NONE: Re: ONLINE ADS>> Direct mail postcards
Re: ONLINE ADS>> Direct mail postcards
Alan Ferguson (alan_at_5line.com)
Mon, 9 Jun 1997 19:12:45 -0700
Al Bredenberg <ab_at_copywriter.com> responded to Lynn McCausland
<lynn_at_moneyclub.com> who asked:
>>What are your experiences with direct mail postcards for getting people to
>>visit web sites?
<SNIP>
>The great thing about direct mail is your ability to test and track
>response. You can test to compare the response rates of various lists,
>different offers, multiple creative approaches (which pulls best, the red
>postcard or the green? the regular size card or the oversized one?)
>
>A simple "low-tech" way to test the response in this case is to set up
>multiple entry points into the site. They can be identical pages but with
>different URLs. For example, your red postcard can carry the URL
>www.moneyclub.com/aaa/ and your green card can carry
>www.moneyclub.com/bbb/. Use your site stats to determine which card pulls
>best. You can do the same to test different lists.
>
>As a collector of direct mail pieces, in recent months I've noticed more
>and more postcard mailings designed to draw traffic to Web sites. It's
>impossible to generalize about 'whether it works or not.' You have to look
>at the response and the costs involved in generating that response. How
>much does it cost to get one visitor to the site? And once the visitor gets
>there, how much is that visitor worth? Run the numbers. Test.
Testing is great, and this certainly is what Lynn should do if she has the
time, budget, and energy for such an effort. Depending on the size of type
of the mailing list (proprietary, targeted, mass, local, global, etc.) this
most likely will be prohibitive.
Generally post card advertising is chosen as an inexpensive way of
delivering a simple message, quickly with the key being inexpensive. It has
been my experience that if you would like to measure response to a mailer,
include a response mechanism in the piece (reply card, etc.) It is also my
experience that mailing post cards for a site can work to increase traffic.
If your audience is interested in what you present and they're wired, the
system will work.
As for the different URLs on each piece, not practical for a few reasons:
If nothing else your web site address should be as short as possible
without any trailing words after .com, and changing URLs from piece to
piece will certainly confuse things for everybody. Post cards are mostly
about .3 of a second impressions rather than studied material.
Marketing web sites is still the new frontier and the best way to attract
viewers is still being discovered. What's great about it is the ability to
advertise in general for less money. Where in the past firms used direct
mail to send a catalog for instance, can now simply send that postcard to
advertise the catalog and more with for less, and as an added bonus, the
ability to present the catalog in full color with much more content, that's
what internet marketing does best.
Just my .02
Alan
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Alan Ferguson -- designer, photographer, webslave
5line Communications
alan_at_5line.com http://5line.com 510 988 9393
Internet advertising in the local market -- SF East Bay area
business directory http://creekwalk.com
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