So you’ve started personalizing your direct mail campaigns. But how do you know if your efforts are effective? Are you using the right data points? Sending the right offers to the right people? Even if your sales are going up, do you know if they are going up as much as they could be or are your offers hurting your margin?
This is where testing comes in.
Take image personalization, for example. For some campaigns, swapping out demographic images might have little or no impact on results. If you are marketing retail products that are purchased on an ongoing basis, putting images of the last item they purchased could make a real impact. Or, include images of items that could be a logical purchase based on previous behavior.
If you are used to sending 50,000 pieces at a time, consider testing 2-3 messages, offers or list options. You want to know things like . . .
- Which variables increase the response rate? If so, by how much?
- What impact does each of the offers have on response, ROI and margin?
- Would other options, like putting a map of the nearest store increase visits?
These are kinds of questions you want the answers to.
The best testing occurs within the same program rather than comparing to previous programs. Timing, economic conditions, seasonal variation can impact results
