Personalized URL’s, PURLS, Cross Media, Linked Printing – no matter what you call them, they have been the promoted as the next wave in direct mail – finally a way to increase response rates, and interact with consumers.
Personally, I am enthralled with the technology, so much so that I was an early adapter and promoter of it. I went with the MindFire solution as it was, at the time, the most cost effective and the most robust turn-key solution I could find. I promoted the heck out of it – did all sort of very successful self promotions (with an average response rate of 16%). But, whenever I got in front of a client – it was nearly impossible to sell. Not due to the technology, but more so the cost of entry (obviously, for a well executed campaign, it will cost significantly more that just a post card). Clients loved the THEORY of it, but before they signed up – they wanted to see case studies. They wanted to see a quantified ROI. And, when a client had success, the last thing they wanted to do was to share that information with a competitor (even if a different vertical. Would you?).
This post from Print in the Mix finally puts some numbers behind the technology – and the numbers are good, with some verticals seeing a response rate (people visiting their PURL) of over 74%.
The Response Rates of Personalized Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns
MindFireInc®
Date: 2009
Author: Dr. Marnie Brow, University of California, Irvine
Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested:
The response rates of personalized cross-media campaigns, — including print direct mail campaigns featuring personalized URLs (PURLs).
Sample:
A random selection of 670 cross-media campaigns across 27 vertical markets drawn from MindFireInc’s large database of media campaigns (more than 550 companies and 3,200 users worldwide use MindFireInc marketing intelligence software and services to manage thousands of marketing campaigns).
For an unbiased analysis of actual campaign results, the database was sorted according to certain criteria (e.g., sufficient number of recipients in a campaign; no internal MindFireInc campaigns) and includes a 2009 timeframe to capture the most up-to-date information.
Methodology:
Analysis of performance data (website visit rates, response rates) from select customized, personalized cross-media marketing campaigns.
For the 670 campaigns analyzed, the overall average and median response rate results:
| Rates | Visit Rate | Response Rate |
| Average | 5.10% | 3.28% |
| Median | 1.71% | 0.92% |
Visit rate: The percent of total number of recipients who visited the PURL sent to them via the campaign.
Response Rate: Percent of total recipients who responded (submitted their info) upon visiting the PURL sent to them.
Median: The middle number (in a sorted list of numbers). Half the numbers are less, and half the numbers are greater.
Overall results across campaigns/verticals studied (95% confidence interval):
| Visits % | Response % | ||
| Low | High | Low | High |
| 4.4% | 5.8% | 2.7% | 3.9% |
Interpretation: Results for 95% of campaigns will fall within these ranges (not that a company’s campaign will achieve these results 95% of the time).
The industries that saw the highest number of people to whom their marketing campaign material was sent visit their personalized URL (PURL):
| Top 5 Industries by Response Rate (10 Campaigns or More) | |||
| Industry | Visit Rates | ||
| Manufacturing | 11.85% | ||
| Insurance | 10.70% | ||
| Retail | 6.74% | ||
| Not for profit | 74.52% | ||
| Other trades and services | 4.18% | ||
The industries that saw the highest the number of visitors to a PURL who performed the desired action (e.g., submitted information) on the website:
The average response rate across all industries with 10 or more campaigns was 6.5%.
Note: The Response Rates of Personalized Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns report discussed here also reviews pertinent content from three recent reports from the DMA, PODi, and the CMO Council on direct marketers’ attitudes about personalization, their business practices, and campaign results. Readers here are encouraged to download the report to read more as how they relate to the original research conducted by Dr. Brow.
Take-Away: From the Executive Summary: “In the last few years, customized, personalized marketing campaigns have been posting strong results compared with traditional, static campaign styles. Regardless of industry or business descriptive, well-designed and well-executed personalized marketing campaigns clearly demonstrate their ability to outpace the competition. This report provides a look at some of the data and conclusions that support that claim.”
Complexity rating of original source: 1 (Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)
>> MindFireInc’s The Response Rates of Personalized Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns report is freely available for download (registration required) <<
I recently had a client that brought in a 35.2% response rate from an PURL email campaign using Purlem. It was very simple and effective. I can forward you some details on the campaign if your interested.
Would love to see it – if you have a case study – will be glad to post it!