How to wow with direct mail and e-mail - The Marketer magazine

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If you want to grab attention with direct mail youre up against some tough competition from mailshots that grow into flowers to an online personality test Related articles
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How to...

wow with direct mail and e-mail

Among the great irritations of life in the 21st century have been the offers of cheap Viagra cluttering our inboxes and the credit card adverts bulking up our post. Only the most naive of consumers is not armed with a merciless e-mail spam filter and a recycling bin for the many missives that plop onto the doormat each day. So how can bona fide marketers make sure their mail doesnt go straight into the trash? While reputable direct mail (DM) practitioners will not be touting little blue diamond shaped pills, some have been guilty of adopting a big-is-beautiful strategy of blanket mailings in the hope that at least some hit the mark. But these days there are many reasons underlining why a more targeted approach is best. From complaints about the waste of resources used in mail that heads straight to landfill, to the changes in regulation allowing customers and businesses to opt out of mailings altogether, marketers involved in direct campaigns have had to overcome a large degree of scepticism among many in their audience. And while issues such as the arrival of the Mailing Preference Service have limited the scope of some campaigns, direct marketing remains a useful medium for reaching customers and a central part of many campaigns. According to the Direct Mail Information Service direct mail generates 14 for every 1 invested, so its little wonder marketing practitioners are still keen to use it. Hitting the target Whether the medium is direct mail or e-mail, its really just a matter of common sense, says Nik Margolis, head of direct and digital at integrated agency DCH. His mantra is that relevance should drive everything. Theres a three-second rule with DM youve got that long to make someone open it. With e-mail its down to about one second. So youve got to consider whats particularly relevant, says Margolis. So how can you make sure your mail is opened? On or offline, direct mail allows for a large degree of personalisation and this can make it a far more engaging form of communication much more likely to grab attention. The process starts with having accurate data and segmenting it. With direct mail, digital printing can allow for different versions to be tailored to customers, while with e-mail,

Theres a threesecond rule with DM youve got that long to make them open

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How to wow with direct mail and e-mail - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-wow-with-direc...

dynamic content makes this personalisation process even easier. So whether you want to vary the copy depending on the age, gender or geographic region of the recipient, its all possible. Tink Taylor, business development director at digital marketing agency DotMailer is a strong advocate of e-mail marketing because of all the information it provides about how effective your marketing message was. We know what time someone opened the e-mail, who clicked on it and whether they went through to the website. We know so much without even trying. But he warns that even when people have subscribed, if an e-mail isnt personalised it can end up being skipped over non-spam spam thats known as bacn in the industry, better than spam but not as good as a personal e-mail. Even though the tools for targeting have become much more sophisticated, Matthew Heath, strategy director at LIDA, says that targeting remains a challenge for an industry that hasnt moved as fast as it should: People need to understand its not just better business practice, but the only commercial way to make direct mail efficient. Going green The environment has moved up the agenda in many industries, and no more so than in direct marketing. Mailing hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper when a large proportion will end up in the bin, or at best in the recycling, is bound to attract the attention of environmentalists. And the direct marketing industry has indeed found itself the subject of much environmental scrutiny. But thinking about the environment is intrinsically linked to better targeting as far as direct mail is concerned better targeting equals less waste. Robert Keitch, director of media channel development and environmental affairs at the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), argues that the most environmentally insensitive thing you can do is to be ineffective and forget the purpose of the communication. Then its just pure waste, he says. The industry has to view waste as the enemy. Marketers can ensure their suppliers have environmental management systems in place. If paper is being used, make sure it is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) accredited and look all the way down the chain of custody to the plantation to ensure its not part of the illegal logging trade. When it comes to printer ink there are vegetable dyes that use fewer VOCs (volatile organic compounds that give off polluting gases) but they are not always appropriate for all printing applications, so marketers should get their printers advice on this matter. While you may be tempted to go for lavish packaging or paper stocks, consider first whether its recyclable. Dont put things in there that would be a pig to get recycled. Ideally there should be a call to action to please recycle after use, adds Keitch. Head direct for creativity If there was once a time when direct marketers thought the quickest route to doing creative DM was to use more sumptuous paper stock, those days have gone. The point of being creative is that it can drive response rates. This medium does allow for some clever work such as LIDAs mailing of a ping pong bat for a Mini Clubman promotion. The idea was that the Clubman is like nothing youve seen in a car before and the ping pong bat is like nothing youve seen in a mailing before. Royal Mail garnered interest in the industry with its chocolate-scented letters, highlighting how it is also possible to add aromas to direct mail as another way

it

While you may be tempted to go for lavish packaging or sumptuous paper stocks, consider first whether its recyclable

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How to wow with direct mail and e-mail - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-wow-with-direc...

to engage the senses. Other companies have played on environmental concerns: Honda promoted its garden products with a direct mail that had seeds embedded in its envelopes, inviting recipients to plant the whole thing in their garden once read, where it would grow into flowers. But dont go too crazy: There are rules that do work, such as a relevant and intriguing message on the outer envelope. Then giving people a clear path through the mailing and call to action at the end, says LIDAs Matthew Heath. The opportunities for creativity in e-mails may seem more limited, but Paul Bates, UK managing director of Strongmail, points to some best practices: Internet service providers dont like attachments or video links. So smarter marketers will send e-mails with HTML links in the e-mail to a landing page or microsite. Then the glitzy stuff can be held back in the right environment, he says. Including images in e-mail can be risky, as many filters have images turned off as a default. In e-mail, the things that get forgotten are the subject line and the from address. Its tempting to think of witty and creative subject lines, but think about the context. Research shows that when people decide whether to open an e-mail or not the subject comes behind the from address, says DCHs Nik Margolis. Abide by the law Since the introduction of the Mailing Preference Service marketers have a clearer idea of who they can talk to, in theory reducing wasted missives. The downside is that people who may well be receptive have used the system to opt out, perhaps because they have previously been put off by blanket mailings. Opt outs can be complex territory. Guidelines on how to operate legally with both direct mail and e-mail are given as part of The Institutes direct marketing masterclass (visit the A-Z of courses at www.cim.co.uk) or in the DMAs Best Practice Guidelines. Put simply, if you have permission to e-mail and a reason to do so, youll be fine, says Margolis. He goes on to say that if youre not sure youve got permission, you shouldnt be e-mailing. Theres the EU directive on privacy, but its also bad practice and people will respond badly. It is now considered good practice to allow customers to opt in to receive additional information rather than having to opt out. The groundswell changed to people saying they will tell you if they want to receive extra mailings. Its a lot more effective to talk to those who want to talk to you, says Heath. E-mailing without permission is spam and this will quickly get you into trouble. Internet protocol (IP) addresses get a black mark if they are flagged as spam, and if it happens repeatedly they can be blacklisted. As a consequence, IP reputation is seen as crucial in the industry. The perception with e-mail is that it doesnt matter [if its unsolicited] as it doesnt cost so much, but it damages that firms future ability to mail, says Margolis. Ill show you mine While the ideal is to use data that you have generated yourself, there are invariably times, such as for customer acquisition, when you may want to buy lists. From a profile of your current customers, and ideally the best ones, you can then talk to data organisations and they will find lookalikes, explains Heath. It is now possible to buy very niche lists but those on the lists must have clearly opted in for their data to be passed to a third party.

Dos and donts

Do make sure the communication gives some benefit to the recipient. Do make sure its relevant and well targeted if its not its junk. Do check delivery rates of e-mails using seed

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How to wow with direct mail and e-mail - The Marketer magazine

http://www.themarketer.co.uk/articles/how-to/how-to-wow-with-direc...

DotMailers Taylor warns that when moving lists you must watch out for the legal parameters, depending on the country the data is being supplied from. Within Europe its fine to move data across borders, but its not so simple if you use an agency based in the US, for example. Marketers will need to have obtained permission for this when the person first opted in. Paul Bates of Strongmail thinks the biggest problem is knowing how often companies refresh data. Out-of-date data can elicit too many hard bounces when an e-mail fails to get through because the address doesnt exist or a spam filter has blocked it out. Your reputation is determined by how many times you e-mail the same person. So if you resend to hard bounce failures youll get blocked. Our solution is to automatically suppress hard bounces, says Bates. His crucial word of advice is to ensure you only buy data from reputable companies that you can be confident keep it up to date.

lists. Do try to use data youve collected yourself from source as these people are much more likely to engage. Do make sure your communication is well written with a clear response mechanism. Do make sure your e-mails come from a credible address and that your IP address is reputable. Do respect peoples e-mail addresses. Don't forget that a poor mailing will not only be ignored but can cause longterm damage to a brand. Don't forget a good creative is just as important in e-mail as direct mail avoid poor presentation and broken links. Don't forget to test and test e-mails again there are so many different factors that score an e-mail against a spam rating that testing is vital to avoid this. Don't forget your mailing or e-mail is part of a broader brand communication and shouldnt be used in isolation; be aware of where it fits in the total customer journey.

Case study: Drive of your life?

Land Rover mailed customers a simple personality test to help them work out exactly which vehicle was best for them In June this year Land Rover launched the campaign, Discover more about yourself, to profile prospective customers. The creative, designed by its agency Wunderman, was based on the idea that Land Rover drivers are different, choosing their cars based on attitudes and personality, rather than traditional demographics. A mailing was sent to 200,000 people inviting them to complete a questionnaire. It opened with the line: Theres a fascinating territory wed like to explore with you. Inside was a detailed image of the human brain made to look like mountainous terrain. The eight-page pack folded out to show a series of psychometric questions, designed to give insight into the prospects personality, tastes and attitude. An off-road trip along the Adriatic coast was up for grabs as an incentive. Land Rover used direct mail and e-mails to drive people to the site. It communicated with subscribers of magazines such as Sailing Today, National Geographic and Climbing, with the opportunity to fill in the questionnaire at www.brainterrain.co.uk. The results were analysed to allocate the vehicle to best fit the respondents personality and a second mailing will include an invitation to a test drive.

Jane Bainbridge is a freelance journalist who writes on marketing and PR for titles including Media Week

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