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The Direct Mail Solution — Chapter-04: How to Use Direct Mail to Drive Traffic to Your Website--and Then Back to Your Store!
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How to Use Direct
Mail to Drive Traffic
to Your Website—and
Then Back to Your Store!
OU’VE PROBABLY HEARD THE FAMOUS QUIP BY MARK TWAIN: “THE
reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
We might say the same thing about direct mail.
The reports of the death of direct mail are largely due to the
digital age we’re living in and the perceived changes it’s brought
to the way we communicate with each other. With the rise of the
internet, many people think the days of snail mail are over. After
all, shouldn’t we advance with the times? Isn’t it easier to just set up
a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign or shoot off an email? And isn’t it
more effective?
I’ll let you to determine what’s easier for you. But one thing I
can tell you from what I’ve seen is that those online methods aren’t
all that effective. In fact, if you want to build your online business,
research shows that one of the best ways to do it is to use direct mail
Y
CHAPTER
4
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to drive prospects to your site. It’s the combination of direct mail with
an online presence that packs such a powerful marketing punch.
That’s probably why many of the world’s largest companies with a
major internet presence regularly use direct mail to promote themselves.
Even Google, probably one of the iconic internet businesses, sends out
direct-mail campaigns. It uses a sales piece sent by physical mail to
offer prospects $100 worth of free PPC advertising. By mailing these
offers directly to people’s homes or offices, it is able to reach a different
audience than it does with its online efforts.
And this kind of promotion works. As we saw earlier in this book,
people put greater trust in information they receive by mail. And they
are more likely to read physical mail, unlike so much of email that gets
deleted without being looked at. Direct mail must work because the
great marketing minds at Google wouldn’t use it if it weren’t profitable.
Another huge online marketer is Serena & Lily. It doesn’t even have
any physical stores. All of its business is online only. While it does some
online marketing, it reports that “65 to 70 percent of the company’s
total sales can be traced to print catalog marketing.” Let me point out
two critical details about this interesting quote:
- It is entirely an on line store, yet the majority of its sales come from a physical, direct-mail catalog.
- It has traced its sales back to its print catalog. This means it is doing a great job of track ing its mail cam paigns. It would not know the success of its direct mail if it hadn’t put the effort into track ing. Savvy direct marketers track all the details in their mail campaigns so they know what is working and what is not! And that’s what they stick with. We’ll be looking at how to track your mail campaigns in Chapter 9. The USPS Study In a recent study, the United States Postal Service surveyed 5,000 visitors after they left 135 retail websites to determine how they came
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to the site and how much they spent on merchandise while there. The
results were quite definitive in favor of direct mail. In fact, when it
comes to online sales, the USPS invites people to think of direct mail
as “power food for your website.” Its findings show that direct mail
can provide a solid boost to online traffic and sales. And it builds
business by attracting new prospects who may never have visited a site
otherwise.
According to the study’s findings, prospects who received a catalog
in the mail purchased 28 percent more items and spent 28 percent more
money than those who did not receive one. Revenue from customers
driven to sites by receiving a catalog was more than two times
greater than the revenue from people who had received only online
communications.
Here were some other interesting findings.
More than 60 percent of people who received a catalog were
influenced by the catalog to visit the website. The influence
proved to be greatest on first-time shoppers.
Catalogs were found to greatly discourage comparison shop-
ping—by more than 10 percent. That means that site visitors
came to the site and stayed on track—possibly because they had
gone through the catalog and knew what they wanted to buy.
They were less likely than random site visitors to go off searching
other sites to find better prices or other selections.
Catalog recipients were significantly more likely to shop for holi-
day gifts at the website than noncatalog recipients.
Recency matters; 17 percent of people who received a catalog in
the previous month purchased at least one item, while of those
who received a catalog more than a month ago only 11 percent
purchased an item.
Compared to people who had not received a catalog, buyers who
did receive a catalog reported that they were significantly
• more satisfied with the companys weCsite,
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• more satisfied with their eYperience of the company, and
• more liLely to recommend the weCsite and the company to
others.
This study shows all the advantages of using direct mail to build
web traffic.
It lets you reach a wider range of prospects.
It builds confidence in you as a retailer.
It puts something in the prospects’ possession that is a constant
reminder of your site. Prospects can hold the sales piece in their
hands and take it with them to read as they sit in their living
room, on the back porch, or wherever they like to read.
The piece sits on the coffee table or kitchen counter where they
see it again and again, unlike an email that is quickly deleted or
an online ad that disappears a soon as the next URL is clicked.
I think it’s important to make this last point. Although this study
focused on catalog mailings, it also found similar results for other types
of direct mailings, such as postcards. I mention this here because I don’t
want you to think that you need to produce a catalog to take advantage
of the direct-mail boost in online traffic. I will show you how to take
advantage of this medium using very simple mail pieces. In fact, the
simpler, the better.
How My Own Clients Use Direct Mail
to Bank Internet Profits
I know that the findings of the USPS study were right on point.
That’s because I’ve seen similar results with my own clients. In fact,
let me tell you about the experience of one of them, a large publisher.
It wanted to do its own test to determine the value of customers who
came to the company in various ways. The idea was to determine
the best use of its advertising dollar so it could design its future
marketing plan.
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For this study it looked at the lifetime value of customers who
had bought its product—how much these customers spent with the
company over an extended period of time. Its subjects included
50,000 buyers who had come to it through a direct-mail piece,
50,000 buyers who had come to it through a TV infomercial, and
50,000 buyers who had come to it through an email campaign.
All the buyers had paid the same price for the product and had
bought within a specific time frame. Now 18 months later, their lifetime
value was compared, and this is what my client found: The buyers who
came through a direct-mail piece had a lifetime value that was three
to four times greater than that of the buyers who came through the
internet campaign and two times greater than those who came through
the TV campaign. The direct-mail buyers were the highest quality leads
and spent 300 percent to 400 percent more money. Even if it may have
cost more to generate these prospects, their significantly higher lifetime
value more than justified the extra effort and expense.
And now let me share with you the experience of another client who
sent out a mailing of almost 45,000 pieces to drive people to its website.
The goal was to get people to “opt in” by providing an email address
and other information upon visiting the site.
The campaign resulted in 5,345 prospects opting in, which was an
excellent response rate of 11.94 percent. Of those, 231 prospects placed
orders, meaning there was a 4.32 percent conversion from prospects
into buyers. But that’s not the end of it. The company now had 5,000
highly qualified leads that they could continue contacting with offers
and promotions. So not only did they receive over 200 actual orders, but
they also now had access to a highly promising storehouse of names on
which to grow future business.
In my experience just about any business with a website can build
response by incorporating a direct-mail component into its marketing
plan. To show you how it works, in the next section we’ll look at how
you would use direct marketing if you already have a website set up
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for internet marketing. We’ll then look at what you would have to do
if your website is not yet set up for any kind of marketing. Finally, I’ll
show you how even a brick-and-mortar retailer can use direct mail to
build an email list to be used for ongoing email promotions.
How It Works If You Already Have a Website
Designed with a Sales Funnel
Let’s assume that you already have an active online presence, and you
have been using online means to promote your site. You may be driving
customers to your site with a pay-per-click campaign: You place a banner
ad on other internet sites, and you pay a fee each time someone clicks
your ad and is taken to your site. Or you may reach out to prospects by
running email campaigns. Or you may have affiliate promotions with
other marketers where they promote your site to their buyer or member
lists. Or you may use all three methods.
In any case, you are doing something to drive traffic to your site,
and it’s working well. And as a savvy marketer, you have your site all set
up to meet these prospects when they arrive. You probably have some
kind of landing page that prospects arrive at when they click your link
or ad. It has clear steps the prospect should follow to opt in.
The opt-in section is where prospects provide at least their name
and email address. You may also be able to get their physical addresses
you can use to help you market to them in the future. By giving you this
information, prospects are giving you both permission to contact them
again and the means to do so. Because they have come to you and are
willing to provide you with this information, they are hot prospects and
very valuable to you.
Once your prospect has opted in and has been moved along to a
sales page, hopefully you are able to turn the prospect into a customer.
Perhaps this is all working OK, but you wish you could get even
more new prospects to visit your site. You’ve been hearing that direct
mail may be one way to attract a whole new audience, but you know
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very little about direct mail. You’re concerned that it might be a lot to
take on. However, embarking on a direct-mail campaign would actually
be extremely easy for you. You’re already perfectly set up for it. You
have your landing page, and people are coming to it via your online
marketing. You just have to set up a stream of prospects that comes to
you through direct mail, and all that you need to do is write a direct-
mail piece with a clear call to action that drives people online.
So let’s talk about this sales piece that has to be created. Fortunately,
you don’t need a long, complicated piece. In fact, that’s just what you
don’t want. Really, you could just use a postcard—small, large, or even
oversized—but still just a postcard. Or, if you feel more copy is needed to
do the job, I’d recommend going no larger than a four-page self-mailer.
And remember, as a self-mailer, one page would be allocated for some
teaser copy and space for the address, the return address, and postage.
So, it’s really just three pages of copy—not counting any photos or
illustrations that may fill up some space.
Whichever format you use, you want compelling, intriguing copy
with the primary aim of getting people to go to your website. You don’t
necessarily want to sell the product or give all the details of the offer.
If you give too much information at this point, prospects may decide
they’re not interested and not visit the site. But the site is where you do
your main selling, so you want to keep them curious and excited and
eager to find out more.
Once prospects arrive online, I advise my clients to always ask
them to opt in before moving on to the next stage. You at least want to
capture their email address. Then, if possible, you want their full name
and their mailing address. Prospects may not be willing to give that
right away, so get what you can. Now you can present them with your
sales page.
Your sales page can take several forms. One popular method is
a video sales letter where prospects are shown a video of someone
presenting the product or service and making the offer. Another
method is a text letter that appears like a PowerPoint presentation
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with narration, so it’s a cross between a letter and a video. Or you could
show them a previously recorded webinar. Or just use a simple text sales
letter.
The point of the sales page is to convince prospects to move along
to the next stage so that they will ultimately provide you with the
information you want, such as their mailing address. And, of course, it
would be great if you could get them to take you up on your offer to
buy something.
At several points in the process you can try to get the information
you want. For example, you may thank them for opting in and tell them
if they provide their physical address you will send them coupons to your
store. Or you’ll send them a free report with valuable information. This
is your chance to be creative about capturing prospects’ information
now that you’ve gotten them to visit you online. For examples, visit
www.TheDirectMailSolution.com.
Can you see what you’ve done here? You were able to capture a
prospect from a direct-mail list, and you got the person to visit your
website and give you the information you need to contact him or her
again. You know that this is an excellent prospect who is interested in
you. And significantly, this is a person who may never have found you
had you not reached out to find him yourself.
This is perfect for a business that already has an online sales funnel.
You don’t have to develop a whole new system to make sales. You can tap
into the online funnel that’s already working for you. You’re just adding
a new way to drive prospects to the sales structure that’s already there.
But if you don’t have marketing capability on your website, you
have to go an additional step.
What to Do If Your Website Isn’t a Sales Funnel
You may already have a great website with a nice home page and other
informational or product pages. But if that’s all you have, it may not be
ready yet for use as part of a sales funnel.
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When new prospects come to your site from your direct-mail piece,
you probably don’t want them to come directly to your home page.
First, there’s too much for prospects to see. They may be confused
about what to do first. Or they may start clicking links, go off reading
other pages, and then wander away.
You want to have much more control of your prospects’ attention,
and specifically you want to help ensure they are clearly guided to the
opt-in area first. That means you want a special page that prospects are
immediately linked to from the URL in the sales piece. This is your carefully
designed landing page, most likely with some kind of opt-in area built in.
Once prospects opt in, you must decide where they go next. Is it
to a video? A video letter? Just plain text? You want to carefully guide
them along.
A good web designer should be able to create these pages. And if
you use a writer to create a sales piece, that same writer should be able to
supply the copy for your site, largely based on the sales piece. Or, based on
what you’ve learned in this book, you could write the copy on your own.
How a Brick-and-Mortar Retailer Can Use a
Direct-Mail Postcard to Build an Email
List of Great Prospects
We’ve been looking at how to use direct mail to drive traffic to a website
and build an email list or make online sales. But you can take it a step
further to then drive that traffic right back into your physical store.
I’ve generated tens of thousands of online prospects for my clients by
sending postcards by direct mail. For many of them the idea was to
eventually get those prospects into a store.
You could start by simply sending out a direct-mail postcard that
directs customers to your website. Once they get to your website, you
can have them opt in to receive a free gift or a special coupon.
For example, let’s say that you’re a furniture store and you’re having
a weekend sale. A great way to publicize the event is to send out a mail
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piece to everyone who has bought from you in the last three years. You
should also mail everyone else on your list, such as people who have
made inquiries or have contacted you in some way. At the same time,
a smart marketer would maximize this campaign by not only driving
current and past customers to the store but also reaching out to new
prospects (who will hopefully become new customers). So perhaps you
would mail to every address of people with incomes above a certain level
within a five-mile radius.
You could send a direct-mail postcard to prospects that drives them
to the website by saying: “Visit our website and print out our special
coupon to receive an additional 10 percent off our already discounted
weekend sale prices. Plus—get a FREE gift! $5 worth of Starbucks coffee!”
Prospects may look at that and say “Wow, I may not be interested
in buying furniture right now, but I’m interested in that $5 worth of
Starbucks coffee. So I’m going to visit the website.” They go to the
website, opt in, and get instructions for receiving their free coffee, which
they have to claim at the store. You’ve just earned yourself the contact
information for a new prospect who you can reach out to in the future.
Once these prospects are in the store, you have the opportunity
to show them your fine furniture and special sale items and ask for
their mailing address. The $5 worth of free coffee may sound like a
big investment on your part, but these people are highly self-selected,
and they are going to remember the gift and the good experience they
had with you when they are ready to buy a piece of furniture. They are
much more likely to come back and shop at your store because of the
generous gift that you’ve given them.
This is just one of many ways to combine direct mail with the
internet to build your mail and email lists and grow your business.
PURL Postcards
Another unique format that lets you combine the power of direct mail
and the internet is the PURL postcard. PURL stands for Personal URL.
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With this ingenious method, you take a normal URL (a regular website
address), and you add the first and last name of the prospect to the
URL to turn the URL into a Personal URL. For example: simpson-
direct.com can be made into a PURL for your prospect John Smith
by adding his name: simpson-direct.com/john.smith. The name can
also go in front of the URL: john.smith.simpson-direct.com. Thanks
to creative programming, you don’t have to develop separate pages for
each prospect. The programming personalizes the page automatically.
Imagine getting a postcard in the mail with a URL printed on it that
has your name in it. It would be almost irresistible, wouldn’t it? The
PURL postcard really captures prospects’ attention and drives them to
see a personal message on their “own” website. It sparks an interest and
curiosity in prospects. After all, who wouldn’t want to immediately see
their own website?
Postcards and self-mailers both work great when using a PURL
because the sales message can be made very personal by including
prospects’ names. The message on the mailer piece should include
copy that says something like “John Smith, here’s your personal
website! Go to . . .”
When the prospect gets to the landing page, that’s where the
real sales piece is. The sales copy on the PURL website needs to be
personalized and must have strong incentives to get customers to
respond to whatever you are offering.
I’ve mailed over a million pieces for my clients using the PURL
method, and it consistently generates great results.
Important Considerations for an Effective
Direct-Mail/Internet Program
If you think that using direct mail in conjunction with the internet
holds promise for your business, I encourage you to try it. Here are
some points for you to keep in mind so that you can make the most of
this powerful combination.
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An Intriguing Message
The message in your direct-mail piece must capture prospects’
attention and interest to such a degree that they will stop whatever
it is they’re doing and go online to visit your website. The mail piece
itself won’t be very long, so it has to pack a very powerful punch
in minimal words. You need a headline that immediately arouses
curiosity and promises some kind of benefit. Then you have to offer
them an excellent reason to go to the site: They’ll receive a coupon or a
free report; they’ll get to watch a video that will reveal some big secret
that will make their life better. Motivate them to take the action you
want.
The piece itself must look effortless, but writing it requires quite a
bit of savvy. So put some work into coming up with a message that will
move people to act.
A Clear Call to Action
Now that you’ve got your prospects’ attention and they’re ready to
act, you have to provide them with a crystal clear call to action. What
you want them to do is visit the site. Don’t provide them with any
alternative actions, and don’t make them struggle to find your web
address. People’s attention spans are very short, and if they have to go
hunting for the information they’ll get annoyed or distracted. You want
to keep them positive and moving in the right direction. Make the next
step clear and easy to follow.
An Easy URL
Prospects going from a direct-mail piece to a website must type in the
URL themselves. It’s not like they can just click on a link. So you don’t
want a URL that’s complicated, has an odd spelling, or that’s too long.
And you want it to be memorable so that if they are not near their
computer when they read your sales piece, they’ll be able to remember
it when they need it.
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An Incentive to Opt In
One of the most critical reasons for getting your prospects to the site is
to capture their contact information. You want them to opt in. But they
won’t do it unless you provide them with a good reason to do it. Maybe
for opting in they will receive a bonus of some kind, or they will receive
some valuable information. It’s important that you keep your opt-in
web page copy short with clean directions on how to opt in. Some of the
best opt-in pages I’ve used have only ten words on them. Keep it simple
and keep the instructions clear.
A Compelling Sales Page
Once prospects have opted in and arrived at your sales page, you want
them to be willing to read your letter, watch your video, or do whatever
it is you’ve set up for them. So the page has to be attractive, interesting,
and easy to read, with lists of benefits that can be seen at a glance.
A Coordinated Message
For a successful campaign you should have consistent branding and
messaging. All the pieces should coordinate with one another and
present one clear message and call to action. If your sales piece is
whimsical, there should be a whimsical quality to your website. If your
message is serious, all the pieces should be serious. The look of the
direct-mail piece and the website should be similar. Of course, the offer
and the call to action should be in agreement across all the different
media.
With all the pieces in place and working together, you will increase
the chances of a favorable response.
You May Be Closer Than You Think
If you already have an online presence, you’ve been using online
marketing to get people to visit your website, and you are already set up
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with a landing page and opt-in program, you already have in place most
of what you need to expand into a direct-mail component. You’re just
developing another way to drive traffic.
But remember, this is more than just another way to drive any
traffic. Research shows that customers generated by direct mail, as
opposed to online methods, are better customers who spend more
money with you. That alone should make you want to look into this
approach and take the necessary steps to incorporate it into your overall
marketing program.
Also remember, the direct-mail sales piece doesn’t have to be long.
You can get started with just a postcard. That will keep the production
costs down and make it easier to write.
Of course, if you don’t already have a sales funnel as part of your
website, you will need to add one, but even then we’re just talking about
a landing page and a sales page.
The internet is a significant medium playing a larger and larger role
in our lives. But it will never replace direct mail as a way to communicate
a memorable message that is noticed and that builds trust. When you
are able to put the best aspects of the internet and direct mail together
in one sales package, you multiply the effectiveness of your efforts.
This book also serves as an example of taking prospects offline and
moving them online. You have the opportunity to read this book and
then go online for more resources at www.TheDirectMailSolution.com.
At this point you should be filled with ideas about the sales piece
you’ll be sending out and what it will say. Which brings us to the next
important question: To whom will you mail it? That’s what we’ll look
at in Chapter 6.