Direct Marketing – Testing For Effective Mail and Email Campaigns

Despite all the new forms of Internet marketing and the plethora of social media networks that have sprouted up in the last couple of years, direct marketing through direct mail and email marketing still remains one of the most effective advertising channels for businesses of all sizes.

However, that does not mean that rushing and just sending out any direct mail or email campaigns is going to guarantee your success, achieve maximum advertising effectiveness, and result in the best ROI for your marketing budget. Throwing all of your resources into one large campaign that flops can not only stall your operation and income but could even cripple your organization.

Fortunately, by using web analytics and blocks of toll free numbers, you can perform affordable tests quickly in order to hone your direct marketing campaigns and maximize your marketing ROI. By acquiring blocks of toll free numbers, you can use different numbers in a split test campaign to improve the various factors that determine optimal advertising effectiveness, such as your lead and data lists, the copy of your direct marketing pieces, email subject lines, mail packaging, and the timing of your delivery.

Some marketers see testing as something that slows them down. However, testing means you can still get out a partial campaign and receive leads now while you will get a lot bigger return for your money when you go all out. Just look at the difference in not only leads but in actual dollars that a great direct marketing campaign offers. For both mail and email direct marketing campaigns, the response rates can range from less than 1 percent on the low end to over 10 percent for those who have honed and tested. Good campaigns will also yield higher closing ratios. So on the same 10,000 piece campaign, without testing you may end up with 100 responses and one closed deal, while those you have tested could be looking at over 1,000 responses and as many as 250 new deals. Which results do you want for your money?

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