acculist | Case Study

Amid Virus Disruption, Direct Mail Has ‘Optichannel’ Advantages

March 31, 2020/in B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Case Study, Creative, Digital Marketing, Direct Mail, Direct Mail Lists, Donor Lists, Education Marketing, Fundraising, Modeled Data, Print Technology, Segmentation, Targeting /by David Kanter

As the majority of American adults hunker down at home, with all but essential businesses closed or working remotely because of the COVID-19 crisis, AccuList reminds marketers of the unique advantages of targeted direct mail, which takes promotions right into homes, has the highest response rate of any channel, and has the ability via print technology to connect with digital, too.

Direct Mail Can Rise Above the Current Digital Noise

Direct-response agency SeQuel Response notes that since the majority of American have responded to state lockdowns and virus fears by increasing their online shopping, many direct marketers have flooded the digital zone with new e-commerce sites, digital advertising, social media promotions, and e-mail. With online channels increasingly overcrowded, direct mail offers an alternative way to reach consumers in their homes and an opportunity to rise above the noise. The agency provides some good tips for direct mail in the time of COVID: 1) Ensure creative elements and messaging align with consumer sentiments and promote social responsibility and even national pride for positive brand awareness; 2) reconsider mail frequency and timing if warranted for a particular product/service, but make sure not to lose touch with the audience; 3) solidify existing customer relations, with increased focus on retention and brand awareness to help survive on the other side of the crisis; 4) integrate direct mail with digital marketing, a proven way to boost campaign performance and reduce CPA, including print technology, such as QR, AR and VR; and, finally 5) plan for the post-crisis world, recognizing that a campaign takes six weeks from list development to creative production to mail drop, and make sure messaging and brand positioning can evolve post-crisis.

Leverage Mail Strengths With Modeling, Digital Alignment

Given the coronavirus disruption of buying processes, “optichannel” campaigning, meaning supporting a prospect’s or customer’s shopping and buying process using the channel that is best for them, becomes essential for ROI. Direct mail adds special advantages to an optichannel mix, especially when combined with modeling and digital integration, argues a recent Target Marketing magazine article. Among the article’s examples is Galileo Learning, which operates 75 children’s summer camps across parts of California and Illinois. The company used tight response-lift customer modeling to identify higher-response prospects on external lists and then used the resulting savings to create even better creative. As a result, response surpassed expectations by bringing in 155 new campers and $66,000 in new revenue. Another Target Marketing case study is especially relevant for nonprofit fundraisers trying to help the most vulnerable in the current COVID-19 crisis. It comes from Meals on Wheels in the Diablo region of California, whose mailed holiday donor appeal garnered $230,000 in donations and 43% new donors. The charity attributes the 75,000-piece mail campaign’s success to, first, defining more-responsive list segments for existing donors, lapsed donors and prospects via demographics and customer-look-alike modeling, and, second, adding targeted digital advertising (e-mail, social and online display). The added digital effort not only delivered a 600% increase in campaign impressions over the mail-only control, the donors acquired by the “optichannel” campaign gave an average of 169% more than mail-only donors.

Case Studies Show How Nonprofits Can Improve Donor Mail Results

October 16, 2019/in B2C Marketing, Case Study, Direct Mail, Donor Lists, Fundraising, Nonprofit Marketing, RFM, Segmentation /by David Kanter

As AccuList’s nonprofit fundraising clients enter their busiest direct mail season, the team thought it might be worthwhile to pass along three case studies from the CharityHowTo blog, showing some basic ways to pump direct mail performance.

The Case for Donor List Segmentation

Donor list segmentation is essential, and delivers dividends even for those starting from scratch. For example, the blog post cites the case of a new executive director at a human services organization that lacked results of historical appeals in terms of targeting and pieces sent. The executive director decided to develop a recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) segmentation and so exported the donor base and began to divide it into sections by last gift date, amount of donation (high to low) and most recent to older. In this case, the executive director broke out donors who had given a gift of $250 or more at some point; these “best” donors were going to receive the same appeal as the others, but the new executive director was also going to include a handwritten personal note with each letter and send the appeal by first-class mail. All other donors were broken out by recency, treating the 0-24 months donors as “active” donors, and then further segmenting for those giving below $100 and those giving $100-$249.99. There was a separate segment of “lapsed” donors defined as donors who hadn’t given in the last 3 to 5 years, and even a deep lapsed segment who hadn’t given in 5 years or more. Then all segments, coded for results tracking, were mailed a personalized letter and personalized reply form. Even though just starting out, results improved in terms of total donations and efficiency, with an overall cost of just $0.04 for every dollar raised (compared with an industry average cost of $0.20 cited by the blog). Plus, the nonprofit now had proven segmentation results for use in further improvement of efficiency and targeted messaging.

The Case for Increased Mail Frequency

If you don’t ask, you won’t get, but nonprofits worried about costs and donor fatigue often err on the conservative side when deciding how frequently donors should be mailed. The blog cites the case of a homeless shelters executive director who was initially against mailing more than twice a year, even though they had some 65+ homeless people that they were supporting each day. Because they needed to raise more money, they finally tried adding two more appeals per year. Of course, the added appeals increased costs, but they also increased net revenue by 32%. The cost to raise a dollar with two appeals was $0.12, and with 4 appeals went up to $0.20, yet the overall net dollars after costs rose from $51,227 to $67,590.

The Case for Tapping Recent Donors

Research shows that donors who gave most recently are also most likely to give again. For doubters, try testing a segment of recent donors (0-3 months or 0-6 months). And of course, you will want to segment out those recent donors who give the largest amounts and offer special treatment, such as an appeal with a personal note of thanks for their gift and an indication that you’re just sending the latest appeal for their information only (even though of course you’re going to include a reply envelope). However, the case study of an environmental organization shows why hesitancy to mail a donor too soon is often misguided. The organization typically mails about 5 times a year; once someone reaches the $1,000 level, they go into a personal note stream. Results show that while the 7-month-to-one-year donors deliver the most net revenue and average gift, the next best performing segment is the recent 0-to-3-month donors in terms of net revenue and average gift!

See the complete article for useful charts and details.

Emerging Technologies Create New Breed of Interactive Mail

June 20, 2019/in Apps, AR, Case Study, Creative, Direct Mail, direct mail creative, Mobile Marketing, NFC, Print Technology, QR, Uncategorized, USPS, USPS Discount, Video Marketing /by David Kanter

To help boost direct mailer use of emerging technologies, the U.S. Postal Service offered postage discounts this summer for use of interactive mail tools such as QR codes, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Near Field Communications (NFC), and Video in Print. But taking a new technology from gimmick to ROI booster requires inspiration even more than discounts. So here are some success stories courtesy of the USPS, too.

Use QR & AR to Link Print to Digital Experiences

Among the USPS-cited case studies of use of mobile- or tablet-scanned QR and AR codes is this example of how QR codes proved their value for organized sports marketing. Sports event managers created more than 50 unique codes for signage, publications and e-tickets to provide information, social media sharing, and mobile store access, and succeeded in getting QR-code users to scan event material an average of 1.6 times and increased downloads of the official app to 15 million. Meanwhile, AR proved its traffic-building value for a furniture retailer’s mailed yearly catalog; recipients used the app to superimpose pieces of furniture onto a real-time 360°/180° view of their homes, resulting in both more app and website visits by customers for the retailer. The information gathered by apps can achieve other retail marketing goals besides traffic and sales, of course. The USPS cites a beauty company’s print ad AR app that allowed digital trials of nail polish, with the goals of preventing product returns and improving future stocking decisions and color choices. Over 10% of users scanned the ad with their smartphones or tablets to try on 40 different nail polish colors.

Use NFC, Video and Mobile in Print for Immediate Interaction

Near Field Communications (NFC) relies on chips and radio waves to communicate with smartphones rather than scannable codes and has the advantage of instant access without app download. The USPS notes a movie premiere’s NFC-enabled posters that encouraged users to tap an image with their smartphones to access behind-the-scenes footage, and an Uber campaign in England with NFC-enabled coasters in pubs, right on the table with the smartphones–and the drinks inspiring ride requests. Video-in-Print (VIP) uses a video device included in a mailer or print ad and can work well for targeting high-value customers. For example, an auto company promoting a new truck used publisher data to select 20,000 readers who fit the target truck owner profile and sent them a VIP magazine insert. Mobile-in-Print also creates immediate interaction by placing mobile call or text capabilities in print media. Consider the case of a multinational auto insurance company plagued by complaints about help line delays: The insurer sent out mobile-in-print mailers that prompted customers to use the keypad embedded on the page to enter their mobile telephone number and license plate information to receive instant insurance quotes on their mobile devices. For more examples of innovative direct mail ideas courtesy of the USPS, see
https://www.uspsdelivers.com/16-case-studies-to-inspire-your-next-direct-mail-campaign/

Drive Response by Integrating Direct Mail and Social Sharing

June 20, 2018/in Acquisition, B2B Marketing, B2C Marketing, Case Study, Data Capture, Database Development, Digital2Direct, Direct Mail, Landing Page, Marketing Integration, Multi-Channel Marketing, Omnichannel, postcard, Social Media Marketing, Social Sharing, Uncategorized, Viral Marketing /by Katherine Sharma

AccuList USA began its life 20 years ago this June as a traditional direct mail list broker and manager but has adapted to marketing trends and client demands to become today’s omnichannel data and services provider–including social media marketing, of course. We’ve seen the response power of taking social media and direct mail from parallel tracks to integrated teamwork. For those who are scratching their heads over mail-social integration, we recommend a Target Marketing magazine article by Summer Gould, including two case studies as templates.

A Basic Formula for Success

Gould boils a successful mail-social marriage down to a simple formula: Use the power of social sharing to expand mail response. Basically, start with an existing direct mail campaign that is working well. Create landing pages for the target audience to visit and direct recipients to those pages in the mail piece. Ask the audience to provide the information that you want on the landing pages. Finally, to get your offer, ask people to share with others.

Addressing Key Plan Elements

Marketers don’t have to reinvent the wheel to get this done, but they do need to remember to include vital spokes! Gould starts with the basics: Define objectives and the target market. Then adjust direct mail design to include landing pages and social media sharing. Make sure that the offer is the same for both direct mail and social media, and be sure to effectively incentivize sharing. Focus carefully on data capture, including social media accounts so you can reward those who share the offer! Decide what other information you really want to collect to receive the offer. Finally, make sure you have the social media monitoring software to track results, as well as the direct mail response tracking.

Case Studies That Inspire Emulation

Gould’s article offers two case studies that should inspire emulation. First, Chick-fil-A, which wanted to both build its customer database and increase store traffic, launched a direct mail campaign of 5,000 plastic postcards that included social sharing. Thanks to the viral impact, the campaign gained a 279.8% response! Second, Stein Mart wanted to increase store redemption through a referral program. The discount retailer mailed 20,000 postcards with a social sharing component, and the campaign gained a total response of 150.58%. For links to the case studies for details, read the Target Marketing article.

Case Studies Showcase Zoo & Museum Direct Mail Strategy

March 8, 2018/in Agency, Case Study, Creative, Direct Mail, direct mail creative, E-mail Marketing, membership marketing, Museum & Zoo Marketing, Nonprofit Marketing, ROI, Seasonal Marketing, Targeting, Uncategorized /by Katherine Sharma

AccuList USA provides mailing lists and direct marketing support for a growing number of museum and zoo marketers. We thought our museum and zoo clients, and other nonprofit marketers, would be interested in recent case studies of how combining direct mail with digital marketing can successfully drive gift membership purchases. The case studies were presented by The Lukens Company, a nonprofit agency, for the American Museum Membership Conference.

Postcards-With-E-mails Strategy Addresses Flagging ROI

Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo was concerned that its costly traditional direct mail letter package promoting gift memberships was experiencing declining ROI and relied on a complex process for signup. Tasked with finding solutions, the agency came up with a new two-drop postcard combined with a three-part e-mail series timed after a Cyber Monday campaign. The campaign directed recipients to an online signup with a promo code to track gift sales. Targeting prior gift membership purchasers and offering a standard $15 discount, the new approach resulted in a 173% increase in number of purchases and 88% increase in revenue.

Energizing Existing & New Audiences

A similar strategy provided positive ROI results for a gift membership drive by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in its first holiday season after reopening following a three-year closure. Marketers faced a dual challenge: fatigue of the traditional direct mail package to the existing gift membership audience, plus a new audience unfamiliar with SFMOMA gift membership offerings. Seeking to energize both targets, the agency’s creative shifted from the traditional package to a two-drop postcard and five-part e-mail series, directing recipients online to a new custom landing page, along with phone and onsite support. Mailing to current members, lapsed members, and general admission and event ticket buyers, the campaign offered 10% off gift memberships for members and prospects who became members.

More Ways DM Can Drive Online Action

Based on its results with its postcards-with-e-mails campaigning, The Lukens Company suggests additional ways to boost online results via direct mail: 1) include URLs in all direct mail pieces, especially typing-friendly, memorable URLs; 2) encourage online renewals (“go green”) in early direct mail and e-mail renewal notices; and 3) offer specific online-only incentives for renewing early. See actual creatives, and more case studies of direct mail for onsite action, at http://americanmuseummembership.org/uploads_ed/files/Using%20Direct%20Mail%20to%20Drive%20Action_AMMC%202017.pdf