But at the same time, the new year is almost upon us and it seems as though the bleeding has at least been slowed and a blank canvas awaits you for the coming year.
In these challenging times, maybe the traditional brushstrokes you have been using in the past could use some additional creativity to take your work to the next level.
Your first thought might be…”But Matt, budgets for the coming year are going to be stretched more than ever…how are we supposed to be more creative with less resources?”
Glad you asked. Here is how. Be smarter. Make those budget dollars work harder for you.
Specifically, if you are not evaluating the Return On Investment (ROI) for your direct mail programs by using a Cost Per Response (CPR) method, then you should be.
The goal of any marketing campaign is to get responses. Whether these responses result in purchases for businesses or gifts for not-for-profits, the desired response is what you are ultimately paying for with direct mail campaigns.
So it should make perfect sense that the proper parameter for measuring the cost of a direct mail campaign is the Cost Per Response, or cost per dollar raised in this case. It needs to be a results-oriented measurement or you are just spending without ever knowing what you are getting back for your money.
Here is an example with simple numbers of how direct mail has traditionally performed…
50,000-piece mailing @ $0.50 each = $25,000.
0.8% response rate = 400 new donors
Average Gift @ $40 = $16,000 Revenue
Net for Campaign: $9,000 loss
Cost per Response = $22.50 each
From this example, we can see that the end result is a net loss for the mailing campaign. Ask yourself this...if you knew that you were going to lose $9,000 before you did the mailing, would you still want to do it?
Maybe…but you would obviously want to achieve a net positive gain for the campaign. Here is how you can do it…INCREASE YOUR RESPONSE RATE!
Ok Matt…big “duh” on that one. No kidding. But how do we do that?
It’s not as hard as you may think. There are products and technologies out there that are proven to increase response rates by over 300%. When these technologies are applied creatively, they can be very powerful.
One such application is Personalized Imagery. With this process, fonts are created and incorporated into the image. These fonts are then used to personalize the piece to an extraordinary level. The end result is a direct mail piece completely customized and uniquely relevant to the recipient.
I am showing two sample applications for you to see here. The first is an Admissions piece that is highly personalized in 3 different locations within the image.
The car's license plate has the recipient's name on the personalized plate...the window sticker in the hatchback window is the recipient's high school and the road sign reflects how far it is from the recipient's home town to the college.
The Advancement piece was created from a picture taken during an actual football game and the scoreboard was digitally enhanced to feature the recipient's name as if it was displayed on the scoreboard during the game.
These are just two examples of how Personalized Imagery can be developed for your direct mail campaigns.
Lets look at what could happen to your ROI with this kind of personalization.
For this example, we will examine a more targeted audience and cut the volume in half to 25,000. The cost per piece will be a bit more expensive but the resulting lift will more than make up for that.
25,000-piece mailing @ $0.82 each = $20,500.
3.0% response = 750 new donors (at a 329% lift)
Average Gift @ $40 = $30,000 Revenue
Net: $ 9,500 gain
Cost per Response = $(12.66)
You more than covered the cost of the mailing with your net result. There is a very measurable $18,500 swing in your favor!
Bottom line...if you want to get the attention of someone you know in a crowded and noisy room, you don't shout out "Hey You!" You use that person's name to get their attention.
Mailboxes today (both physical and electronic) are a "crowded and noisy room". You need to get personal to get someone's attention.
Personalized Imagery is a great way to do just that. It can be just the answer for your Direct Mail and the CPR your ROI needs!
Let me know what you think...
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