Monday 27 July 2015

Making a Direct Email Marketing Service More Effective

Despite the rise in internet and social media for marketing campaigns, recent surveys indicate that many prospective customers still prefer direct email. A recent survey by shows that 62% of the respondents were fine with receiving direct mail from companies they haven't transacted with. People prefer direct mail since its personalized and relevant to them.

Planning

Creating an effective direct mail marketing service requires meticulous research and planning. This is not a simple bulk mailing exercise, but a smarter way to target the right people to get heavy responses and decent returns on investment. It's a good idea to study and research the market and trends, which can help build a suitable plan and strategy.

Building Consumer Lists & Database

The first step in building a consumer list is to acquire data from database suppliers or internal sources or a combination of both. The critical factor for success is the quality of data and its freshness. The data needs to be comprehensive enough to cover basic details, demographics, previous buying trends and other key variables. The list of opt-in customers has to be updated to know which customers have voluntarily opted to receive information to help accurate targeting. Finally, the lists have to be updated at regular

Targeting

This the most important part of the campaign, which requires finding out which group of customers would be interested in the products or service offering. The choice of customer lists based on gender, location, income and other factors would help in reaching out to the right people.

Personalization

Customers would be enthusiastic to read and act on content, which is personally addressed to them. For instance communications should address the customer using their names to sound more friendly and personal.

Clear Call to Action

An effective direct email marketing service will hold a prospective customer's attention and make them act instantaneously. The communication needs to urge customers to call a number, make a purchase online or offline or use a coupon. Customers should have a quick way to make inquiries, give orders or buy your products, which can boost your sales.

Compelling Content

The content of the letter has to be interesting and attractive to prospective clients. The language has to be simple and less formal so as to appeal to varied audiences. To make the product or service compelling the letter can have pictures, key highlights of the product/service, testimonials and other details.

Tracking Responses


Without a tracking mechanism it's practically difficult to measure the progress of a campaign. For instance a Campaign Manager can track responses based on use of a promotional code to see how many customers are responding or to check which locations or products are driving responses. An effective direct email marketing service will be able to track the effectiveness of responses to fine-tune future marketing strategies and to increase the return on investments.

A direct email service is still a great way to generate sales leads if the above points are implemented. Effective use of direct email marketing can be a good strategy to penetrate new customer segments, generate more business and to grow market share.

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