Tracking Response and ROI for Your Mail Campaigns

One of the biggest benefits of direct mail marketing is that it’s highly measurable. Yes, you read that right: direct mail is highly measurable.

Direct mail has an average $12 return for every $1 spent, with response rates ranging between 4.9-9% that vary by industry and the quality of the mailing list.* The best way to measure ROI is with an ROI calculator. Inputs include the size of your mailing, total campaign costs (design, lists, printing, mailing, postage, etc.), number of responses, average order value, number of orders and average number of repeat orders. Several direct mail providers offer free ROI calculators online – from simple to very complex, you can find the one that best suits your need to determine the success of your campaign.

If you are new to direct mail (or want to up your game!), one of the best things you can do to feel comfortable with launching a campaign, is to arm yourself with the following tools to enable you to track response and sales back to your mail campaign, which leads to calculating ROI:

Unique 800 numbers – it’s surprisingly affordable to acquire a unique toll free number. One service that is easy to use is Kall8.com. Remember to use a unique phone number for each campaign, that way you can easily track the variables between the different campaigns, such as creative, calls-to-action, copy, etc.

Match-back report – mailing lists can be cross-referenced against responses to determine conversion rates. The most common data match-back is by email, phone number or mailing address.

You can run a list of sales by contact that occurred during your campaign period, and match it against the mail file to determine how many orders and sales was driven from you mailing.

Unique landing page – while it might take a little bit of extra effort to set up a unique landing page for each campaign, it’s worth it in order to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. By using Google Analytics or short lead forms on these landing pages you can easily capture responses and track more detailed data on your direct users.

Coupons or offer codes – one of the easiest ways to track success of a campaign is to simply count how many coupons or codes were redeemed in store or online. It might be interesting to know that in the current environment with uncertainties all around us, 30% of shoppers are spending more time reading direct mail promotions. Get more direct mail facts here.

List management – by reviewing responses, smartly make updates and improvements every time you mail a new campaign. With time, you’ll see trends that will help you make decisions to increase responses. It will also help you to understand your ideal audience and make it easier to target lookalike audiences to broaden your customer base.

As you can see, there are a lot of different ways you can improve your chances for a successful direct mail campaign, and it’s not just for big brands who have marketing departments that are trained in tracking ROI. If you are a small to mid-size business and direct mail seems intimidating, rest assured you don’t have to go about it alone. When you partner up with Modern Postcard to handle your mailing campaign, you have at your disposal the expertise of industry leaders every step of the way – and remember, you don’t have to start out perfectly with all these tools set up right off the bat. It’s ok to start small and grow as you go.

Call a Direct Marketing Specialist at 800.959.8365.

*2018 DMA Response Rate Report