Revving up Direct Mail
Objective: Increase showroom pre-scheduled appointments to
reach month end goals. Challenge: Existing media channels have been driving a varying number of leads on a monthly basis. The Auto Dealership wanted to set a monthly goal of pre-scheduled appointments to increase monthly auto sales.
Strategy: ADS Data Direct examined existing marketing efforts, and determined a digital multichannel approach coordinated
across email, direct mail and digital display ads. The data selected would be enhanced with Black BookTM valuations for trade in value.
Implementation: ADS selected 25,000 records of consumers in the market to purchase a car. The data was selected based on the existing makes and models of current ownership. The data was matched with Black BookTM valuations to let the consumer know what the value of their trade-in would be. The offer was an invitation to set a pre-scheduled appointment for a $500 off coupon. The data was divided into 5 strategic groups of 5000
records:
• Control-targeted consumers, no Black BookTM valuations, direct mail only
• Valuations-data appended with valuations, direct mail only
• Multi-data appended w/valuations, direct mail with an email alert prior to the mail drop
• Pre-Targeting-data appended w/valuations, direct mail, email alert, and Pre-targeted digital display ads with 50 displays to each consumer
• Re-Targeting-data appended w/valuations, direct mail, email alert, Pre-targeted digital display ads-50 each, & retargeting to email openers/clickers, 50 displays each
Matching Data
Multichannel marketing campaigns must now have the ability to include ad network targeting as part of its definition. Digital Display ads are treated as untouchable stand-alone consumer engagement vehicles. We have demonstrated that consumer engagement must come from a multi touch approach. As marketers we cannot assume mass display ads will support Direct to Consumer marketing or assume that Direct Mail, TV, Radio, Print and Email marketing doesn’t support Display Ads. The key to using all these elements effectively is Data. Data allows us to reach the consumer online, on their mobile devices and tablets, in their inboxes and at their mailboxes at a super targeted level. By having matching cookies, email and postal names tied back to demographic data we can take large demographic pools and identify consumers who have a Marketable Interest in your client’s products or services. Results have shown consistent increases in response rates for Direct Mail and Email campaigns when combined with Digital Display Ads, by 20- 36%. Millennials respond to Direct Mail better once they have been engaged by online by ad impressions. Both Gen X/Y and Baby Boomers traditionally respond stronger to Direct Mail; but when combined with matching display, results jump, thus costs per leads are reaching all-time lows. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of Data driving results that utilizes matching Email, Direct Mail, and Digital Display Ads, as the future of Direct to Consumer Marketing.Results:
Each data set generated online and phone in appointments. Our data performed above competitive lists for direct mail; however, when we added in the 4 additional data segments, the data outperformed all expectations. By adding the Black BookTM valuations to the data, consumers had a personalized experience. Our data improved twice as much as our data without the valuations. By adding in the email campaign to the direct mail, the response for booked appointments increased by nearly 26%. By incorporating the digital display ads to the matching email and postal records with the valuations, we generated an additional 65% more leads, and 60% of the new leads were from young professionals 24-29 years of age. The Re-targeting to the openers of the email allowed consumers the final impressions to generate an increase of 19.6%! Overall we delivered over 4.4 times more scheduled appointments than just direct mail alone. The attended appointments were 6 times better than just standard direct mail alone.
The overall response rates to the emails and digital display ads far exceed industry averages. The number of impressions through utilizing all the channels available delivered a stronger response rate than standalone marketing.
