Print
Each day, there are over 3.4 billion touchpoints for every consumer in the world, encompassing the ways contact is made by a brand, which can include, emails, direct mail, advertising, and beyond. This is a figure that has more than doubled in just five years!
When strategically approaching your marketing campaigns, do you wonder what the right communication mix is today to reach your members and maximize your return on marketing investment?
The data doesn’t lie: It takes multiple touchpoints to ensure your message is received and read. Think about how you consume marketing that you receive. Do you notice a piece that stands out in your mail pile sitting on your desk? Is it signage that you see out and about during your day? Or is it a catchy subject line that stands out in your email?
Members and consumers at large receive a lot of messages from many organizations. The key is making sure they see your message at least once and that it stands out from the competition.
Mixing Media: The Secret Sauce
Based on their work with credit unions of all member and asset sizes coast-to-coast, the Synergent Marketing Services team has concluded that sending both email and direct mail is the winning combination. Their data analysis revealed the following:
- Email only campaigns – 0.85% average conversion rate
- Direct mail only campaigns – 1.49% average conversion rate
- Direct mail and email combo campaigns – 2.05% average conversion rate
“We have the unique benefit of being able to analyze the success of the campaigns we work with credit unions on and can clearly see what works,” explained Jennifer Braziel, Data Mining Specialist III at Synergent. “To put our data summary into another perspective, combining direct mail and email in marketing campaigns is 141% more successful than email on its own and 38% more successful than direct mail on its own.”
The best performing, award-winning campaigns include a combination of email and direct mail elements at a minimum. Digital advertising, social media posts, in-branch signage, statements, and your website are a few other channels that also could be considered depending on how broad your audience is and what you’re offering.
“Nearly all campaigns we collaborate with partner credit unions on minimally include email and direct mail elements leveraged together,” stated Doug MacDonald, Vice President of Marketing Services at Synergent. “This effective combination continues to drive increased, measurable results and improved return on marketing investments. Campaign results speak for themselves: deploying these direct–to-member tactics in tandem yield higher response rates from members, translating into increased results and profits for credit unions.”
What Works
When looking at email or direct mail, each medium has their own strengths:
- The recipient spends more time looking at direct mail.
- Direct mail can include elements such as PURL’s and QR codes connecting it to the digital campaign.
- Size, style, and format options for print pieces are endless.
- There is no material cost when sending an email.
- Email can be A/B tested to deliver the strongest version of your message to the widest audience.
- Your website and other digital campaign elements can be linked to your email, making more information just a click away.
- Digital elements can be most easily tracked and reported.
Demystifying the Marketing Magic
There is no “one size fits all” when putting together any marketing campaign, but the process can be simplified. The creative elements should connect across channels, making your campaign easily recognizable, regardless of the delivery method. And get back to the basics of Marketing 101 with the 40/40/20 Rule: 40% of campaign success comes from your targeted list, 40% from the offer itself, and 20% from your creative elements (artwork and content).
The timing of the pieces depends on the specifics of your campaign. Deciding whether to send the email first, the print piece, or letting them fly at the same time depends on what your credit union is offering and who you are targeting:
- Are you trying to generate leads using emails you’ve acquired from a recent conference that your credit union presented at? With prospects, you may wish to start with email, reserving direct mail as a conversion tool.
- Are you trying to send an offer to your loyal, long-term members? Print may be the place to start, connecting the piece to digital channels with a follow-up email.
- Onboarding new members? This may provide you with an opportunity to establish their preferred communication methods from the start and to target accordingly as you build the relationship with this member.
Get Started on Your Next Winning Marketing Campaign
When getting started on any targeted marketing campaign, Synergent recommends taking the following steps:
- Set Your Goal. Always start by answering: What is the goal?
- Follow the Data. Expert analysis of your member or prospect data is the cornerstone of every successful marketing campaign. Be sure you understand your audience to segment appropriately.
- Leverage Your Data. A properly executed Transactional Data Mining campaign that incorporates multichannel marketing can be implemented regularly (quarterly or semi-annually), then repeated to more closely target your audience to achieve specific goals.
- Have a Compelling Offer. Even if the marketing campaign is perfectly executed, if the member doesn’t benefit from the offer, the campaign will not be successful. The offer has to be the right offer, for the right member, at the right time.
- Be Consistent. Ensure that no matter what your member is looking at – email, direct mail, your website – it looks and feels like your credit union. Your voice and brand identity are important to provide a positive member experience.
- Learn From Your Results. Analyze the results of every campaign and learn from them. The more campaigns you do, the more you can analyze and learn, and the better you get at it.
Contact us today to get started on your next campaign.
