Striking a Balance Between E-Mail and Traditional Direct Marketing

by Steve Trollinger

E-mail is a good tool for supplementing traditional direct mail contact strategies. Used precisely, e-mail marketing has a place in the overall marketing mix. Traditional direct mail also plays an essential role in new customer acquisition and customer communication.

As the trend toward cheaper, faster technology and greater acceptance of e-commerce ordering converges with the increasing costs of traditional direct mail, marketers are reconsidering the way they communicate with customers and prospects.

Many are replacing traditional direct mail with e-mail and online commerce. The pros of e-mail include immediate feedback for testing offers and messages, low implementation costs, high track-ability and tightly defined targeting opportunities. And with the expansion of broadband connectivity, practically everyone can receive HTML e-mail.

But e-mail isn’t the perfect answer. Spam blockers and mail filters make delivery to end users difficult, e-mail is far more regulated for privacy than direct mail and the medium is ineffective for acquiring new customers.

Traditional direct mail, on the other hand, is a tested, proven and highly effective marketing method. It’s still the king for customer acquisition and selling that requires a longer message and compelling graphics. Historically prospects are more responsive to traditional direct mail with its ability to tell a story, present an offer and drive an immediate action—even if that action is a Web purchase or in formation request.

Plus, mail must be dealt with. Even if the prospect stands over the trashcan, she must read the envelope before tossing it. But e-mail that’s not stopped by filters can be clicked away before the prospect reads the subject line.

So when should you consider each type of marketing? E-mail is a good tool for supplementing traditional direct mail contact strategies. Customers generally respond at significantly higher rates to e-mail campaigns than prospects, particularly if the offer is relevant and timely.

E-mails that support direct mail campaigns do very well. If your mailing includes an offer that expires in six weeks, an e-mail campaign that touts the end of the offer in 72 hours, 48 hours and 24 hours can be effective. By the way, experience tells us roughly 95 percent of the response to an email campaign will come in the first 72 hours.

These proven techniques will further the effectiveness of e-mail marketing:

First, present a variety of offers and price points. If your goal is to get a sale, make the offer clear and immediate and show product. For example, through testing we’ve discovered that the optimal number of product/offer presentations is five and seven. That could be four products plus a special offer. Multiple products or offers are effective for presenting choice to customers and showing that you have several categories and price points.

Second, test subject lines and offers. Either can make or break a campaign. The rules of testing mirror those of traditional direct mail: test the “big things” first and learn what you need to know, not what would be nice to know.

Third, segment your e-mail file just as you would your direct mail file. Using recency, frequency, monetary and purchase channel data to break your e-mail file into manageable “buckets” will give you flexibility for targeting offers and managing overall contact strategy. Just mailing the entire file in one broad sweep is not targeting—it’s whitewashing your customer list.

Finally, measure everything. Just because e-mail is cheap, don’t overdo it. Test and measure how e-mail is enhancing your existing direct mail efforts. If e-mail hurts your offline marketing (through order cannibalization or lower average order values), reconsider its role and re-evaluate the overall contact mix to make the greatest impact with the smallest spend.

Used precisely, e-mail marketing has a place in the overall marketing mix. Traditional direct mail, in spite of rising costs, also plays an essential role in new customer acquisition and customer communication. Together they offer today’s direct marketers multiple options for efficiently growing and managing their businesses

Steve Trollinger is executive vice president for J. Schmid & Assoc. Inc., Mission, Kan. and is also the current president of the Kansas City Direct Marketing Association. He can be reached at 913- 236-8988 or stevet@jschmid.com.