct mail can drive traffic to a website as well as a brick-and-mortar location; direct mail still leads other channels in response rate and cost per lead; and, as other marketers go all-digital, direct mail actually stands out in mailboxes and makes a guaranteed connection that cluttered, filtered e-mail inboxes and online ad spaces cannot claim. Still, direct mail ROI is no slam dunk. For ways to optimize online and offline conversion for direct mail, take a look at a recent DirectMarketingIQ article by Katherine Halek, print strategy adviser with the Texas-based printer Signazon. Here are a few key points: First, and foremost to our mind, use a highly targeted mailing list to reach the customers most likely to respond. Next, have your creative stand out in the mailbox with an eye-catching accessible format (such as a postcard), a larger-size piece, or an unusual design (such as dimensional or shaped mail). Always include a QR code so smartphone users (over 64% of Americans) can scan and go direct to a landing page. But also print a simple, memorable URL for those who don't use QR codes. If possible, time mailings to coincide with real events, such as a sale or show, for extra response impact; the mailer can include a discount coupon or gift offer, for example. A single mailing won't create brand awareness, so make cumulative efforts by mailing more than once and combining mail with followups via other channels. Finally, use mail's unique in-home physicality to make a personal connection, turning database information into personalized salutations, content and offers. For more tips, go to http://www.directmarketingiq.com/article/tips-higher-conversion-direct-mailing/1

Direct Mail Dying? Not With Young Response High

Paper mail volumes may be declining, but there's a sign that direct mail is nowhere near extinction: the high response rates of younger adults. In the introduction to the Direct Mail chapter of the Direct Marketing Association's 2014 Statistical Fact Book, Laurie Beasley, president of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc., reassures anxious direct mailers, "An encouraging sign for direct mail marketers is that very young adults, 24 and younger, are among the most mail responsive groups today." Why? Because getting paper mail is a life experience that it is becoming rarer and rarer in the digital age, Laurie posits. Young millennial adults are not as desensitized to receiving vast volumes of paper mail addressed to them, tailored to them, as were their parents and grandparents. So what was once a mundane activity is now an uncommon and slightly exciting experience. Everything old is new again apparently, and that's good news for direct mail. See Laurie's comments at http://thedma.org/advance/saturday-stats/saturday-stats-getting-mail-is-a-life-experience/

Automation Revs E-mail Response, Data Demands

Automation technology can turbocharge e-mail response, provided your marketing organization is prepared to take advantage. Just take a look at Silverpop's impressive evidence of e-mail automation's impact on opens and clicks. According to Silverpop's annual e-mail marketing metrics benchmark study, automated messages achieved an open rate nearly 15% higher and a click-through rate nearly 79% higher than their manual counterparts last year. The study examined messages sent by more than 3,000 brands across industries and geographies in 2013. Response metrics like those recently inspired Ellen Valentine at ClickZ to urge expanded use of automation -- as long as the groundwork for success has been laid with marketing vision, skills and data. "If you don't have great data on your customers and prospects, you become much more limited in how you'll be able to deploy automation technology," warns Valentine. "Consider every way your customers interact with you -- whether it's on the Web, on a social channel, on a mobile app, or within an e-mail -- and how you can capture and integrate these behaviors into your marketing efforts." If the data tasks seem overwhelming to internal teams, she suggests calling in a third party to help augment databases and speed integration -- and that could include the data professionals at AccuList USA, of course. For the complete article, see.http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2355480/survey-says-automated-emails-outperform-manual-counterparts

How Does Your E-mail Response Measure Up?

Do you know if your e-mail response measures up competitively in terms of open rates and click-through rates? A recent blog post by Christopher Ratcliff, an econsultancy.com writer, helpfully put together benchmark measures by industry (and country) from third-party e-mail service providers MailChimp, Silverpop and UK-focused Sign-up.to. Just to give you a taste, Silverpop's 2014 benchmark study finds that the average U.S. unique open rate is 20.1% and the average U.S. click-through rate is 3.2%. But the differences between industries are significant. Just looking at Silverpop figures for example, health care scores the top average unique open rate of 26.2%, followed by education (25.7%) and nonprofits (25.3%). By comparison, travel and leisure e-mailers are at the bottom for unique opens with a low 15% average, along with media and publishing (16.6%). When it comes to click-through rates, Silverpop's top average goes to health care again with 4.8%, followed closely by consumer services (4.7%) and education (4.5%). Meanwhile, the travel and leisure industry also ranks lowest for average click rate with 2.2%. To check on e-mail response benchmarks for your industry, B2B or B2C, go to https://econsultancy.com/blog/65034-what-is-a-decent-email-marketing-response-rate#i.dm8nfzdnneipzz