Think Before You Contact

In direct marketing the call to action is critical. If you capture how a prospect or customer historically responds — via mail, the Web, inbound call, face to face, fax or store visit — you should use that data to help lift subsequent response rates. However, this personalization method is overlooked almost universally.

If I order online, your communication with me should lead with messaging that drives me to the Web site. For my convenience, reference my purchase behavior history and make my online preference the foremost call to action. Don't ask me to see a sales representative or send back the reply card first.

Another technique is to personalize based on an owned item. A property and casualty insurer specializing in the collector car market revved up its response rates simply by utilizing information it had at its fingertips.

The personalized direct mail campaign resonated with prospects because it immediately established relevancy. The mail piece featured the exact make and model of car they owned, down to the color. It even personalized the license plate. What happened? Response rates soared, even though the insurer was not the lowest-cost provider.

Many marketers fall into the trap of overusing the minimal data they do have, such as customer and prospect names. Instead, these marketers should be putting time and effort into capturing additional data — keeping quality in mind, not quantity.

For example, recency, frequency and monetary value (RFM) should be incorporated into your database and a contact strategy. Test different messaging and offers to get folks to respond more swiftly. Understanding which offer or messaging earned a response in the past is valuable knowledge, and very applicable to harnessing up-selling and cross-selling opportunities.