Direct mail can take many different forms. From postcards to booklets, there are any number of formats marketers can choose. The right format and content that suits your needs depends on your audience and your budget. How do you know which format and content to use? Digital testing can provide the data you need to make informed and cost-effect decisions for your direct mail campaign.
How Digital Testing Can Cut Direct Mail Costs
For those with the time and resources, multivariate testing is the best way to plan a targeted campaign. By sending out multiple versions to various sample groups, you can gauge which format will have the most impact. However, this form of multivariate testing requires time and resources that some companies might not have available. A viable alternative is digital testing.
Digital testing, A/B testing, or split testing – whatever you wish to call it – has been used by marketers for decades. What if you could capitalize on digital testing to determine ahead of time which direct mail copy would best resonate with your customers?
Use Surveys to Collect Data
Online surveys allow you to pinpoint which images, messages, content and formats engage your clients. Delivery is quick, inexpensive, and should provide enough data to make a prediction on which direct mail format to send your clients.
You can then take that data and break it down into demographics: age, location, and gender. That should allow you to deliver a very targeted message to your prospects.
Test Your Data
Based on your findings, you can then send out a sample run for confirmation. If your digital testing results indicated more than one possible choice, then send out samples of each and measure the real world response. If a definitive conclusion is reached, then you can move forward with your direct mail campaign.
Integrating Your Online and Offline Marketing Efforts
Today’s communication channels blur lines. No longer do we have an online and an offline world. The two converge in almost every aspect. Even the USPS has started new programs that integrate email with direct mail. Digital testing and traditional multivariate testing of direct mail can complement one another.
Mail Manager handles everything from testing to posting. Let us show you how to get the best response possible from your next direct mail campaign.
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