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Get Scentsual. Get Personal. Get Lucky.
Posted by Sandra J. Blum on Wed, March 03, 2010 at 9:10:42
Two vendor mailings I recently received, as well as a discussion on LinkedIn, focused my thoughts on response-raising techniques that use appeals to the receiver’s senses to actively engage with them. The LinkedIn DMA group was looking for statistics that showed whether response rates increased when using direct mail pieces with scents or with tactile coatings. When I got a postcard printed with tactile dimensional ink that used my first name and sent me to personal URL landing page, and, then a couple of days later, a 3D pop-up mailing that made me laugh, I decided I’d talk about those engaging experiences.
Sensory marketing is a proven way to help you stand out to customers and prospects, drive up response, and improve ROI. Here’s what Nancy Harhut, a marketing guru and long-time creative director I admire, reported on results she’s seen to the LinkedIn group discussion:
…anything that can keep a person engaged with your direct mail piece will increase the chance that the message will be absorbed and acted upon. So smell and touch are two great senses to involve. Of the two, smell is arguably the most potent, as it's our most primal. And of course touch makes absolute sense given that people handle their mail. I have pulled great response rates having embedded a lavender scent into an automotive test drive piece targeting women and offering a spa certificate as an incentive (the scent can only be released when the target opens the piece; the USPS won't allow the exterior of a piece to "smell"). And I've achieved double digit response rates using textured paper and unusual "envelopes" for my client's mailings.
A lower-cost alternative for small businesses who can’t afford to add touch or scent but who still want to grab a recipient’s attention is personalization. Whether on a reply card inserted into a mail piece or on a postcard, or in an email that says “Hi Sandra” rather than just “Hi”, personalized messages trigger more response. In small business customer marketing, personalization is pretty easy to do, as most small businesses have up-to-date customer name and profile information, and personalization is certainly worth trying to tweak response. And if the ROI is right, combining sensory marketing and personalization could be a double winner for you.
Resources:
Brand Sense: Build Powerful Brands Through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound by Martin Lindstrom, Philip Kotler (Foreword by), Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group, 2005
SCENT MARKETING INSTITUTE
Scent Marketing Blog
Sensory Marketing: Feel the Difference
Google Does Direct Mail. Shouldn’t You Be Agnostic Too?
Posted by Sandra J. Blum on Fri, February 05, 2010 at 2:42:00
Direct mail’s reputation as an old-school marketing tool is getting a rehab, as I predicted when I was interviewed by CNN in Less junk mail: Good for you, bad for economy. It’s amusing to a marketing agnostic to see the snarky buzz out there because Google is using direct mail to advertise AdWords.
But tell me, why wouldn’t a smart marketer like Google test and use every channel that works?
In fact, the Who’s Mailing What! Archive, a great service that direct marketers consult to see “who’s mailing what”, shows that Google has been testing direct mail for quite a while and looks to be ramping up its efforts for 2010.
Resist Temptation. Be Smart Like Google and Go Multi-Channel!
For small and medium-sized businesses, it’s mighty tempting to get out of direct mail and just do email and other online marketing. The folly of that approach was detailed in the Wall Street Journal Small Business article Firms Hold Fast to Snail Mail Marketing. The most dramatic example was the 25% drop in orders experienced by Per Annum Inc:
Looking to cut costs amid the recession, Alicia Settle initially thought it would be a good idea to eliminate her company's annual direct mailing.
Spending about $20,000 on the personally signed letters, which offered customers a discount on early orders, seemed indulgent for Per Annum Inc., which sells city diaries, albums, and planners in the struggling corporate gift market. But after swapping snail mail for email last year, Ms. Settle saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.
"We realized we had made a huge mistake," says Ms. Settle, president of the New York firm.
Need more ammunition? See Want More Response? Do Email + Direct Mail Together
Resources:
Inside Direct Mail: One to Watch: Google
Drumbeat Heard: “Mail, Baby, Mail”— No Postage Increases in 2010
Posted by Sandra J. Blum on Fri, February 05, 2010 at 2:38:39
Good news:
• No postage increases for 2010 on First Class or Standard Mail rates
• Decreased printing and paper costs
• Less mail in everyone’s mailboxes in the last year
So, business owner, what are your plans for direct mail in 2010? My advice: Plan to dive back in.
My sources tell me that big mailers are preparing to prospect via direct mail aggressively in 2010 with very targeted mailings. They want to take advantage of static postage rates, declining costs, and empty mailboxes (business and consumer) to recoup lost revenue and refresh customer lists. However, mail volumes will still remain relatively and historically low.
Here’s where I think you should start to use this competitive opportunity:
1. Think postcards, postcards, postcards. They’re relatively inexpensive and get you in the mail fast. Decide on a niche or distinctive group to mail to that you know well so you can be as relevant to their needs as possible.
2. Outline a marketing campaign around a minimum of three mailings to be sent every month or every other month. See Rinse & Repeat or Rule of 3 to revisit why that’s important.
3. Use a mailing service like pbmarketingservices.com to meet USPS requirements and optimize cost savings. A mailing service will:
- help you get available postage discounts
- run a national change of address program as close to the mail date as possible to capture more moves and meet the new USPS Move-Update requirements
- ensure mailings have ZIP+4 code addresses and eliminate or correct records with potential delivery problems
- be smart about USPS and mailing innovations like the Intelligent Mail Barcode and be able to take advantage of them early.
With lower costs in both print and online media, now is the time to test new techniques and strategies to improve response and ROI.
Resources:
PITNEY BOWES RATE CHANGE GUIDES
Updated: Get more details with our One-Page Overview.
Updated: Learn to save with our Practical Guide.
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