DUKKY

This post was written by Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer, and is part of a series of green printing tips originally published on the Eco-libris blog. It is reprinted here with permission.

In the post, Greg talks about the dramatic impact personalization can have on response rates, and how the power of personalization can be used to create greener direct mail campaigns.  Dukky’s personal, PURL-based campaigns are an effective way to achieve the increased response rates Greg discusses below.

Direct mailing is considered by many a very not sustainable marketing channel, as it can be very wasteful and have a significant carbon footprint, while at the same time it often generates poor results. Today, in a tip dedicated to the Hopenhagen campaign, Greg is offering another option that combines greater effectiveness and a reduced carbon footprint.

What can we do to reduce the carbon footprint of direct mailing campaigns?

I attended a sustainable meeting at NYU last week and came away with a few good Green tips on direct marketing – how to make it effective and minimize its footprint at the same time.

There is no secret here and it’s actually quite simple – if you look at your clients and really decide to target what it is they really want, you can create a direct mail program that will give you better results, be environmental, and save trees, paper, energy, water and money.

First step: Make your list of names targeted to these best clients, or the ones that can do you the most. Look at their history of their buying. What did they buy, and when did they buy, and how much did they spend? Make a new print campaign that targets those wants and desires.

It’s all about personalizing your marketing. Personalize by name, products, time frame, and do a mailing that might be 20% of your present mailing list, but targeted to their past history of buying.

Second step: Even though you already eliminate waste by sending this printing only to past customers, don’t forget to use 100% recycled paper that is 100% processed chlorine free for the materials you’re sending.

Third step: You can also an email to this targeted audience on a second run, that will not only help you to minimize your campaign’s footprint, but can also be an helpful tool to estimate the effectiveness of your campaign and even further personalize your database for future campaigns.

Personalized marketing brings in 5 times better results. One telecommunications company I saw the results of, did a 49 per cent return by doing their homework. They knew the people they mailed to were ready for an upgrade. They showed a picture of what the present phone was, of each recipient, and then showed 3 new models that might interest that client. They also showed the nearest store to each person they mailed to.

The national average for sucessful responses is under 1%, and the company I am referring to, had a 49% response rate. They mailed to a fraction of their names, but did so well that the fullfillment department asked that the program be stopped until they caught up.

So, this firm not only made good business and prsented impressive ROI (return on investment) but saved trees, paper, water, and the carbon footprint was reduced for the people they sent to, by telling them where the nearest store was.

For additional information, please call Greg Barber at (973) 224-1132, or email greg@gregbarberco.com.