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If you’re able to implement a separate landing page or PURLs as suggested in the last post of this series, you likely have the resources to generate tools like coupon codes if you use an e-commerce page for sales. This goes a level deeper, as it doesn’t just keep tabs on your traffic, but the actual sales your direct mail campaign has generated. Putting both of these tactics into practices will provide you valuable data regarding how many potential customers your campaigned generated, as well as the total number of real purchases that were made. Talk about easy ROI calculation!
Coupon Codes
Again, coupon codes are easily the simplest ROI calculation tool if your website has an e-commerce page. If you run a promotion using coupon codes, keep two things in mind: First, provide a valuable offer in conjunction with your code. If you already give 10% off on a frequent basis, your customers won’t think it’s special when you offer it for the 74th time. Try a more generous discount, or better yet, something FREE! Secondly, make your coupon code easy to remember, and keep the future in mind when you’re giving your code a name. If you’re having a spring sale, and plan on doing so every spring, name this campaign code “SPRING11”. (Then next year, you can use “SPRING12”. Makes sense, right?)
Passwords
If you have a website, but don’t use it to sell your products or services [yet], you can still use your direct mail to generate web traffic, which can in turn generate sales! If you’ve decided your campaign will have this dual purpose, try putting a “password” in an area of your website where you manage the content—like your blog perhaps? This will prompt recipients to go visit your site (where you can track visits to the page that holds your password), and those that want to purchase will use the password to redeem your offer. If you conduct sales by phone or in person, customers can simply mention your password at the time of purchase!
Whether you make sales by phone, in person, or online, these are a couple of the simplest, most straight-forward ways to measure your website traffic and ROI from direct mail campaigns. What other tricks have you used to gauge website traffic from direct mail? We’d love to hear from your experience!
MaKenzie is Bluewater's Marketing Community Manager. Spending several years in sales and marketing roles at a franchise level, MaKenzie has a unique appreciation for successful local campaigns. In her spare time, MaKenzie sings for the popular Twin Cities' cover band, FlashMob! She can always be found near good food, in Minneapolis eateries or her own kitchen.
