It’s no secret that Personalized URLs and Dynamic Landing Pages are among the hottest and most talked about tools in today’s world of direct marketing. But why do you need to add them to your marketing plan? Here are some numbers that illustrate why:
According to studies by the DMA and other top marketing groups, between 2008-2010:
- 73{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of Consumers Prefer to Receive Product Offers Via US Mail.
- Advertising mail represents 63{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of all mail received — an average of about 16 pieces a week per person.
- Non-catalog direct mail is used by 90{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of marketers; nearly half (46{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4}) report using it as their primary channel for promotions.
- 79{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of households either read or scanned the advertising mail they received.
- Nearly 70{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} renewed a relationship with a business because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.
- Almost 40{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of people tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
- Letter-sized envelopes have an average response rate of 3.42{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} for a house list, and 1.38{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} for a prospect list.
- Response rates for B2B were generally higher than for B2C campaigns. Lead generation and high-end average sale campaigns also had higher response rates.
So any way you look at it, in our multi-channel world direct mail is still king. In fact, direct mail is the most effective way to communicate with customers and prospects, both B2B and B2C, with close to three-quarters of Americans indicating that they prefer to receive product news and offers using this channel. In fact, for certain types of marketing – namely prospection – it’s the only way to market. Why? Because due to Federal CAN-SPAM email regulations even if you somehow find a prospect’s email address, you cannot legally send them a marketing message, unless of course they opt-in to receive bulk emails from you.
Research carried out by Prospect Swetenhams and Diamond Life revealed that nearly 80 per cent of the over-50s do not respond well to email marketing and overwhelmingly prefer direct mail. Surprisingly, these stats also ring true among younger consumers. New research from ICOM suggests that those in the 18 to 34 age range selected print marketing as their preferred format when given the option. Additional research by Experian also highlighted that this demographic is the one that is in fact most receptive to receiving direct mail.
So, despite the amount of physical mail people are getting, they are paying attention and responding to it. But exactly how are people responding to your message?
Here are two more vital facts from the DMA and other organizations:
- 52{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4} of People Prefer to Respond to Direct Marketing Online
- Companies report that their direct mail receive responses via:
– Internet (93.7{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4})
– Phone (79.5{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4})
– Internal sales force (70.8{ac813dd210d411f0e4f3074e8f885da7dff13575d3e6a4391b4a002f2c9b4bd4}).
As you can see based on the data above, if you’re sending out direct mail you need to give recipients a way to respond online. But not every Web response option is created equally. Even in today’s high-tech marketplace there is still only one way to direct marking online and track print’s effectiveness — and that’s giving it an online presence with a Personalized URL.
Our mission at Easypurl.com is to boost the performance of your direct marketing initiatives using Personalized URLs and Dynamic Landing Pages. Here’s what using this technology will do for your marketing:
- Incorporate Personalization into your marketing message
- Drive more Web responses
- Improve Web-site conversion rates
- Enhance Reporting
Personalized URLs (or PURLs) not only allow you to fine-tune and improve measurability across all direct marketing efforts. They also improve response and conversion rates by establishing direct, personalized contact with customers and prospects quickly and easily.
So, what have we learned from this tidal wave of facts? That direct marketing does work! All it takes is a killer mailing list, a great offer, and a way to track it’s effectiveness–with PURLs and Dynamic Landing Pages!
Curious to know even more about the benefits of PURLs? Read on here.
