DIRECT MARKETING RESPONSE RATE

The key to determining the success of any direct marketing campaign is to determine the direct marketing response rate. The direct marketing response rate is simply defined at the proportion of people who responded to your direct mail offering. For example, if you mail 1,000 direct mail letters, and 10 people respond to the letter, your response rate is 1%, as 1% of those that received the letter responded.

Direct marketers are continuously seeking ways to streamline and increase their direct marketing response rates, making their campaigns more efficient.

One way in which they have streamlined their approach to increase their direct marketing response rate is through the use of emails.

As the popularity in eMarketing continues to increase, more direct marketers will continue to use the Web to increase their direct marketing response rate.

Popularity in the use of e-mails has increased because it is more cost efficient, it is easier to target a particular group and the results can be tracked and measured.

In order to measure the direct marketing response rate through e-mails two things are necessary: a clarification of terms and a definition of email marketing that will differentiate between e-mail acquisition and e-mail retention. How many e-mail addresses were actually gained? This is pertinent because once permission is gained from those who have shared their e-mail addresses, the result is generated sales leads. It will then be your responsibility as the direct marketer to develop a response mechanism to bump your direct marketing response rate to the next level, gaining sales, building customer base or maintaining customer satisfaction.

The key to successful e-mail marketing or generating direct marketing response rate via e-mail is not a platform built around collecting email addresses. It should be a strategically planned retention program of mailing e-newsletters, special promotions and products with the goal of turning prospects into customers.

The greatest challenge to generating direct marketing response rate via e-mail is the potential of e-mail overload. “Response rates are destined to fall because of saturation”, notes Larry Chase, publisher of the e-newsletter Web Digest for Marketers. “Your list, your offer, your creative [copy] have to be dead on. Otherwise, you’re not ignored – you’re deleted.” Enough said.