Is Every Door Direct Mail For You?
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nderstand your customers’ attitudes, interests and preferences with profiling and tailor your marketing to these and other factors relevant to their buying behavior.
N ING Australia Limited, one of Australia’s leading investment fund managers, wanted to increase corporate retirement funds under management. Meanwhile, the Australian government had made important changes in the laws affecting retirement funds. These changes had a significant effect on ING’s retirement fund members, particularly related to after-tax contributions.
Being Being able able to to deliver deliver targeted targeted marketing marketing messages messages has has opened opened aa new new marketing marketing door door for for ur ut expectations expectations were were without without doubt doubt exceeded. exceeded. lizabeth lizabeth outees, outees, NG NG
ING initially decided to communicate a generic overview of all the legislative changes to its members – even though only a few components would be relevant to each.
should you be
Members would have to review a mass of legislative information to identify the parts relevant to them – reducing the opportunity to positively influence after-tax contributions.
V RECT M L FOR OU?
profiling your customers?
Since most Australians have multiple accounts, ING also wanted to reinforce a message encouraging members to roll over other accounts into their ING account.
The ING communications team – HPA, Vectris and Digital Alchemy – decided to test customized communications, in which relevant portions of the legislation were matched to each member. The targeting segmentation was based on: Age, influencing attitudes toward retirement as well as creative imaging; Salary, dictating which portions of the legislation were most relevant; Data was compiled from ING internal sources, cleaned, deduped and formatted. Statistically valid test and control cells were created to test the performance of In casual conversation, the word “profiling” two packages:
often has a negative connotation, but inlegislation marketing, it is a Generic black-and-white control, with generic messages about and roll-overs, and generic creative; driving force behind success. Building a customer ustomized full-color test, with a generic roll-over message but a understand customizedprofile legislationhelps messageyou and customized creative.your customers’ attitudes, interests and preferences, and tailor your O marketing to these and other factors relevant to The customized package significantly outperformed the generic control across the board, and the campaign delivered $22.5 million in their buying behavior. additional funds.
OW T WORK? To create targeted campaigns, marketers typically do a basic select by some kind of relevant demographic. A travel agency might select consumers of retirement age, for example, because they tend to have more leisure time. Customer profiles take this a step further, layering on home ownership, median home value and other factors that provide insight into disposable income. It might include whether or not they have purchased a vacation in the past.
If you’re doing geographic-based marketing, you may want to consider a new program from the U.S. Postal Service called Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). It allows you to reach every customer in specific neighborhoods needing to havecustomer their names or addresses. And postage as How do you develop a profile ofwithout your customers? profiles. In our experience, theismost little as 14.2 cents per piece! Smaller marketers often have little data to efficient use of your marketing investment is to
work with, but tools for getting around this are exploding. There are a few requirements, but overall, this is a great deal.
T CUTS OF No need rent a mailing list or print names ETto L.
For a few more dollars per thousand, you can purchase morefor refined data select than a Noaneed a postal permit single cut. In the earlier example, this might to every mailbox the who carrier routes be a listSend of consumers aged 65along or older you designate own homes worth at least $150,000 and have purchased at leastby one vacation past Designate city, county, in zipthe code or 12 location months. The trick is to balance the increased The EDDM program is all about targeting based cost of the data with the likelihood that it will on geography (you can’t personalize, address bring a greater return. This is where testing by name, or segment the mailing). It’s great becomes critical. The more you test, the more for store openings, event announcements, and you know what brings additional value and discounts and coupons for local merchants what does not. and other location-based marketers. chiropractor who opens 2. YOULet’s C say you’re aOUR EX ST NG L ST W TH a newTlocation, L with T several upscale a fewlist, miles the new If you neighborhoods have an existingwithin customer youofcan office. Mostan of “append,” the homeowners on those do what is called or purchase carrier routes have same a highcustomers likelihood that of having additional data on those comprehensive insurance,profile. and they’re also will create a relevant customer You can new office – abut perfect opportunity do thisclose eventoif your you have nothing an e-mail forcalled EDDM. With the append.” postage savings, you can list. It’s a “reverse get creative and use a skeletal die-cut. Now 3. YOUthat C would grab attention! COM LETE CUSTOMER ROF LE FROM D RW LL. Darwill has partnered with one of the leading data providers in the United States to offer you a complete suite of data services including
focus on the right target audiences. Our customer profiling within database to Mailerslooks for the Everyyour Doorcustomer Direct Mail program identify theflat, most descriptive and segments must be with maximumtraits dimensions of of15” your ideal customer, which are then x 12” and minimum dimensions ofused 11.5”tox find prospects look like them.cannot This information 6.125”. Inthat addition, mailers be time can also be used to understand customers cancel, sensitive, since they are not given thethat same default or demonstrate other negative behavior. time priority as first-class mail. Being larger size, EDDM mail may cost Specifically, weinuse empirical evidence contained more to print,to: but the savings in insomewhat the customer database postage counter that cost – and the pieces Identify buyers who use specific services really dotraits standofout in the mailbox. Take the savingsaudiences/segments in postage and get creative Target that are unique in with unusual folds die cutshome ownership, composition of age,orincome, that getstatus, attention and grow marital ethnicity, wealth, behavior, sales. Talk to us about discretionary spending,how etc. this program can work Identify for you! services that are most appropriately marketed together
Customer profiling sounds like a scary word, but even for smaller marketers, it doesn’t have to be. Talk to us about creating a customer profile and For as little at 14.2 cents per taking your targeted and personalized marketing piece on postage, these are some to the next level. great perks you receive with M: o need to rent a mailing list or print names and addresses GREG HA ON o need for a postal permit :
end to every: ghamp@darwill.com mailbox along the carrier routes you designate Designate by city, county, zip code or location Mohawk Everyday Digital Uncoated Smooth 100# Cover Darwill’s HP Indigo Barbara Raab Sgouros—
Digital Press
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behavioral target marketing:
BE THE BA CS: B AVI L T RGET NG To improve the relevance of a campaign, you need to find out: What makes your customer unique What factors make them prime candidates to purchase your product
the key
What type of past purchasing patterns indicate they are ready to make another purchase, or
The most expensive elements of any direct mail campaign are the pieces that fail to generate a response. Individuals respond to an offer if it is relevant and has value. Value is determined by the offer; relevance is determined by delivering the right message to the right audience. T BA CS: THE M ORT NCE OF CORRECT If you send a piece promoting a lawn mower to people living in apartments, the design or offer isn’t going to help. Finding relevance in your database is key to success. Accuracy of address information is also critical. Statistics from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) show that 5 percent of mail lists go bad over a 95-day period. Address issues can be corrected by running your list through the National Change of Address (NCOA) registry. After all, improving relevance and having a great offer is wasted if the USPS cannot deliver.
What personal characteristics would improve the likelihood of a sale. To learn this information, ask your customers, or purchase background information from a list company. They track more than 450 attributes about consumers – for example, pet ownership, children in the house, and purchase behavior. Another option is to have a list company profile your customer list – or identify the factors that make it unique. List companies look for patterns and relationships across hundreds of different factors, such as age, gender, marital status and income. When you learn those characteristics, you can request more names that fit the same profile. You don’t have to know why they fit – but learning about them will help
you target future campaigns more accurately and continue to define your customers’ personality. GETT NG TTENT ON W TH THE CRE TIV Of course, you still need your prospects to open the mailing. A personalized message on the envelope can persuade the recipient that the content will be relevant to them. Artwork and messaging should relate to what is important to the person. Text and imagery can draw the customer’s attention and present the message in an appropriate format to communicate the value of your offer. Targeted mail improves response rates and lets you reduce the number of pieces per mailing by eliminating people who are not likely to purchase. It also improves your company’s record of sustainability. The cost of qualifying your data is offset by these savings – so the value of researching relevance in the personal characteristics of your customers pays off. From an article by John Leininger, Professor of Graphic Communications, Clemson University . originally published in
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N ING Australia Limited, one of Australia’s leading investment fund managers, wanted to increase corporate retirement funds under management. Meanwhile, the Australian government had made important changes in the laws affecting retirement funds. These changes had a significant effect on ING’s retirement fund members, particularly related to after-tax contributions.
Being Being able able to to deliver deliver targeted targeted marketing marketing messages messages has has opened opened aa new new marketing marketing door door for for ur ut expectations expectations were were without without doubt doubt exceeded. exceeded. lizabeth lizabeth outees, outees, NG NG
ING initially decided to communicate a generic overview of all the legislative changes to its members – even though only a few components would be relevant to each.
should you be
Members would have to review a mass of legislative information to identify the parts relevant to them – reducing the opportunity to positively influence after-tax contributions.
nderstand your customers’ attitudes, interests and preferences with profiling and tailor your marketing to these and other factors relevant to their buying behavior.
V RECT M L FOR OU?
profiling your customers?
Since most Australians have multiple accounts, ING also wanted to reinforce a message encouraging members to roll over other accounts into their ING account.
The ING communications team – HPA, Vectris and Digital Alchemy – decided to test customized communications, in which relevant portions of the legislation were matched to each member. The targeting segmentation was based on: Age, influencing attitudes toward retirement as well as creative imaging; Salary, dictating which portions of the legislation were most relevant; Data was compiled from ING internal sources, cleaned, deduped and formatted. Statistically test andconversation, control cells were created test the“profiling” performance of Invalid casual thetoword two packages:
often a negative connotation, butabout in marketing, it is a Generichas black-and-white control, with generic messages legislation and roll-overs, and generic creative; driving force behind success. Building a customer ustomized full-color test, with a generic roll-over message but a profile helps youandunderstand your customers’ customized legislation message customized creative. attitudes, interests and preferences, and tailor your O marketing to theseoutperformed and otherthefactors The customized package significantly generic relevant to control across the board, and the campaign delivered $22.5 million in additionaltheir funds. buying behavior.
OW T WORK? To create targeted campaigns, marketers typically do a basic select by some kind of relevant demographic. A travel agency might select consumers of retirement age, for example, because they tend to have more leisure time. Customer profiles take this a step further, layering on home ownership, median home value and other factors that provide insight into disposable income. It might include whether or not they have purchased a vacation in the past.
If you’re doing geographic-based marketing, you may want to consider a new program from the U.S. Postal Service called Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). It allows you to reach every customer in do specific neighborhoods needing to have their namesprofiles. or addresses. postagethe is as How you develop a profile without of your customers? customer In our And experience, most little as 14.2 cents per piece! Smaller marketers often have little data to efficient use of your marketing investment is to
work with, but tools for getting around this areThere exploding. are a few requirements, but overall, this is a great deal. T CUTS OF No need to ETrent L. a mailing list or print names For a few more dollars per thousand, you can purchase a more select than a No need for arefined postaldata permit single cut. In the earlier example, this might Send every mailbox carrier be a list of to consumers agedalong 65 or the older who routes you designate own homes worth at least $150,000 and have purchased at least onecounty, vacation the past 12 Designate by city, zipincode or location months. The trick is to balance the increased The EDDM program is all about targeting based cost of the data with the likelihood that it will on geography (you can’t personalize, address bring a greater return. This is where testing by name, or segment the mailing). It’s great becomes critical. The more you test, the more for store openings, event announcements, and you know what brings additional value and discounts and coupons for local merchants what does not. and other location-based marketers. Let’sCsay you’re a chiropractor 2. YOU OUR EX STwho NG Lopens ST a new location, W TH T LwithT several upscale neighborhoods within a few miles of the If you have an existing customer list, you cannew office.isMost the“append,” homeowners on those do what calledofan or purchase carrier routes a high of that having additional data onhave those samelikelihood customers insurance, they’re willcomprehensive create a relevant customerand profile. Youalso can close to your new office – a perfect do this even if you have nothing but anopportunity e-mail the postage savings, you can list.for It’sEDDM. called With a “reverse append.” get creative and use a skeletal die-cut. Now 3. YOU COM LETE thatCwould grab attention! CUSTOMER ROF LE FROM D RW LL. Darwill has partnered with one of the leading data providers in the United States to offer you a complete suite of data services including
focus on the right target audiences. Our customer profiling looks withinDoor yourDirect customer Mailers for the Every Maildatabase program to identify descriptivedimensions traits and segments must be the flat,most with maximum of of your ideal customer, which are then usedxto find 15” x 12” and minimum dimensions of 11.5” prospects that lookmailers like them. Thisbe information can 6.125”. In addition, cannot time also be used to understand customers that cancel, sensitive, since they are not given the same default or demonstrate other time priority as first-class mail.negative behavior. Being larger in mailevidence may costcontained Specifically, wesize, use EDDM empirical somewhat more to print, but in the customer database to:the savings in postage counter that cost – and the pieces Identify traitsout of buyers who use Take specific really do stand in the mailbox. theservices savings postage and get creative Targetinaudiences/segments that are unique in with unusual folds or die cuts home ownership, composition of age, income, that get attention and growwealth, behavior, marital status, ethnicity, sales. Talk to us about howetc. discretionary spending, this program can work forIdentify you! services that are most appropriately marketed together
Customer profiling sounds like a scary word, but even for smaller marketers, it doesn’t have to be. Talk to us about creating a customer profile and For as little at 14.2 cents per taking your targeted and personalized marketing piece on postage, these are some to the next level. great perks you receive with M: o need to rent a mailing list or print names and addressesGREG HA ON o need for a postal permit :
end to every mailbox along the carrier : ghamp@darwill.com routes you designate Designate by city, county, zip code or Mohawk locationEveryday Digital Uncoated Smooth 100# Cover Darwill’s HP Indigo Barbara Raab Sgouros—
Digital Press
mail! Now personalization can be completely and seamlessly integrated with creative execution and targeted offers – for direct mail runs of any size!