March 15, 2011
One-to-One Messaging for Direct Mail
Who is interested in one-to-one messaging for direct mail? Savvy direct marketing managers are. So are forward-thinking graphic designers aware of the latest personalization trends, and, increasingly, innovative database marketers. The reason, quite simply, is that targeted messaging works.
Frank Romano, professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, says something as simple as adding a recipient’s name in color can increase response rates by as much as 30 percent. Direct mail personalization statistics suggest benefits that direct marketers drool over:
- higher response rates;
- higher conversion rates;
- reduced customer service complaints;,
- greater understanding of product and service benefits; and
- increased sales or donations.
Successful one-to-one marketing, though, demands a certain amount of calculated risk, a large measure of careful planning, an adequate upfront budget, and realistic expectations. Some methods of direct mail personalization cost significantly more per piece than offset printing and do not benefit from economies of scale in production; full color digital printing costs the same dollar for dollar for the first as for the last sheet off the press. On the other hand, with today’s technology everything in each mail piece of a digital run can be customized, so the results can surprise, delight, and – most importantly to management – perform in terms of ROI.
How does a direct marketer begin to develop a one-to-one mail marketing campaign – starting with the data, the marketing goals, production specs or the creative content? Other components to consider include:
- clear goal definition;
- project evaluation;
- contributing team members;
- definition of project expectations;
- a testing plan,
- careful implementation;
- measurement; and
- assessment to learn for the future.
If you need answers on where to begin,start by downloading our resource, Tailoring Your Messages: A Guide to One-to-One Direct Mail Marketing.
