This week, my colleague, Eric Gagliano, wrote an article on reacquainting yourself with direct mail. If you haven’t read that article, head on over here and check it out. It’s a good read! But not before you finish reading this one, of course.

In his post, Eric outlines some pretty black and white reasons why direct mail is not dead, nor should it be considered dead, in this digital world. In fact, one statistic that he points out is the reason I have been promoting (on a limited basis, of course) direct mail campaigns with my clients.

The average household only received about 20 pieces of mail each week.

That’s an average of under three-pieces of mail PER DAY! With numbers like that, running a well-planned and creatively outstanding direct mail campaign is bound to make you stand out. In fact, the impact is one of the tips Eric mentions to create an awesome direct mail campaign.

However, I want to focus on one area, in particular, picking up where Eric leaves off.

Next Steps.

One of the reasons digital marketing is so popular (besides the fact that it’s where the eyeballs are) is that digital is so conveniently trackable. Not only that, it’s measurable. It’s profitable. It’s flexible and easily changeable.

So, the question becomes: how do you make direct mail trackable and measurable in order to provide a reliable return on investment information? Here are some quick ideas:

  • Personalized Random Promo Codes: for each piece of direct mail that is sent out, attach a personalized random promo code to that piece. Include in your call to action to use the promo code to take advantage of the offer. That way, when the promo code is entered, the analytics can tie the account opening or application directly back to the direct mail piece. This also works well if the receiver stops into your branch with the piece in-hand.
  • Provide PURLs (Personalized URLs): this one is similar to the promo code but has a slight twist to it. It can also be slightly tricky because PRULs can get long and complex very quickly. The bottom line is to provide a personalized URL on each direct mail piece that the receiver can use to go back to a landing page and take action from there.
  • Using Marketing Automation: this one is a bit more complex than the other two but is more fruitful in measuring ROI. When using a marketing automation platform, you can segment your database lists out into campaigns and control who is receiving what direct mail piece. With segmented campaigns in place, when an offer is taken advantage of, the account opening ties back into the campaign and measures the profitability on an individual consumer basis.

These are just a few of the ways that integrating traditional marketing and the digital world can help show how successful certain campaigns can be. As Eric said, traditional direct mail isn’t dead. And, it can help you stand out. The opportunity is finding a way to prove how much it actually does make you stand out!