VDP Disasters and How To Avoid Them

May 6, 2010   By Crystal Uppercue

Forest Wathen, prepress manager at EU Services, notes that with traditional direct mail, typically the creative drives the data. With VDP we’re seeing a shift. “The question for direct marketing managers becomes, ‘What can I do with what I have? What data can I segment or append to drive the creative content to improve responses?’”

Begin by segmenting your list by information that is almost certainly in your database: name, geographic location, customer or donor segment, acquisition date, and purchase history.

Data appending helps you build on what you have. The Helen Woodward Animal Center, a no-kill shelter that provides animal adoption for all types of pets in California, took data they had on their current donors and sent it out to be analyzed. The shelter was looking to identify unique characteristics among donors.

Now that they knew more about their own donors, Helen Woodward then used this information to find people like their current donors on new lists. Information from other sources was set up to match such donor demographics as average age, profession, education level, home and asset average, and contribution information.

From there, the animal center looked at lists with similar traits and identified some they would never have thought of using. They purchased three lists outside their normal scope. That meant fresh contacts not necessarily common to other animal organizations, which, in turn, reduced over-saturation.

Start Small and Test
If you’re new to VDP, it’s important to start small and test. Work with your direct marketing production company to design a test run that will determine whether or not to roll out a larger project.

Consider testing not only aspects of the VDP campaign itself, but also a test against a control group of a conventional direct mail campaign. It’s much better to find out at this point whether your test provides ROI that makes the additional investment feasible.

With the higher per-unit cost of VDP pieces, breakeven points for response rates are inherently higher, so also examine your number of mailing cycles and number of pieces with a view toward tweaking those elements of the campaign.

Calculate Return on Investment
Though they generate better ROI, VDP projects are more complex and cost more than generic non-personalized direct mail. Undertake a standard cost-benefit analysis to ensure that the potential ROI justifies a VDP investment [Note: The ROI is the number generated when you divide the gross receipts from the mailing by the total cost of the mailing].

Remember, depending on your campaign, ROI is not the only measure of success. Projects launched to raise brand awareness, for example, may not show tangible results for some time to come, if ever. ROI analysis is, therefore, well suited to many types of campaigns, but should not be considered the be-all and end-all of your direct marketing project.

Crystal Uppercue  is the marketing manager for EU Services, a 330-employee direct marketing production facility based in Rockville, MD. Download EU’s free white paper, “A Marketing Manager’s Guide to VDP Project Management,” at www.euservices.com. You can reach her at cuppercue@euservices.com.

____________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed this article.

Earl

· Lead generation (Gaining new customers, introduce new service or product to existing clients)
· Distribute coupons
· Invitation to attend an event (tradeshow, seminar etc.)
· Announce a special offer / sale
· Gain Email addresses/Opt-in campaign
· Clean house list (Update info page)
· Drive prospects to your website or redirect them to another website
· Drive traffic to a tradeshow booth to continue the 1:1 conversation started online
· Secure appointments
· Perform customer satisfaction surveys and marketing surveys
· Seminar/Event Registration
· Campaign testing (which performs better mail piece A, B, or C; which email performed better, etc)
· Increase retail traffic
· Product Announcements (can do several at one time, based on the data)
· Qualify leads (these are hot leads, no cold leads like other methods)
· CRM marketing integration (gain leads and then data is sent to CRM program for sales lead distribution or Database updating))
· Product Warranty registration
· Gain knowledge of customer behavior
· Increase sales conversion rates (this often happens as the lead is so hot after going through LWC)
· Increase marketing response rates (personalization in print and online increases results over traditional methods)
· Accurately track response rates and ROI in real time.
· Service Contract Renewals
· Academic/Alumni Recruiting and Campaigns
· The only way to deliver a cross media Flash Movie, now available with variable data in the movie!

Earl

Earl

With Netfire1to1 personalized URL campaigns you will be able to consistently EMPOWER your agents and sales representatives a TATICAL JUMP-START by enabling them to make timely and “WARM” calls to prospective customers…  You will be giving them the information and tools that will help them to convert these “ACTIVE” leads into real sales…

The opportunity to immediately give the sales team a lead 24/7 is an important part of our program.  You and your managers will be able to track and confirm any prospect or sale within the “Control Center”.  This enables the website to be fluid for immediate changes necessary to trouble shoot and make changes to make sure your campaign is a success.  We feel you need to EMPOWER your team for a true successful PURL campaign.  We believe in the definition of “empowerment” below is a very good example of what Netfire1to1 relationship marketing is about.

EMPOWERMENT

Definition

Management practice of sharing information, rewards, and power with employees so that they can take initiative and make decisions to solve problems and improve service and performance. It is based concept of giving employees the skills, resources, authority, opportunity, motivation, as well holding them responsible and accountable for outcomes of their actions.

Earl

2.    Make it Highly Relevant: Deliver the message that appears “natural” from the audience’s perspective. Offer compelling benefit exchange and appeal to their values.

3.    Make it Inescapable: Deliver the message by Postcards, by Landing Pages and by Emails. Nothing can replace the power of “Reach and Frequency”.

4.    Stake Out a Unique Competitive Position: The marketing campaign must be designed to reinforce the unique competitive position of your product. The messaging must be uniquely positioned in order to stands apart from the crowd.

5.    Extend the Brand: Project why your product or service offering is the best option over the alternatives.

6.    Make it Viral: Try to encourage recipients to help spread the word and reward them for making referrals that results in leads or conversions.

7.       Test, Optimize and Test Again: Version the campaigns as appropriate and track the responses. Fine-tune as needed on the fly and measure the results. Repeat as necessary.

Typically, the online experience begins with a Welcome page, followed by a Survey page, an Update profile page and finally, a Thank You page. I won’t dig deeper into the various features of these pages at this time but I do want to emphasize the importance of designing all the variable content (pictures and words) to keep your recipients motivated and engaged.

You want to make it feel like you are sitting across the table with them. Keep it simple and exciting so they will follow thru with complete confidence. If you make it a lengthy process you will lose them before they reach the Thank You page. We can help you with this process.

Earl

Typically, segmentation is conducted using demographic, geographic or behavioral data. Small segments are often termed niche markets or specialty markets. Keep in mind that the process of segmentation is distinct from targeting (choosing which segments to address) and positioning (designing an appropriate marketing mix for each segment).

The idea is to identify groups of similar customers, understand their behavior and respond with appropriate marketing strategies that satisfy the unique preferences of each chosen segment.

Improved segmentation can lead to significantly improved marketing effectiveness. This is why the ability to track and optimize a direct marketing content – such as the Campaign Control Center (included with Netfire1to1.com’s campaigns) – is an indispensable tool.  Innovative marketers willing to make a little extra effort in their campaigns stands to gain a lot more return on their investments. Success happens when you do the right things right.

Most PURL campaigns begins with a simple, personalized mailing piece designed to entice the recipients with timely and relevant messaging. The operative word here is “simple”. Just create a billboard to entice the prospect to their Personalized URL (website home page). Remember, the reason PURL works so well is because you can extend the life of the campaign online – where you have more opportunities to embellish your message, elaborate on details and personally interact with them. All your mailing piece needs to accomplish is to peak the recipient’s curiosity and get them to their personalized URL (Welcome page).

Next time I will help you to understand how to ENGAGE your prospect.

Earl

Businesses across all industries are realizing that traditional current mass marketing strategies and advertising campaigns are producing disappointing outcome and in many cases, resulting in an overwhelming deficit in their advertising and marketing expenditures. 

Increasing waves of consumers are embracing the Internet and making their purchasing decisions online. Businesses that are not adequately prepared to service their needs are losing their customers to those innovative competitors who are nurturing personalized customer relationships online.

Business managements need to understand that the key to success for today’s customer-driven marketplace is not just about getting leads, but more about managing those leads intelligently and consistently throughout the online and offline sales cycle. Bottom line? Results are clearly showing that those getting back to 1 to 1 relationship marketing are winning their rightful share of the new marketplace.

Discovery is an invaluable prerequisite for PURL Campaign Planning. The best way to draw up a successful blueprint for any campaign is to build it upon a sound knowledgebase. Before you start planning your PURL campaign strategy, I highly recommend that you begin by being as smart as possible. How? By conducting germane research and asking a lot of questions to learn as much as possible about the key factors affecting your campaign. Gather pertinent information regarding the business you are in, the current state of its industry, the competitive arena and perhaps most importantly, your marketplace. Who are you targeting? What are their expectations? Where and how are they making their purchasing decisions?

By anticipating your prospective customers’ needs, you can deliver relevant offerings and win their confidence. You’ll want to identify the “barriers” as well as the “enablers” of your campaign performance. I call this process “Discovery” and I consider it to be a mission critical component towards the development of successful PURL campaigns. Don’t be shy about asking as many questions as necessary until you are crystal clear of your starting point and the ultimate objective(s) you wish to achieve. Your clients or associates shouldn’t mind taking the time to answer your inquiries. After all, regardless of your campaign objective, the ultimate payoff is the return on your investment.