#DMPersonalisation: Improving your Direct Mail ROI through personalisation
Return on investment (ROI) is what drives your direct mail campaigns. As you analyse your stats, facts and figures, you’ll see where you can make improvements, what you need more of and what you might need to cut out. When it comes to direct mailing there is always room for improvement and we are always here to help with your advertising ideas.
You’ll also notice that there’s something that always improves direct mail ROI and that’s personalisation.
Whatever personalisation you use, and how far you go with it, is up to you. We’ve spoken about it before, but as a recap, here are some of the most effective forms of personalisation that are improving ROI on dm campaigns for clients of The Mailing People.
Persuasive personalisation for direct mailing
Copywriting and sales text
Get specific on things like business sector, special interests, previous purchases, names and locations. Write as if you really know your prospect – build a relationship with language.
Are you local?
Personalising through location is a great way to win audience buy-in. Not only does it show that you know your customer, but it’s also an effective way to create trust. It demonstrates that you have an understanding and empathy for the area in which they live. That brings you closer and builds confidence.
Different age range, different conversation
Knowing a client’s age and pitching accordingly can really help you to target your message. It enables you to be selective in the products and services you’re pitching and will also give your copywriter the opportunity to use the kind of language and tone that puts you on the wavelength of your prospect.
Images that talk
Using personalised images can be enormously effective in creating a successful direct mailing campaign and can really pump up your ROI figures. Whether you add recipient logos to your direct mailing or choose photography to suit their location and purchasing history, personalised images have immediate impact.
Selective Personalisation: Your Top Ten
The ideas listed above are all great ways to add personalisation and as we’ve said: all personalisation will improve the ROI of your dm campaign. But here’s something that you might not have considered and which could take your ROI to the next level. It’s called selective personalisation and it’s all about finding your top ten.
Selective personalisation is when you invest in a high level of personalisation but you limit it to a proportion of your mailing list only – for example, the top 10% of your customers. What you consider to be the top 10% will depend on a combination of:
- Your business/organisation sector and type
- What you want to achieve from your dm campaign
If you’re a charity, your top ten might be the biggest donors for the past year. If you’re a retailer, it could be those who’ve made the biggest spend in the last twelve months.
You know that these customers are the most likely to take a desired action, so it’s well worth thinking about giving an extra nudge to lead them towards the action you want them to take. Personalisation might include some kind of special offer or privilege.
Selective is special
Selective personalisation is where original thinking pays dividends. Here’s an example of what it might look like:
You’re launching a new product at a special event. In order to make it easy for people to attend, you create a map as part of your mailshot – but not any old map. Your map is personalised to each of your top customers, showing the route from their home or business to the event venue. They get sent the personalised map alongside a personalised money off voucher. (That personalised voucher is great for data collection, too.)
Your personalised maps don’t add any cost to mailing and printing, although you will need to do more in terms of artwork. This might not be worth the investment for 1,000 recipients, but for your top 100 customers, it could be a very useful part of building loyalty and boosting sales.
Selective personalisation is a step up in direct mail marketing solutions that get the customer response you need. As with any form of personalisation and all DM solutions, there is huge scope for creativity and imagination.
Personalisation is essential to creating a winning mail marketing campaign, and the best direct mail companies will always guide you in using it to the best effect. Personalisation relies on high-quality data (more on this in an upcoming blog post) and a good direct mail company will also offer data auditing and cleansing to improve your ROI.
It pays to get personal. Use it, and watch your direct mail ROI reach the next level.
