UK eye-tracking service to measure response to direct mail
Customers of Royal Mail are being offered the chance to subscribe to a new service that will track how consumer eyes respond to their direct mail. The service follows on from a study launched last year by Royal Mail and London-based research firm EyeTracker Ltd, which used special tracking glasses to monitor the eyes of consumers and determine areas of incoming addressed and unaddressed mail that attracted the most attention.
The new monthly service will help mailers to fine tune their mailings for maximum response.
Iain Janes, managing director at EyeTracker, said: “Eye tracking has become widely accepted as a valuable research tool, however running one off bespoke studies can be relatively expensive. By working closely with Royal Mail we have been able to develop a service where the fixed costs are spread over a number of clients.
“As a result of these economies of scale, we are now able to offer a much more cost effective way of running a study.”
EyeTracker said the new service will begin next month, and initially it will be run from the Royal Mail’s Media Centre in Holborn, London, but will then extend regionally across the UK.
Each mail item submitted for analysis will be charged at £1,500, although there will be an initial launch offer of £1,250 per piece.
As well as tracking the eyes of consumers as they respond to a mailpiece, the service will also provide analysis and recommendations based on the data.
Janes said: “Just tracking where someone’s eye go to on a DM piece is only 20% of the story, the other 80% is about understanding the data collected, analysing it and being able to make effective recommendations that contribute directly to the bottom line.”
Last August’s study from EyeTracker highlighted the importance of using bright colours and strong visuals on direct mail for them to stand out. Interactive items like samples and coupons also fostered good responses from consumers.
The first part of a mailpiece to attract the attention of consumers’ eyes is usuallt the top-centre area of the front for a portrait piece and the front-centre-left area for landscape-oriented pieces.
The study also suggested that an impersonal “dear homeowner” salutation was more likely to be rejected by consumers than no salutation at all.
