| Tagged in: Traffic Generation , Response Rates , Multiple Channels , Lift , Lead Generation , kate dunn , Integrated Cross Channel Marketing , Fund Raising , Direct Mail , Digital Innovations Group , dig | Feb 27, 2012 |
| Posted by: Kate_Dunn | Comment (0) |
The value proposition for cross channel marketing boils down to these three things:
Improved Response
Automated Process
Continuous Improvement
Let’s look at these one by one. Improved Response – The single biggest lever for driving response is the relevance of the offer and the creative, both imagery and copy. Response rates can improve by 3X over just slapping your recipient’s name on the piece. People like their names, but they like relevance better. Using more than one channel to communicate increases response, too. If your recipient sees your message in more than one channel, let’s say direct mail and email, your response is going to increase by 10% - 15%.
If you are using a digital channel, your response also goes up because it’s easier for the recipient to respond. Let’s say I get the direct mail piece and review it walking back from the mailbox. I note the offer and want to respond, but as I walk in the backdoor I get distracted by the normal hustle and bustle of a typical household and forget to act. But later that night when surveying my email or touching base with friends on facebook, I see the message again. This time, I only need to click the link to respond. The direct mail was reinforced, the response mechanism is easier to use, and response goes up.
Finally, using digital channels unveils to you another group to target. With a typical direct mail campaign, the marketer ends up with two groups following the campaign --those who responded and those who didn’t. The marketer never knows about the recipients who seriously thought about responding but got distracted and failed to act. With a digital channel added to the direct mail, the marketer can see that the respondents who visited the landing page, clicked around or interacted by providing a piece of information. The marketer can analyze what those respondents did, what information they provided, and send them more relevant and compelling messaging to move the respondent to buy, donate, or enroll. The delivery of the subsequent, and now even more relevant, information can be automated in the form of immediate content that is served up based on your interaction or sent in an email triggered by those same interactions.
That brings us to the second big aspect of the value proposition for integrated cross channel marketing-- Automating the Process.
Waves of communication can be set up in advance and triggered by the respondent’s action or lack of action. And if your objective is generating leads, the process of getting that lead to your sales force can be automated, too. An MIT/Insidesales.com study found that the chance of calling to qualify a lead decreases by 6 times in the first hour following their inquiry. No manual process in the world can get a lead to a sales rep within five minutes. Value for the marketer comes in the form of automating follow-up communication that provides additional, relevant information to help move the respondent through their decision process. The human resources required to execute the campaign, move information from one place to another, and update the database are greatly reduced.
Saving the best part for last, a key element and perhaps the most significant prong of the value proposition for integrated cross channel is Continuous Improvement. Response can be tracked at the individual level so that marketers get smarter about their prospect and can make better and faster decisions to help capture more opportunities. It’s much easier and more cost effective to test offers and messaging quickly and apply that learning immediately to increase results. Marketers can even learn much from what doesn’t happen. If they are getting response from some segments and not from others, it’s safe to say that either the audience, messaging, or offer is not right.
Homeruns in marketing are few and far between, so be leary of those who set the expectation for a homerun on your first time at bat. A more realistic expectation for an integrated cross channel marketing campaign is that marketers will learn more and faster than they have ever learned before. Ultimately as they analyze results and apply that learning to the next initiative, they will increase response, develop a deeper understanding of their target customer, and deliver increasingly better returns for their companies.
Improved Response
Automated Process
Continuous Improvement
Let’s look at these one by one. Improved Response – The single biggest lever for driving response is the relevance of the offer and the creative, both imagery and copy. Response rates can improve by 3X over just slapping your recipient’s name on the piece. People like their names, but they like relevance better. Using more than one channel to communicate increases response, too. If your recipient sees your message in more than one channel, let’s say direct mail and email, your response is going to increase by 10% - 15%.
If you are using a digital channel, your response also goes up because it’s easier for the recipient to respond. Let’s say I get the direct mail piece and review it walking back from the mailbox. I note the offer and want to respond, but as I walk in the backdoor I get distracted by the normal hustle and bustle of a typical household and forget to act. But later that night when surveying my email or touching base with friends on facebook, I see the message again. This time, I only need to click the link to respond. The direct mail was reinforced, the response mechanism is easier to use, and response goes up.
Finally, using digital channels unveils to you another group to target. With a typical direct mail campaign, the marketer ends up with two groups following the campaign --those who responded and those who didn’t. The marketer never knows about the recipients who seriously thought about responding but got distracted and failed to act. With a digital channel added to the direct mail, the marketer can see that the respondents who visited the landing page, clicked around or interacted by providing a piece of information. The marketer can analyze what those respondents did, what information they provided, and send them more relevant and compelling messaging to move the respondent to buy, donate, or enroll. The delivery of the subsequent, and now even more relevant, information can be automated in the form of immediate content that is served up based on your interaction or sent in an email triggered by those same interactions.
That brings us to the second big aspect of the value proposition for integrated cross channel marketing-- Automating the Process.
Waves of communication can be set up in advance and triggered by the respondent’s action or lack of action. And if your objective is generating leads, the process of getting that lead to your sales force can be automated, too. An MIT/Insidesales.com study found that the chance of calling to qualify a lead decreases by 6 times in the first hour following their inquiry. No manual process in the world can get a lead to a sales rep within five minutes. Value for the marketer comes in the form of automating follow-up communication that provides additional, relevant information to help move the respondent through their decision process. The human resources required to execute the campaign, move information from one place to another, and update the database are greatly reduced.
Saving the best part for last, a key element and perhaps the most significant prong of the value proposition for integrated cross channel is Continuous Improvement. Response can be tracked at the individual level so that marketers get smarter about their prospect and can make better and faster decisions to help capture more opportunities. It’s much easier and more cost effective to test offers and messaging quickly and apply that learning immediately to increase results. Marketers can even learn much from what doesn’t happen. If they are getting response from some segments and not from others, it’s safe to say that either the audience, messaging, or offer is not right.
Homeruns in marketing are few and far between, so be leary of those who set the expectation for a homerun on your first time at bat. A more realistic expectation for an integrated cross channel marketing campaign is that marketers will learn more and faster than they have ever learned before. Ultimately as they analyze results and apply that learning to the next initiative, they will increase response, develop a deeper understanding of their target customer, and deliver increasingly better returns for their companies.
