One-Two Punch? We’ve been doing it for years.
Brad Cannon | 02/13/2019
Sometimes, during the course of your career you run across something that totally validates what you do. I’m fortunate enough to run across those kinds of things a lot. I love my job.
Most recently, I had one of those moments when I read an article detailing a study that was done on direct mail and email marketing. Go Inspire Group randomly targeted a group of 240,000 people, and created a direct mail piece, and an email for an unnamed retail company with a product range that appeals to a broad audience.
Both the print piece and email had equal creative quality.
They split them up into three groups. One group got just the direct mail piece, one group got just the email, and one group got both.
The results were very interesting. The response rates were actually pretty similar, but that’s not what’s most interesting. That basically revealed that both types of media are good, viable methods. It was the financial performance that was most interesting.
• The email only group generated right at $1 of revenue per customer.
• The direct mail group generated $5 per customer.
• The group that received BOTH direct mail and email generated $7.50 per customer.
That’s the magic of the one-two punch.
One of the analogies we always share with clients is the magic of combined effort. It’s the old story of the farmer who had two horses that could pull 1000lbs. each, but when harnessed together, they could pull 3000lbs.
That’s how direct mail and email work together.
Quoting the conclusion of the study:
“Astute marketers should not be regarding direct email and direct mail as a choice -- an either/or decision -- but should be exploring how the two mediums are combined to provide the greatest incremental, complementary effect.”
Each media method has it’s own strengths. Direct mail, for example, has greater perceived value due to its production costs, and if you’re trying to reach millennials, it’s a definite proven winner. Email has benefits like the ability to link directly to response pages, and can be more interactive.
Some other points the study makes that I found particularly satisfying (validating):
• Send two emails for each direct mail piece
• The first email should hit the week after the mail piece is sent, and should reference the mail piece.
• Email should be continued at regular intervals.
If you’re reading this, everything Go Inspire Group discovered in their study a month ago is what we at PSM Marketing have been practicing and preaching for over 10 years now.
We call it the Sharp Shooter Program. If you’ve ever participated in one, you know they work. They work really well.
If you’ve never participated in a Sharp Shooter Program, re-read the above study results, and consider a couple of other benefits that you have over the unnamed retailer in the study. With us, we not only use the one-two punch of direct mail and email, we bolt on social media, web banners, store signage, call blasts, and more. It’s not just two horses hooked together, it’s a dozen or so. And all of this is specifically targeted to people who are passionate about what you sell – not just random folks.
And we handle all the promotional details. You get your own coordinator, who puts it all together and makes sure nothing is forgotten…. Like MAP or Co-op.
We’ve been executing and refining our Sharp Shooter Program for a decade, and have the benefit of being able to see the results of FAR more than the 240,000 people included in the study. We’ve sent over a billion emails, and I’ve lost count of the millions of direct mail pieces that have gone on our trucks. We have the data, and we know the old one-two is a proven winner.
The good news is that we’re at the beginning of the year with the riding season coming up soon. Now is the time to plan out your spring and summer to include at least one campaign per month. It will absolutely drive traffic to your dealership and create sales opportunities for your team in a way that nothing else does.
To get rolling, give us a call at 770-692-1750 or email us at:
Talk again soon.
Brad
