Tag: Direct Marketing

Marketers must invest in multichannel approach

Posted by | Jun 18, 2008 | |

Generating high levels of response, conversion or brand engagement is never easy in direct marketing. Unquestionably, it is vital to pick the right mix of channels. However, as channels have proliferated — mail, email, SMS, telemarketing— settling on the appropriate ones and giving them the optimum weighting is becoming more problematic.

“Consumers have preferences for different channels at different times of the day,” says Direct Marketing Association (DMA) director of media channel development, Robert Keitch. “No one channel is going to do it for you — end of story. The days of having a simplistic mix are gone.

It comes down to understanding who the customer is.”Consumer habits are evolving; for example, people now spend more time interacting with the web or their mobiles than sitting passively in front of the TV. Richard Higginbotham , head of marketing at marketing services provider CDMS, believes many marketers have as yet failed to exploit this shift.

“Once the customer has been identified, successful multi-channel implementation allows the marketer to actually contact the customer through the channel they prefer,” he says. “Ensuring customers are receiving communications through a medium to which they are responsive is key to producing customer satisfaction and improving ROI.”

There is plenty of evidence that a multichannel approach to direct marketing tends to deliver far better results than concentration on a single touchpoint. Research from Royal Mail, for instance, has found that integrating digital advertising with direct mail campaigns can increase customer spend by almost 25%, while 55% of ‘confident web users’ prefer to be contacted by a combination of direct mail and online .Anthony Miller, head of media development at Royal Mail, says this shows that consumers recognise the benefits of online, email and direct mail for different types of communications — and how well they work together.

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Royal Mail strike up a customer dialogue

Posted by | May 23, 2008 | |

Royal Mail is continuing to support the direct marketing industry with the launch of “Dialogue Mail”, a customer relationship management solution combining traditional direct mail with digital media.

In partnership with dialogue marketing company, Vialuna, Royal Mail now offers a product that claims to offer “an integrated solution that will enable brands to have more in-depth and engaging conversations with prospects or existing customers.”

Recent Royal Mail research revealed that over half (55%) of consumers prefer to be contacted by a combination of DM and online and that integrating digital advertising with direct mail campaigns can increase customer spend by almost 25% and Dialogue Mail leverages these findings.

The Dialogue Mail journey begins with an intrigue-based mailshot designed to pique recipients’ interest and direct them online. Vialuna’s technology creates personalised URLs, meaning the campaign is individually tailored to each customer. The interactive microsites can be designed to allow customers to share their preferences, request specific products or information and direct the overall customer journey.

The system claims to capture all interaction, allowing the brand to learn more about individual’s behaviour and shape future communications to make them more relevant. Vialuna’s Dialog Engine’ tracks campaign responses and delivers lead alerts directly to sales teams in real-time.

Martin Pang, Managing Director of Vialuna UK, explained the power of Dialogue Manager “We have been operating in the US for eight years and are quickly expanding across Europe. In all that time, we have achieved double-figure response rates for our clients. The reason is that Dialogue Mail is mutually beneficial marketing. The customer gets the benefit of a personal experience whilst the brand captures customer insight leading to deeper, more relevant and meaningful relationship.”

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Co-operative Financial Services signs GBP 12m green mail deal

Posted by | Apr 14, 2008 | |

Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) has signed a GBP 12m deal with Xerox to improve customer service and reduce its environmental impact through a new mail distribution system.

The new automated system, which will deal with more than 10,000 postal items per day, will process, catalogue and route all inbound insurance and retail banking correspondence.

Using language recognition technology, business-critical information will be distributed to recipients electronically.

Over time, Xerox will manage all of CFS’s General Insurance and banking documents, and will provide an integrated enterprise distribution/work management environment.

Based on Xerox’s DocuShare technology, this will enable CFS to handle all information electronically. CFS will be able to standardise its inbound communications, create faster customer response times and ensure that more accurate and timely information is both sent and received.

Dick Parkhouse, executive director for strategy and change at CFS, said, “CFS is committed to building a sustainable and efficient business. By adhering to the highest ethical standards, reducing our waste wherever possible and curtailing our energy usage, we will significantly increase our capability and credentials.”

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3 New Direct Marketing Associations join FEDMA Membership

Posted by | Jan 23, 2008 | |

FEDMA has increased its DMA membership by welcoming three new national Direct Marketing Associations from Croatia, Latvia and Turkey.

The adherence of these three DMAs demonstrates how FEDMA remains the unique voice of the European direct and interactive marketing industry attracting new markets within Europe and beyond.

By joining FEDMA, the Croatian, Latvian and the Turkish DMA will work closely with both FEDMA and the other 25 DMAs in FEDMA membership at an international level in order to protect, promote and inform the industry.

“We are delighted to welcome the Croatian, Latvian and the Turkish DMA into FEDMA Membership. Although they are located in very different countries, each DMA has similar challenges and opportunities since they are all in a new, but growing, DM markets. Together with our other DMAs and members, FEDMA will promote, inform and protect the industry, which are the three pillars of our mission statement” said Alastair Tempest, Director General of FEDMA.

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Prior consent for B2B Email in the Netherlands

Posted by | Dec 1, 2007 | |

The Dutch governement proposed a legislation aiming that B2B email should also be covered by an opt-in regime. This legislation will enter into force in 2008

In 2002 the EU Directive Electronic Communications was launched.

The Directive takes an “opt-in” approach to unsolicited commercial electronic communications, i.e. users must have given their prior consent before such messages are addressed to them. This opt-in system also covers SMS text messages and other electronic messages received on any fixed or mobile terminal.

This Directive primeraly aims at relations between companies and consumers (B2C) but offers Member States also an opportunity to regulate B2B email in the same sense. Some Member States have taken that opportunity:

In October 2007 the Dutch Dialog and Direct Marketing Association (DDMA) adopted the code for business e-mail. The code introduced an almost similar provision of prior consent for B2B email as for B2C email. An important reason for drawing up this code is to reduce in this way spam and to keep the channel open for legitimate business communication. For this reason the recipient of B2B email needs to give prior consent before receiving publicity. There are some points on which the B2B code has been adapted to the practice of businesses. For example no consent needs be asked for supplying addresses to third parties.

A clear communication is sufficient. The same applies to the promotion of own products within the company’s activities.

Diana Janssen, director of DDMA, welcomes the code: “It is a sign from DDMA members that they attach great importance to communication of high quality. By introducing prior consent for B2B e-mail, your database will automatically be much more valuable. Moreover it is an important indicator to our politicians that the sector is very
well capable to take responsability.”

As of 1 October 2007 this Code has already been incorporated within the Dutch Advertising Code.

In other countries of Europe exists already a statutory regulation with respect to B2B e-mail, particularly in France, Germany and Austria. In other countries the opt-out system with respect to e-mail business still applies, in which case the recipient has to state Whether he or she wishes to receive unsolicited emails.

December 2007 – W&P

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