How To Track Direct Mail Marketing ROI

Any successful direct mail marketing campaign begins and ends with data. Before designing and sending out your mailers, you need to learn everything you can about your industry, target audience, and competition, as various factors will affect the success of your campaign. Knowing how much it will cost to run your direct mail campaign is just as important in the planning process to determine your return on investment (ROI).

Estimating your costs

The fast step should be identifying your campaign objectives. Do you want to drive traffic to your website or store? Make sales? Generate leads? Then identify the key numbers in your campaign, including:

• Target audience size per campaign – The number of direct mail pieces you want to send
• Campaign costs – The total amount dedicated to direct mailing
• Expected response rate – The number of recipients you expect to respond
• Conversion rate – The percentage of responders who will make a purchase
• Average buyer purchase – The estimated expenditure for your customer

It is important that you use the estimates to prepare yourself for when the responses to your campaign start rolling in. Keep in mind that any missed response translates to a missed business opportunity, sale, or revenue.

Response tracking and follow up

There are several ways to track direct mail responses, including:

1. Personalized URLsThese refer to web addresses that are created specifically for individual customers or segments of customers. Dedicated URLs let you know the recipients who respond to your mail piece. You can even track their experience and movement on your website, and use the insight to fine tune your sales approach.
2. Customized landing pages You can direct your recipients online to a data collection or submission form to access more information or special offers. This will allow you to not only track the response rate, but also gather more personalized data from your target audience.
3. Dedicated phone numbersIf you include a call-to-action that asks the recipients to dial a certain number, consider using a special toll-free phone number that directs the calls to your business line but allows you to identify the calls coming from your mailing.
4. Printed coupons You can easily count the number of redeemed coupons to track response from your mail items.
5. Coupon or discount codes Discount codes can also be easily added to direct mail pieces. They are great for tracking the number of recipients who proceed to order online.
6. QR codes These are great for directing tech savvy recipients to a dedicated URL on their smartphone or tablet without requiring them to input the web address. They are highly effective for tracking responses and collecting analytics, especially for limited time offers.

Depending on the objective of your direct mail marketing campaign, you can determine the ROI by comparing the response (in terms of calls, sales, codes/coupons used) to the number (or cost) of mailers sent out. This information will help you adjust your marketing strategies for subsequent mailings.

Interested in adding direct mail marketing to your advertising mix? Please call our Toronto mailing house at 1-866-486-0423. Troi spells success, one letter at a time.