Direct Marketing: Testing for Effective Mail and Email Campaigns

Direct marketing is one of the most effective ways to advertise to your target market. Why? Because it is more intimate and personal – customers will feel special because their individual needs are addressed. Now, direct marketing can come in different forms. But one of its best manifestations is mail and email campaigns because they enable marketers to reach a vast number of individuals with minimum time and effort spent (compared to face to face contact).

Testing remains the best way to find out what works for your company. However, general guidelines need to be followed. The best practices in the direct marketing field include:

Readable Emails– No marketing campaign can be effective if people don’t even know what you’re trying to say. In email marketing, a lot of companies integrate multimedia images and content – but these are not necessarily readable on some computers. Even if you include multimedia content, you should still make it a point to put HTML text content so the recipients will still understand what the email was all about.

Interesting Subject Line– If your company is associated with a certain brand or product, it is best to use that. Around 69 percent of recipients make the choice whether to open their mail or not at first glance. Maximize the success rate of your email campaign; it is critical to ensure that the sender name you use is trustworthy and recognizable.

Personalized Mail and Email– Direct marketing is all about establishing a personal connection. With the email management technologies available today, there is no reason why you cannot personalize emails (by adding the recipient’s name, etc). The process allows your campaign to become even more effective.

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