The U.S. Postal Service is proposing a campaign in which it offers a refund to companies if their direct-mail advertising efforts are not successful. If it goes through with the proposal, the offer would be a chance for marketers to revisit the link between offline and online ad campaigns and how well they intersect and play off of each other.
The proposed test would be called Mail Works Guarantee, The AP reports (via Google) and 16 companies would participate. The Postal Regulatory Commission has to approve the test first. These 16 firms would spend at least $250 million a year on advertising, but have a limited direct mail spend.
Assuming the Post Office is right with its premise - direct mail does pay greater dividends for companies than realized - marketers will have new considerations as they plan budgets: namely, a better coordination between direct and internet marketing to take as much advantage as possible between both channels. There is some correlation, although few studies - as the US Post Office with its test proposal illustrates - capture it.
A client of Experian wanted to determine just how significant an impact catalogs - a direct mail staple if there ever was one - were having on its sales. Experian analyzed the online and retail orders, attributing them to the appropriate catalog mailings. It determined that internet orders generated an additional 34 cents per book and retailer orders, an additional 64 cents per book - for a total multichannel impact of $1.99 per book, justifying catalog circulation.
A white paper from Experian supports this finding, that catalogs can have cross-channel appeal, despite the strong growth of the internet marketing channel (via MarketingCharts). Catalogs can drive more online business because they are constant reminders, Experian said.
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There are more direct links as well, such as the use of 2D barcodes on direct mail that further engage recipients. The codes are increasingly being used in prints ads and direct mail pieces to get smartphone users to scan them to receive additional product content, according to B2B Online. "The opportunity is great to move people from one world [print] to the other [online], and also to move people further down the purchase decision path," Roger Marquis, editor of 2D Barcode Strategy told the publication. "You're taking a pure prospect and inching them ever closer to becoming an actual client."
