Page 181 - SKU-000506274_TEXT.indd

n Will the message reach the decision-maker?
n Is the timing right for this offer to this customer?
n Will he or she read it?
n Is the opening compelling?
n Is the offer right?
n Is the letter creative without being gimmicky?
n Is there clear evidence that we can deliver all that we promise?
n Is the response mechanism easy to use?
n Is it easy to buy?
n Are all contact details in place and accurate?

Case studies and research

Research has shown that there are ways to raise low response rates to
direct mail as direct mail, whether dispatched electronically or in an enve-
lope remains important to most businesses. Post-September 11 and the
“anthrax through the mail” scares that followed, e-mail marketing has
grown in the USA by more than 60 per cent a month. Where the USA is
today the rest of the world will be tomorrow, for the simple competitive
reason that if the USA gains savings the rest of the world is forced to try
to do as much if not more. So we will all have to look with a new eye at what
has been achieved in the past. We will not only have to draw lessons from
what is, but raise the question of what may be, for the probability is that
what may be will be.

Take a look at the case study and research findings outlined below to
identify the key questions that, given your business realities and the mar-
kets in which you operate, will deliver a higher level of more profitable
business most quickly and most economically.

mini case study

research – the American Marketing Association

The American Marketing Association conducted an experiment some years ago.
Identical mailings were sent to carefully targeted groups that were equal in size and
potential experimental and control groups. The control group received the mailing in
the normal way. The experimental group was sent the same promotional material but
it was preceded by a telephone call to the recipient with the objective of persuading
him/her to look out for it. (The call was generally made by a member of the opposite
sex from that of the recipient. The near compulsion of keeping a promise to a member
of the opposite sex is strong in most of us.)

150 Key management questions