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Webinar Recap: Use Real-Time Analytics to Improve the ROI of Your Direct Mail Channel
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June 23, 2022

Webinar Recap: Use Real-Time Analytics to Improve the ROI of Your Direct Mail Channel

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Our 2022 State of Direct Mail report found that 67% of marketers agree direct mail has the best ROI of all channels. However, the effectiveness of any marketing method depends on how you use it.

Data-driven decisions are the key to getting results from direct mail campaigns. To do that, you need to gain insights from every viable source.

Learn more about experimenting, testing, and optimizing direct mail campaigns and key performance indicators (KPIs). Download The Modern Marketer’s Guide to Direct Mail Analytics & Testing.

Our third webinar recap brings us to the final part of the Modern Marketers Best Practice Series called “How to Win With Direct Mail.” During this three-part series, we've covered “How to Integrate Direct Mail Into Your Omni Channel Campaigns” and “How to Get Better Results tor Personalization.” Now, we discuss everything related to analytics.

In this webinar, Lob executives Julie Ginn, VP of Demand Generation, and Mike Tuffley, Director of Solutions Engineering, provide an in-depth overview on using real-time analytics to improve the ROI of your direct mail channel.

The webinar can help you to gain a better understanding of the type of analytics you need for direct mail and the technology to make it happen.

3 key takeaways from the direct mail analytics webinar

Many companies are still going about direct mail the old, traditional way. They create a direct mail campaign, send a CSV file to a print vendor, provide the PDF artwork via FTP, and it gets offset printed and mailed. Then, they go back and match original files to conversion data using spreadsheets.

The problem with this outdated approach is that it’s cumbersome, not very accurate, and has limited amounts of meaningful and actionable data.

That’s where intelligent and automated analytics comes into play.

In this webinar, we offer three key takeaways for you to consider when leveling up your direct mail channel marketing:

  • Modern-day metrics that matter
  • Measuring and optimizing direct mail
  • Technology for data-driven marketers

Key takeaway #1: Know the modern-day direct mail metrics that matter

The following key performance indicators (KPIs) are a must when it comes to measuring the effectiveness of a direct mail channel:

  • Deliverability
  • Response rate/conversion rate
  • Revenue per mailpiece
  • Cost per acquisition
  • Return on investment
  • Lifetime value

As you may have noticed, tracking direct mail is just like tracking digital channels. For example, for emails, we can measure the pageview. In direct mail, we can measure the PURL hit.

Key takeaway #2: Know how to measure and optimize direct mail

Make sure you use trackable methods:

  • Personalized URLs (PURLs)
  • Unique promo codes for special offers
  • Toll-free numbers

Also, try out variables such as format, tone, personalization, and CTAs.

Measuring and optimizing your direct mail channel marketing campaigns can be accomplished in several ways. However, A/B testing is one of the most tried-and-true approaches.

Key takeaway #3: Direct mail technology for the data-driven marketer

Technology is a massive differentiator for marketers with the most successful direct mail campaigns. Various tools provide ways to gain insights that traditional methods can’t:

  • QR codes
  • Direct mail automation platform
  • Business intelligence (BI) tools

For example, you can use simple, small scannable QR codes — they’re like a superweapon for 2022 — to track and measure your campaigns. The real power lies in using automation and business intelligence for real-time analytics. These are available through Lob’s direct mail marketing platform.

Summary

So much has changed in direct mail channel marketing, especially in real-time analytics. We can track and measure KPIs and test and optimize direct mail campaigns like never before. Successful direct mail campaigns, or any marketing for that matter, comes down to technology.

Watch the webinar recording to get all the insights about improving the ROI of your direct mail marketing. Prefer to read? Download the complementary eBook, The Modern Marketer's Guide to Direct Mail Analytics & Testing. You can also schedule a demo to see just how easy it is to track direct mail using Lob’s Print & Mail and Address Verification APIs.

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