As a direct marketing professional, you may have heard that direct mail is dead; however, much like the Willie Nelson song about online rumors of his demise, direct mail is “still not dead again today.” In reality, the DMA Statistical Fact Book for 2017 reveals that direct mail is alive and well, in spite of encountering a few bumps along the way. Although volume has declined over the past ten years, data-driven marketers continue mining impressive results when they focus on personalization and relevance. Costs may seem high, but ROI can also be strong when the mailing pieces are delivered to a highly targeted audience.
The biggest change noted by the DMA is that the increased use of data in direct mail campaigns is where the rubber really meets the road. This term usually refers to the point at which an idea or theory is put to a practical, real-world test… That is exactly what happens with the Easypurl reporting dashboard.
Easypurl allows marketers to assign Personalized URLs, or PURLs, to target prospects for use in direct mail campaigns. The PURL directs the recipient to a personalized landing page which reflects and supports the information provided in the direct mail piece. This powerful combination of personalization, data-driven reporting and decision-making can be achieved by analyzing tracking features at a campaign level, and also at the individual level along multiple Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
Better data allows for increased optimization and improved ROI on future campaigns. Here are some of the data analysis points available through Easypurl:
- Campaign Analytics: Out of the total campaign, specific responses can be broken down into web responses, SMS responses, inbound calls, and Business Reply/BR responses. This allows marketers to track recipients who either took an immediate action, or those who are not yet fully committed. Information can be presented in list, pie chart or graphic representation for quick interpretation.
- Web Analytics: Track web visitors and web responses as the result of a specific direct mailing. Keep track of conversions, so that respondents and non-respondents can be moved to the next stage of 1 to 1 engagement.
- Landing Page Tracking: PURL analytics can include the total PURL count, PURL visitors, and PURL responses to customized landing pages. This facilitates engagement tracking to understand how visitors navigate the landing page, and provides insights regarding where they drop off in the conversion process to improve optimization efforts. The user can track engagement by day, week, month or specific timeframes, and compare it to external marketing factors such as television spots, magazine ads or press releases.
- Survey Analysis: PURL-based surveys can be a cost-effective and accurate tool for information collection. Marketers can use them to verify that the in-house database is accurate, and capture key contact information. Survey results can be viewed by record, across KPIs, or in total to glean actionable information.
- Email Tracking: Knowing exactly what is going on with current email campaigns is a key factor in ensuring proper optimization in future marketing efforts. Analyze by campaign or on a 1 to 1 basis to determine open and bounce rates, click throughs, landing page visits and conversions, and unsubscribe requests.
- Postal Tracking: Tracking who receives targeted mail pieces, and when, gives direct marketers needed transparency on mail deliverability that has not been previously available. Analyze what is going on with a mailing as it happens with map-based reporting. Use detailed campaign analysis to analyze deliverability by state, city, zip code or individual record basis.’
- Inbound SMS Tracking: Utilize a short-code that enables recipients to respond to direct mail quickly and easily using only their SMS-enabled phones. SMS Tracking Reports accumulate results allowing marketers to capture cell phone numbers in real time, analyze SMS keyword responses and mobile SMS engagement, and improve follow-up by providing sales teams with immediate access to inquiries.
- Inbound Call Tracking: A telephone call is a powerful action, showing a great deal of interest on the recipient’s part. Direct marketers can utilize on-demand inbound call reporting to see individual calls and inbound response trends, obtain originating telephone numbers, and request on-demand playback to monitor individual responses.
Hit the road with Easypurl, the creator of Personalized URLs (PURLs). Direct marketing agencies can utilize our powerful dashboard for internal purposes or to offer a Private Labeled Reporting Dashboard when reporting results to clients. Our combination of branded reports and an outstanding analytics engine provides the latest and most detailed reporting available for direct marketing campaigns, providing vital information in real time. Visit the Easypurl website to learn more utilizing analytics in direct mail campaigns to increase optimization and improve ROI.
