Brett Keister, co-owner of the Hardy, Virginia supplement store VitaZen, responded to our request for customer success stories. VitaZen products range from vitamins, minerals, herbs, homeopathic remedies, nutritional oils, super juices, sports nutrition, cleansing, weight management products, and natural pet products to bath and body products, natural cosmetics, anti-aging skin care products, natural hair care, essential oils, soy candles, organic coffee and tea, and more.
VitaZen has been using Click2Mail for direct mail marketing for more than eight years. Brett shared with us the tremendous results he’s seen:
“Just wanted to share our gratitude. VitaZen had been using Click2Mail for our direct mail postcards for over 8 years now. As we get ready to celebrate our 10th anniversary, I am designing the postcard for it. We mail to all the customers on our mailing list and have received over 9% return! We even achieved an 11.5% return on our 8th anniversary mailer! HANDS DOWN our best advertising expenditure each year. Thanks!”
Brett’s comments are a great reminder of the importance of measurement. Entrepreneur John Wanamaker famously said, “I know half of my marketing dollars are wasted. I just don’t know which half.” Fortunately, it is both possible and, with direct mail marketing, relatively easy to measure the success of your marketing efforts.
The first step in determining how well your direct mail is working is to measure response – that is, how many people do what you’ve asked them to do in the mailer. You should think about how you’re going to measure your response as you create your mail piece. The easiest way to do that – whether you’re asking people to call, click, or visit – is to tie a special code in with your offer. For example, if your offer is a coupon for 10% off, include a coupon code unique to that mail campaign. For more details on measurement, check out 12 Steps to Direct Mail Success – Step 11: Test, Measure, Repeat.
Your response rate will tell you how well your mail piece worked to generate recipients’ action, but it won’t tell you how much that response will add to your bottom line. To do that, you’ll need to measure the return on your investment, or ROI, which articulates the relationship between what the direct mail campaign cost you and how much you earned as a result. For many businesses, ROI is the most valuable measurement of marketing success. For more details on ROI, check out Selling Through Direct Mail Step 4: ROI.
What ROI should you target? The definition of a “good” ROI depends on many factors; rather than compare your ROI to another business’s, key is to work to improve your own ROI with each mailer. When you measure the results each mailer generates, you can test certain elements of the mailer – the offer, the call to action, the graphics you use, etc. – and you can use the most effective elements in each subsequent mailer. That way, you not only know the value of each marketing dollar, but can optimize that value – just like VitaZen.
We want to hear your story! Sharing your direct mail success story is a great way to share best practices with your peers, not to mention an opportunity to highlight your business. Send your story by visiting https://click2mail.com/contact-us-support.
