Three Key Lessons for Effective Messaging

When it comes to selling something, messaging is crucial. It's not just about what you say but how you say it. Subtle adjustments can make a significant difference, whether it's the headline of a direct mail piece or the subject line of an email blast.

MECLABS, a research institute focused on understanding factors influencing human choice, helps companies refine their marketing campaigns through testing and experience. Three examples from their research demonstrate how minor tweaks led to substantial results.

1. Creating Urgency

Urgency isn't just about using phrases like "buy now before it's too late." MECLABS highlights that urgency can be conveyed in various ways. Consider a men's style retailer that wanted to gather email addresses for its newsletter. By changing its subject line from "Out-Dress the Other Guys" to "Don't Let the Other Guys Out-Dress You," the retailer created a sense of tension and fear of showing up second best. The result was a 17% increase in sign-ups.

2. Building Mystique

A blog teaching people to speak French experimented with a new headline. Instead of "Do you want to speak French fluently?" it used "Voulez-vous parler français?" This phrase is widely understood, even by those who don't speak French, adding an element of surprise and mystique. This change deepened interest in learning the language and increased the conversion rate from 2.6% to 3.1%.

3. Focusing on the Right Message

A private school aiming to boost enrollment initially believed parents prioritized college prep and career readiness. However, further research revealed that parents were more interested in developing personal qualities in their children, such as resilience, boldness, and creativity. The school revised its campaign slogan from "It's a girl's world" to "See yourself like never before," along with changes in the body copy. This adjustment led the school to complete enrollment for the first time in a decade.

These examples illustrate that subtle details in your messaging can have a significant impact. Conduct split tests with different wordings, images, and headlines in your direct mail and email campaigns to discover what works best. These small changes could yield significant results.

*Source: Case studies and metrics derived from the original article "6 Mini Marketing Case Studies of Effective Copywriting," published in Marketing Sherpa, a subsidiary of MECLABS.*

5 Tips for Budget-Conscious Marketers

Nowadays, everyone wants to stretch their marketing dollars, but we all want the best results, too. The good news is, you can do both! Here are five tips for budget-conscious marketers that will save you money and boost your results simultaneously!

1. Use targeted mailing lists.

Instead of mailing to your entire marketing list, select the segments most likely to respond to your offer. For example, you might mail only to people who purchased from you within the past three months or who live within a specific geographic area. By targeting, you save money by printing and mailing fewer pieces and get better results by more tightly focusing your message to your chosen audience.

2. Send an email first.

Send your first communication to people by email. If they respond to your email, great! Only send direct mail pieces to those who did not. (Note that we said "respond," which is different from simply opening an email. If they opened it but didn't convert, you should still send them the mail piece!)

3. Take advantage of postal discounts.

Did you know you can save 1% or more on postage by including certain design elements in your mail pieces? The U.S. Postal Service offers discounts for tactile, sensory, and interactive pieces, mobile shopping promotions, and Informed Delivery promotions. Talk to us about which promotions are available now and save on postage.

4. Clean up your mailing list.

Conducting essential maintenance on your mailing list can lower costs as you cull out outdated and invalid addresses. With a clean list, you print only what you need and avoid extra postage costs.

5. Consider different formats.

Just because you have always done a brochure for a particular promotion doesn't mean it's the only option. For example, experiment with a postcard instead of a brochure (or vice versa) and see whether you get better results. Testing is the key to effective design and messaging. A little creativity can go a long way!

In a world in which so many aspects of marketing can be uncertain, it's nice to have a little certainty. Each one of these ideas is proven to reduce costs and boost results at the same time. Let us help you give one of them a try.

Want Better Results? Include Direct Mail

Marketers intuitively understand what surveys have told us for years: Direct mail ROI rises dramatically when direct mail is part of an integrated, multichannel marketing strategy.

According to NAPCO Research, response rates from direct mail campaigns increase by 41% when used as part of an integrated marketing campaign compared to mailings not integrated with other channels. ROI rise nearly 63%.

Sound good? There's more. The research found that when direct mail is personalized and tightly integrated into the channel mix, it results in the following:

·       62% increase in mailers reporting "good" or "very good" response rates.

·       80% increase in those reporting "good" or "very good" ROI.

How many channels should you integrate? Research by Demand Metric looked to see what marketers were doing. Half of the respondents reported using between three and four channels. Just over half (56%) include direct mail. 

When channels were compared, direct mail was considered one of the most effective. Next to events, "integrated, branded, personalized direct mail" was cited as the "most effective channel, with 78% of respondents citing it as "effective" or "very effective." Non-branded, non-personalized direct mail was cited as "effective" or "very effective" by 61% of respondents.

Which direct mail formats were most commonly used?

·       Postcards — 53%

·       Letters — 52%

·       Dimensional mail — 42%

·       Oversized postcards — 29%

·       Oversized letters — 9%

Regardless of format, 52% of respondents reported that adding direct mail to their multichannel mix delivered "moderate to major" improvement to their overall campaign performance. That number jumps to 89% when direct mail is personalized and tightly integrated into the channel mix.

Direct mail's effectiveness does vary by market segment. While it is effective in the technical markets, for example, it is highly effective in reaching the financial and C-Suite markets.

Multichannel marketing campaigns are highly effective tools, but just as Popeye grew even stronger when he ate spinach, these campaigns grow stronger when you add direct mail. Try it and find out for yourself.