News
 5
Direct Mailing Best Practices
As consumers move their media preferences toward
customized, one-to-one vehicles such as iPods,
satellite radio and TiVO, marketers are challenged
in managing multi-channel messaging opportunities,
according to direct marketing experts at Pitney
Bowes. As spam is auto-dumped from personal
computers, traditional mail has regained and
maintained a great deal of relevance, usefulness and
profit potential in the marketing
mix.TheWiseMarketer.com).
According to the Cable & Telecommunications
Association, 70% of American consumers prefer to
receive advertisements and promotions by mail.
Letters, including transactional mail, constitute a
US$36 billion dollar industry in the US alone, and
the entire global mailing industry - including
shipping packages - tops some US$900 billion.
Mailstream marketing?
According to John Schloff, vice president of
marketing for Pitney Bowes Document Messaging
Technologies, mailstream marketing - the direct
mailing of marketing materials that lead to other
channels - is arguably the fastest way to optimize
both B2B and B2C customer communications management.
Printed mail, whether postcards, letters, catalogues
or brochures, can all be used as catalysts to drive
web site traffic.
Communication management
Proper customer communication management is
necessary for effective one-to-one marketing with
mixed media that merges digital and physical
channels. Direct mail today already comprises
data-rich systems and processes that provide mailers
with options for making their customer, production
and channel intelligence more comprehensive and more
precise than ever before.
Personalizing everything
Brands that use the traditional mail channel have a
particular taste for highly personalized, relevant
marketing to current clients. Financial statements,
mortgage bills, credit card statements, insurance
premiums, even drivers' license renewal forms, all
arrive directly through the consumer's front door to
deliver timely and useful information.
Five
Direct Mailing Best Practices To Optimize Mailstream Marketing Efforts
1. Leverage customer intelligence
Use your data intelligently to create more
personalized messages that enable cross-selling and
up-selling opportunities, and to ultimately foster
customer loyalty.
2. Deliver only relevant communications
Your message is traveling with an important personal
document (e.g. a bank statement, or an insurance
policy's explanation of benefits). Be respectful of
the medium by keeping the marketing message aligned
with the purpose of the document. In addition to
content alignment, a relevant document is always
accurate.
3. Apply the highest data quality practices
The shortest route to the waste basket is a wrong
address or a misspelled name.
4. Mandate the highest mailing accuracy and
integrity
... especially with personalized transactional mail
and inserts. Misdirected mail can put customers off
the brand completely. The wrong marketing message -
or worse, the wrong personal document to the wrong
person - is a far greater problem than just creating
a bad impression.
5. Practice event marketing
Be opportunistic about events in your target
customer's life such as birthdays, graduations, home
moves, weddings and births. Sending helpful
promotions around life events can create close
connections with customers.
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Melissa Data
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