Market Research Consulting: Test Your Email and Direct Mail Campaigns

Does your company spend tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on direct marketing or email campaigns? Several of my clients do, and many large businesses (and medium and small ones) devote a portion of their marketing budgets to direct mail or email. How effective is it?

Common wisdom in direct mail is that response rates of one to two percent are reasonable. And direct marketing has evolved into almost a hard science, with tests and controls, tracking, multiple offers, headline variations, teaser versions and copy variations. All this, of course, is to squeeze out a fraction of a percentage point higher response, which can significantly enhance the bottom line.

But how many firms incorporate market research into their direct mail or email cycles?

Recently I received a mail piece from a major insurer—a powerful brand in the insurance world. The teaser on the outer envelope asked if I am paying too much for health insurance. You bet, I thought. So I opened the envelope to check out the contents: a letter, three-color black, blue and white, nicely laid out, a four-color brochure, and an insert.

The call to action was to either to visit a website or to call a toll-free number. Since the last thing I wanted at the moment was to talk with a sales rep (I just wanted information to compare their offer to my current provider), I typed in the web address.

Provide the Information You Promise

What I was expecting in going to the web was a portal to information on this company’s plans for business owners. After all, they had addressed the letter to me as a business owner at the business address.

What I received was a landing page with a headline of “products for individuals.” What I wanted was small business plans. Not good. Moreover, the page had NO information on healthcare plans. Instead, it asked me to complete an online form to receive a free gift. Clicking “online form” (the hotlink), I was now asked for a code to enter from the “communication or advertisement”.

Make the Response Mechanism Easy and Accessible

So I grabbed the mail piece and searched for the code. Where was it? It was not in the brochure; it was not on the insert; and worse, it did not appear to be on the letter.

Okay, time out—a cardinal rule in marketing is that if you ask people for a code you make the code painfully obvious to find—maybe BIG print, maybe in red, maybe inside a box, maybe in multiple places; maybe on all three of the components of the mail piece or maybe some or all of the above.

Do Not Bait and Switch!

But no, it was not there. I could not find it. So I decided to press “continue” on the website without entering the code, just to see what happened. Oh, one more observation. On the page asking me for a code was a prominent box saying that I could call a toll-free number to purchase now.

Purchase now?

Purchase what?

You have not even told me what the offer is. I don’t want to be sold something; I want information.

Pressing “continue” took me to a page with a form asking me for ALL my contact info, which I am invited to submit on the presumption that someone will call or email me.

But now I’m frustrated. I was told I could get more information by going to the website. Instead, I get the bait and switch.

And to make matters even worse, the requested code was patently unapparent in the mail piece.

After closing the browser tab without submitting any personal information, I took one more hard look at the letter. And, finally, there was the code, in small font, printed one time, and placed where my eyes were unlikely to look.

In the world of direct marketing, the “code” is key. It indicates the package that was mailed and the corresponding offer. Without it, the critical marketing information about what populations are responding to is lost.

Failing to Learn: Not Knowing What You Don’t Know

Now, what has this company learned? Almost nothing. If other possible respondents cannot find the “code” they must enter, or are put off by the promise of information and get a contact form to receive a sales call instead, the conclusion might be that the offer failed.

But did it?

No.

The failure was much more basic.

The failure was to determine whether or not the target audience could (or couldn’t) find the critical code. The failure was to offer information and deliver something else.

So having spent unknown amounts of money on offer development, design and execution, list purchase, printing and mailing, the likely result is a major thud in the market.

Testing Involves Both Live Market Tests and Market Research

I’ve seen companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars developing offer and direct mail campaigns and then decide to forgo passing the materials and response channels past the target audience to ensure comprehension and to allow them to point out such obvious errors of execution as I observed.

Companies that do so may or may not achieve higher response rates. Doing market research cannot ensure a campaign’s success. Market research can point out obvious flaws in execution such as the above and can provide feedback on the attractiveness of the offer. And market research can help optimize the potential for the campaign’s success.

If your business uses direct marketing, my experience is that working closely with product and service managers to ensure they receive appropriate customer feedback to pay large dividends. Tell them about my experience (and I’m confident you can find many of your own—unfortunately, they are everywhere). Partner with them to develop more powerful marketing for your company.