11. How to Measure Results in Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns

At Grow Mail, we help our clients identify and achieve the goals that they want from direct mail marketing campaigns. The ultimate goal of any marketing campaign is to drive results that will justify the costs spent on that campaign. Most businesses measure their return on investment (ROI) by comparing money spent to money made.

 

However, there are many additional objectives that a business might want to achieve with a marketing campaign. One common marketing objective is “brand awareness” (although that alone will not necessarily provide that much-needed ROI).

 

Some other objectives include increasing sales, creating new customers, and promoting a special offer. Knowing what you want to get out of your campaign — by determining appropriate goals in advance — is the first step in creating a successful campaign.

 

Knowing and establishing objectives also helps to determine what key performance indicators (KPIs) you will use to measure how effective your campaign is. 

The Most Important KPIs for Direct Mail Campaigns

KPIs are merely metrics that show how whether your campaign is reaching its goals, and by how much. Which parameters you pay attention to will depend on the specifics of your campaign. Here are a few KPIs to consider when gauging the effectiveness of your campaigns:

 

1. Response Rate: This is, naturally, the percentage of recipients who respond to your mailing (be it by filling out and mailing back a response card, calling your business, visiting your website, or placing an order). 

 

The response rate on direct mail campaigns averages 4%, according to the Direct Mail Association. That percentage, while it may look small, is actually large enough to easily target a niche audience in the future — be it by ZIP code, demographics, or even psychographic characteristics. 

 

To increase response rates, it’s important to have a clear and urgent call-to-action (CTA) on the mail piece — and it’s just as important to be able to track these responses through tools like landing pages or call tracking. 

 

Also, if your business has a brick and mortar location and the CTA includes a coupon or discount to use at said location, always remember to verbally ask the new customer how they heard about the promotion.

 

2. Cost Per Acquisition: This refers to how much it costs to gain a new customer. Postcard campaigns tend to have a small, per-piece cost — especially if using EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail). 

 

It’s important to track those costs, so you’ll know how much you spent to acquire each new customer. Those costs will likely include digital marketing expenses like web hosting, email marketing, and social media advertising. Also, don’t forget to include hard costs such as postage and printing, as well as any other related costs and labor. Compare this KPI with your response rate and conversion rate to see how much you spent to acquire each new customer. 

 

3. Revenue Per Order: You can also see how existing customers’ order sizes compare from the postcard offers to their average spends. Did you know that giving discounts and coupons actually increase revenue per order? It seems counterintuitive, but they incentivize customers to spend more. So take full advantage of these incredibly useful tools!

 

4. Conversion Rate: This particular KPI is the one most closely linked to ROI. It is the percentage of recipients who took the action you asked them to do — whether it was to sign up for future offers, place an order, or everything in between. 

 

Conversion rates are important in determining the efficacy of any direct mail postcard campaign, especially if using special discounts in your call to action statements.

 

It is equally important to evaluate this against other metrics, such as cost per acquisition and revenue earned per order. How much did it cost to acquire that customer, and how much did they spend with you? 

 

Businesses with shorter sales cycles — like restaurants — tend to merge conversion and response rates, since they typically happen simultaneously through coupons and targeted promotions. Companies with longer sales cycles that offer services at a premium, like accounting or law offices, should pay closer attention to their conversion rate over their response rate. 

 

5. Total ROI: Your return on investment is the “ultimate” KPI. It’s also the most straightforward: did you earn more than you spent on the campaign? If so, how much more? If you did make more, your campaign was successful. And if you earned significantly more, pat yourself on the back — because, to use a baseball metaphor, you hit the ball out of the park.

See Better Results in All Your KPIs, with Grow Mail

At Grow Mail, our priority is to lower marketers’ customer acquisition costs. So we help you choose the most effective delivery method (like an EDDM or saturation mailing) for a direct marketing postcard campaign, and we will measure and determine not just CPA, but also ROI. Our process is more efficient and cost-effective because of our commitment to precisely targeting and monitoring our campaigns from start to finish.

 

If you’re ready to launch a successful postcard campaign that will generate a huge ROI, reach out to us for a quote today.