By Erwin Busselot, Director, Business Innovation & Solutions, Ricoh Graphic Communications, Ricoh Europe
“Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not so,” was reportedly said by Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer Galileo Galilei.
This is something marketers have been striving to achieve. They have been looking to identify which communications route is the most effective for the highest Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI).
JICMAIL, the British Joint Industry Committee for Mail that delivers industry standard audience measurement data for for advertising mail and door drops, has made the measurement of print as a marketing channel easier. It has developed a new set of data that will allow agencies to benchmark campaigns.
Its new Response Rate Tracker report is a pilot, proof of concept, study designed to provide benchmark data for pitching, planning, or evaluating a mail campaign.
It assessed how responsive consumers are to retention vs acquisition based marketing strategies with mail. Over one thousand campaigns were reviewed. Initial findings reported an average warm mailing response rate benchmark of 10.9% (retention) and a cold mailing benchmark of 1% (acquisition).
The results highlighted the value of speaking to current customers in the mail channel. This is especially so when the ability to target using third party cookies is waning in an era of heightened privacy compliance.
However, JICMAIL did warn practitioners of simply regarding warm mail as a more effective channel than cold mail. It stated that no brand grows without acquiring new customers, and a 1% response rate of cold mail compares favourably to other channels. It stated a blend of warm and cold is therefore critical to success.
Customer acquisition costs have increased an estimated 60% in the last five years. Impacting this is tighter privacy rules established across the world, Apple’s iOS 14.5 update enabling iPhone users to opt out of tracking from apps like Facebook and Instagram, and the demise of third-party cookies.
Statista figures show as of August 2020, getting mobile app users to subscribe had the highest average acquisition cost in EMEA at USD 69.44, compared to USD 64.27 in North America. Encouraging users to make an in-app purchase was USD 42.15 in EMEA compared to USD 74.68 in North America. Email’s cost per acquisition is reportedly USD 22.52 and direct mail’s cost per acquisition is USD 43.90.
According to Great Britain’s Marketreach, direct mail engagement rates achieve a highly impressive 94%. Plus 31% of direct mail drives commercial actions like going online and making a purchase. 87% of customers rated messages delivered by mail as believable, compared to 48% for email. Marketreach also reported that in Q1 2022, mail volumes reached their highest level since Q1 2020, and volume growth was 30% in the 12 months to March 2022, showing clear signs of advertiser confidence in direct mail.
There are numerous ways direct mail, produced using digital high speed inkjet and toner technologies, can be designed to make a memorable impact.
They include individualised data and tailored content managed by FusionPro software that combines customer data with pre-defined templates for dynamic marketing applications. There is also attention grabbing, tactile design with Digital Print Enhancement and vibrant colours and finishes.
The possibilities with print are limited only by imagination and with such strong response rates it is proving to be a medium that gets increasingly measurable results.
www.ricoh-europe.com
