Midyear Ins and Outs
Trends and techniques have never moved more quickly in the direct mail industry than right NOW. Here’s a list of what’s growing and what’s not
June 1, 2009 by Crystal Uppercue
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Everybody reads those quirky "What's In/What's Out" lists that reappear in the media each year. This got me thinking about direct mail. As you know, effective direct marketing is an ever-bubbling pursuit that continually erupts with new ideas and technologies. As direct marketers, we keep a close watch on what's working-and what's working even better-for nonprofit and for-profit clients in a range of industries. Some techniques that enjoyed IN status last year are definitely on their way OUT in 2009, simply because new approaches and new technologies are achieving better results. Here are a few examples:
OUT: Postcard Blah.
IN: Postcard Wow!
With versioning, you drop in a name and address. With variable data printing, you drop in a name that counts (the recipient's) on top of a relevant image. You've gone from blah, blah, blah to rah, rah, rah!
As a direct marketer, you've probably used versioning to personalize addresses and salutations. Typically, versioning sheets are run in mass quantity off a commercial press and personalized later on a digital press. There was a period when versioning was pretty revolutionary. But over time, even with a Dear John, both we and our customers got bored with the notion that individuals on our list are merely part of a group, and every piece to every person looks the same.
Variable data printing has changed all that. With VDP, every piece of the message is a nomination for change: the image, the copy, the addressing, even locator maps.
OUT: PURL Plain
IN: PURL Punchy
Plain personalized URLs used to be fresh and interesting. Today a PURL alone won't necessarily pull. What's the twist? It's simply called putting the Personal and Playful in PURL, beyond using their name in the URL. If engaged in something that is both fun and perhaps related to their job function, then chances are better that they will respond.
For example, try a PURL that draws recipients to their personalized websites with an invitation to play a game or enter a sweepstakes. That's how the Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) got hefty PURL hits.
In 2008, GASC decided to apply sophisticated VDP technologies and PURLs in a comprehensive cross-media strategy to promote GRAPH EXPO 2008. Each prospective attendee received a distinctive 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" full-color postcard, personalized with name, address and first-name salutation. Further personalization included boldface copy that addressed the recipient according to his other interest area. A race car image on the postcard was dramatically individualized with the name of the recipient's company emblazoned on the hood.
The punchy kicker to the PURL? GASC offered PURL visitors a chance to win one of 13 possible free gasoline prizes, with $1,000 as the grand prize. To enter the drawing, recipients had to visit the PURL and complete a short survey. Nearly 218,000 personalized postcards with PURLs drove 2,857 respondents to the web (a 1.3 percent response). Upon landing, 2,476 of those respondents (86.6 percent) completed the survey.
OUT: Digital No-Coat
IN: Digital Coated
Which would you rather receive? A four-color postcard that looks "beat up" and scuffed or a four-color postcard that arrives shiny, spiffy and snazzy? That's the difference that UV coating can make to your postcard campaign.
Late last year, the Digital Printing Council reported on results of a survey conducted to find out how well a digitally produced postcard would survive the postal stream. The complete whitepaper is available at piamidam.org, but essentially, Printing and Imaging Association of MidAmerica found that four-color inks experience measurable marking from the U.S. Postal Service's barcode sorting equipment.
That's not a reason to eschew digital printing-far from it-but it is a reason to consider coating your digitally printed four-color piece. In fact, all vendors participating in the study agreed that coatings are the best way to achieve consistent, predictable results.
Application of an ultraviolet cured coating on top of ink makes sense. Yes, higher levels of gloss are a primary benefit of UV coating, but abrasion-resistance makes UV coating an even more popular choice, especially for direct marketers.
In short, self-mailers, like postcards, which are particularly exposed in the postal stream, get through the grind in much better condition when coated.
OUT: Discounts on Enhanced Carrier Routes
IN: Mingling and Palling Around
The once commonly used enhanced carrier route postage discount is yesterday's news. This discount at the basic level for letter-sized mail is now a more expensive rate than the automation barcode discounts and has less effect. Commingling and co-palletization are newer postal strategies that save big dollars.
Before volume mail goes to the post office, ideally it's sorted two ways. First, individual envelopes or carriers are sorted in ZIP code order and placed in plastic bins or "trays." That's commingling, and it allows senders with fewer pieces to get large-mailer automation discounts by jumping into the tray with other senders.
Second, trays containing letter-size (#10) presorted and prebundled envelopes with like ZIP codes are placed, in order, onto wooden platforms called "pallets." These pallets are then sent to bulk mail centers or sectional center facilities, where the post office-happy to have slashed its handling and distribution costs-grants a discount to the sender. That's co-palletization, and it allows senders to save between $33 and $44 per thousand, before processing and shipping fees are applied ($10 to $20 per thousand after application of processing and shipping fees).
Large mailers aren't the only beneficiaries of co-palletization. Much smaller mailers with as few as 5,000 pieces can achieve discounts for which they would not normally be eligible. So, if you're that small mailer with 5,000 pieces, figure you could save between $165 to $220 simply by directing your mail house to "co-pal."
OUT: Bangtails
IN: Transpromotional Tales
The mail has arrived. What do you open first? If you're like most people, the answer is bills, invoices, pay slips, statements, shipping manifests, even event tickets-those familiar "transactional" documents you've come to recognize and prioritize.
Inside that familiar envelope, you know what to expect: an invoice, maybe, along with a "bangtail" payment envelope featuring a four-color generic advertisement that you'll need to tear off before you can seal the return envelope. If your mailer is in the forefront of direct marketing practices though, that package may have evolved from the bangtail to "transpromo."
Transpromo results can be impressive. For example, last December, Best Western implemented a campaign to sell its own branded credit card. In the transpromo pilot, previous inserts were replaced with personalized and targeted promotions printed on quarterly rewards statements. The first 50,000 rewards-card members became the control group, with another 50,000 receiving the transpromo communications test. Applications for the Best Western credit card, among the test group receiving the transpromo statement, were boosted by 500 percent, and 15 percent more of these guests registered for the "More Rewards, Faster" program. More than one-third of those who went on to stay in a Best Western location stayed longer and generated 30 percent more in incremental revenue during their stays.
But big business need not be the only transpromo winner, says InfoTrends Group Director Barbara Pellow. InfoTrends calculates that 2.9 million small businesses-doctors, dentists, church groups, credit unions, lawn care specialists-belong to the midmarket niche for transpromotional services. Pellow encourages midsize organizations to entrust transpromo tests to digitally equipped commercial printers that they already work with and trust.
OUT: Men and Moms
IN: Grumpy Old Men and Blogging Moms
The male 50+ age demographic, nicknamed "Grumpy Old Men" by some demographic gurus, represents a formidable target for direct marketers ... as do mothers who blog while juggling careers, relationships and parenthood ... and Gen Yers who upload their pictures to web-sharing sites only on a Friday when the moon is full. The seemingly infinite permutations of cohorts who can be sliced and diced from your master list present both a challenge and an opportunity.
Call it database segmentation in the era of social fragmentation. Direct marketers need to be aware of the peculiarities of these and other groups as they present their goods and services to the general public during these tough economic times. But there's good news. Direct marketers who are attuned to the characteristics of various segments in their databases have a great opportunity to make their cases in 2009.
Importantly, with variable data applications, everything can be customized: color, font, font style, copy and-most significantly-images. PODi has produced some impressive statistics to demonstrate the power of variable data printing. But improved response rates do not magically occur when personalization is used. The critical factor is the offer and how relevant it is to the recipient. What personalization provides is the opportunity to make an offer that is more likely to be relevant because it is tailored to the perceived needs of the individual customer: folks like grumpy old men, blogging moms and race car enthusiasts, for example.
Crystal Uppercue is marketing manager at EU Services, a 400-person, full-service direct marketing production facility in Rockville, Md. EU Services helps direct marketing managers plan, produce, perfect and deliver cutting-edge cross-media marketing campaigns that incorporate variable data-printed direct mail, e-mail and personalized landing pages. Contact (800) 230-3362 or cuppercue@euservices.com.
OUT: Postcard Blah.
IN: Postcard Wow!
With versioning, you drop in a name and address. With variable data printing, you drop in a name that counts (the recipient's) on top of a relevant image. You've gone from blah, blah, blah to rah, rah, rah!
As a direct marketer, you've probably used versioning to personalize addresses and salutations. Typically, versioning sheets are run in mass quantity off a commercial press and personalized later on a digital press. There was a period when versioning was pretty revolutionary. But over time, even with a Dear John, both we and our customers got bored with the notion that individuals on our list are merely part of a group, and every piece to every person looks the same.
Variable data printing has changed all that. With VDP, every piece of the message is a nomination for change: the image, the copy, the addressing, even locator maps.
OUT: PURL Plain
IN: PURL Punchy
Plain personalized URLs used to be fresh and interesting. Today a PURL alone won't necessarily pull. What's the twist? It's simply called putting the Personal and Playful in PURL, beyond using their name in the URL. If engaged in something that is both fun and perhaps related to their job function, then chances are better that they will respond.
For example, try a PURL that draws recipients to their personalized websites with an invitation to play a game or enter a sweepstakes. That's how the Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) got hefty PURL hits.
In 2008, GASC decided to apply sophisticated VDP technologies and PURLs in a comprehensive cross-media strategy to promote GRAPH EXPO 2008. Each prospective attendee received a distinctive 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" full-color postcard, personalized with name, address and first-name salutation. Further personalization included boldface copy that addressed the recipient according to his other interest area. A race car image on the postcard was dramatically individualized with the name of the recipient's company emblazoned on the hood.
The punchy kicker to the PURL? GASC offered PURL visitors a chance to win one of 13 possible free gasoline prizes, with $1,000 as the grand prize. To enter the drawing, recipients had to visit the PURL and complete a short survey. Nearly 218,000 personalized postcards with PURLs drove 2,857 respondents to the web (a 1.3 percent response). Upon landing, 2,476 of those respondents (86.6 percent) completed the survey.
OUT: Digital No-Coat
IN: Digital Coated
Which would you rather receive? A four-color postcard that looks "beat up" and scuffed or a four-color postcard that arrives shiny, spiffy and snazzy? That's the difference that UV coating can make to your postcard campaign.
Late last year, the Digital Printing Council reported on results of a survey conducted to find out how well a digitally produced postcard would survive the postal stream. The complete whitepaper is available at piamidam.org, but essentially, Printing and Imaging Association of MidAmerica found that four-color inks experience measurable marking from the U.S. Postal Service's barcode sorting equipment.
That's not a reason to eschew digital printing-far from it-but it is a reason to consider coating your digitally printed four-color piece. In fact, all vendors participating in the study agreed that coatings are the best way to achieve consistent, predictable results.
Application of an ultraviolet cured coating on top of ink makes sense. Yes, higher levels of gloss are a primary benefit of UV coating, but abrasion-resistance makes UV coating an even more popular choice, especially for direct marketers.
In short, self-mailers, like postcards, which are particularly exposed in the postal stream, get through the grind in much better condition when coated.
OUT: Discounts on Enhanced Carrier Routes
IN: Mingling and Palling Around
The once commonly used enhanced carrier route postage discount is yesterday's news. This discount at the basic level for letter-sized mail is now a more expensive rate than the automation barcode discounts and has less effect. Commingling and co-palletization are newer postal strategies that save big dollars.
Before volume mail goes to the post office, ideally it's sorted two ways. First, individual envelopes or carriers are sorted in ZIP code order and placed in plastic bins or "trays." That's commingling, and it allows senders with fewer pieces to get large-mailer automation discounts by jumping into the tray with other senders.
Second, trays containing letter-size (#10) presorted and prebundled envelopes with like ZIP codes are placed, in order, onto wooden platforms called "pallets." These pallets are then sent to bulk mail centers or sectional center facilities, where the post office-happy to have slashed its handling and distribution costs-grants a discount to the sender. That's co-palletization, and it allows senders to save between $33 and $44 per thousand, before processing and shipping fees are applied ($10 to $20 per thousand after application of processing and shipping fees).
Large mailers aren't the only beneficiaries of co-palletization. Much smaller mailers with as few as 5,000 pieces can achieve discounts for which they would not normally be eligible. So, if you're that small mailer with 5,000 pieces, figure you could save between $165 to $220 simply by directing your mail house to "co-pal."
OUT: Bangtails
IN: Transpromotional Tales
The mail has arrived. What do you open first? If you're like most people, the answer is bills, invoices, pay slips, statements, shipping manifests, even event tickets-those familiar "transactional" documents you've come to recognize and prioritize.
Inside that familiar envelope, you know what to expect: an invoice, maybe, along with a "bangtail" payment envelope featuring a four-color generic advertisement that you'll need to tear off before you can seal the return envelope. If your mailer is in the forefront of direct marketing practices though, that package may have evolved from the bangtail to "transpromo."
Transpromo results can be impressive. For example, last December, Best Western implemented a campaign to sell its own branded credit card. In the transpromo pilot, previous inserts were replaced with personalized and targeted promotions printed on quarterly rewards statements. The first 50,000 rewards-card members became the control group, with another 50,000 receiving the transpromo communications test. Applications for the Best Western credit card, among the test group receiving the transpromo statement, were boosted by 500 percent, and 15 percent more of these guests registered for the "More Rewards, Faster" program. More than one-third of those who went on to stay in a Best Western location stayed longer and generated 30 percent more in incremental revenue during their stays.
But big business need not be the only transpromo winner, says InfoTrends Group Director Barbara Pellow. InfoTrends calculates that 2.9 million small businesses-doctors, dentists, church groups, credit unions, lawn care specialists-belong to the midmarket niche for transpromotional services. Pellow encourages midsize organizations to entrust transpromo tests to digitally equipped commercial printers that they already work with and trust.
OUT: Men and Moms
IN: Grumpy Old Men and Blogging Moms
The male 50+ age demographic, nicknamed "Grumpy Old Men" by some demographic gurus, represents a formidable target for direct marketers ... as do mothers who blog while juggling careers, relationships and parenthood ... and Gen Yers who upload their pictures to web-sharing sites only on a Friday when the moon is full. The seemingly infinite permutations of cohorts who can be sliced and diced from your master list present both a challenge and an opportunity.
Call it database segmentation in the era of social fragmentation. Direct marketers need to be aware of the peculiarities of these and other groups as they present their goods and services to the general public during these tough economic times. But there's good news. Direct marketers who are attuned to the characteristics of various segments in their databases have a great opportunity to make their cases in 2009.
Importantly, with variable data applications, everything can be customized: color, font, font style, copy and-most significantly-images. PODi has produced some impressive statistics to demonstrate the power of variable data printing. But improved response rates do not magically occur when personalization is used. The critical factor is the offer and how relevant it is to the recipient. What personalization provides is the opportunity to make an offer that is more likely to be relevant because it is tailored to the perceived needs of the individual customer: folks like grumpy old men, blogging moms and race car enthusiasts, for example.
Crystal Uppercue is marketing manager at EU Services, a 400-person, full-service direct marketing production facility in Rockville, Md. EU Services helps direct marketing managers plan, produce, perfect and deliver cutting-edge cross-media marketing campaigns that incorporate variable data-printed direct mail, e-mail and personalized landing pages. Contact (800) 230-3362 or cuppercue@euservices.com.
Companies Mentioned:
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