Tracking Direct Mail Campaigns

The most critical part of a direct mail campaign is assessing the results. You need to analyze whether the money spent was worth it. If you used two or more different pieces of mail, you need to know which one worked and by how much. And if you used a couple of different mailing lists, you will need to understand which one got the higher response and why. Tracking a direct mail campaign is about understanding every element of the mailing you just sent out so you can refine everything you do for future mailings. This is the systematic way of getting better results in the future and grow your business. Learn from mistakes and dig deeper into understanding.

There are a couple of things you can do to make tracking easy. First, use a dedicated telephone line, a particular website with its own URL or a landing page on your website. When a phone call or inquiry comes in, you will know that the only people responding came from the direct mail campaign. You can also put a tracking code or coupon on the mailing piece.

Collecting information from every customer and their order is the next step in your tracking mission. You need as much vital information as possible. Design the order form both online and paper to collect all of the needed information. And when a phone call comes in, train operators to ask the same questions.

Keep track of the number of responses that come in both physically, online and phone calls. Make sure that you know which responses came in from which mailing list, type of mailer and what exactly they are responding to. If you are comparing one mailer against another that is a bit different, make sure that they are recognized in house as different pieces. Codes and identifications should be different for each one and aligned with the coordinating mailing lists. The code should be printed on each mailing piece that you send out either as part of the address label or directly on the piece itself. When orders start coming in, you can determine which group the buyer was in. If buyers return a coupon or order form, have the buyer write the code on the form. If customers call in their order, ask for the code. Keep track of how many orders came in from each group. After a certain number of days or weeks have passed, you can easily see which of the 10 possibilities brought the best results.

You will need to also keep track of all expenses associated with the direct mail campaign in order to determine if it was profitable. Record the cost of printing, the cost of the mailing list, any data processing and mail costs such as envelopes and the price of the postage. If there is a product involved, you need to take the cost into consideration too.

When you have added up all of the costs, it will show you the true profit or loss for each of the mailings. These number will be needed to figure how much it cost you get the customer or the requests. Make sure that these numbers and costs are also aligned with the right list. You will want to know which mailing lists work for your campaigns.

At Everest Direct Mail and Marketing, we value your time and business, and we’re here to ensure your mail campaigns with us are a victory as reflected in your growing client base and bank account. Not only do we produce and send out your mail, but our dedicated account managers also help you track your success. We do this by modifying your lists and updating them based on call tracking, which in turn helps you track the return on your investment. We’ll help you clean your lists for people who have already called and you’ve done business with or those who have requested to not be contacted again. We can also help you track how many people called based on which campaign you do, helping you determine what works best for your direct mail marketing method and where you made the most money. Let us help you succeed by carefully and meticulously monitoring your return!

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