Direct Mail Gone Wrong
I happen to love direct mail. It’s a very powerful vehicle when done correctly. However, I still see A LOT of bad direct mail marketing being done. And more often than not, it comes from the big guys.
Consider the image on this blog (above right). It’s direct mail from US Bank, sent to me promoting their FlexPerks Visa Card. This was a test, as you can see from the outer envelopes and how different they are. The insides also varied, significantly, so I will tell you that they were testing two different packages.
Can any of you seasoned direct marketers tell me what’s wrong with this test before clicking the more button on the right? Hint: It’s a trick question — sort of.
Before I give away the answer, a few things to note. I have no affinity with US Bank. I have a Mastercard for personal use and a Visa for corporate purchasing, neither with US Bank. This is a prospecting piece in it’s truest form. I am not sure of the lists in which they identified me, but the name and address were identical in both pieces — addressed to me at my home residence.
So what was the problem? Both pieces were sent to me at the same address on the same exact day. So, unless this is a new form of testing — and very expensive at that — or unless there was some sort of data mix up, the folks at US Bank are doing direct mail testing incorrectly.
Have any similar stories to share? We can help make direct mail even more effective by sharing them…
November 17th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I got one from Allstate that’s even worse - list failure. They were offering me great rates on insurance for my fleet of commercial vehicles. I don’t own a single car, let alone a fleet of them!
November 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Hi, i am actually in the process of writing a book on Marketing Disasters.. Please feel free to share with me your stories… here are two excerpts from my collection.
http://digg.com/business_finance/Meemoo2_Marketers_Direct_mail_horror_stories_by_James_E_Su
http://www.melissadata.com/enews/listadvisor/articles/0902/3.htm
Enjoy…
Jim Sullivan
Project Director
Optic Nerve Direct Marketing
November 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Two big names cross my mind - AT&T and Comcast. One would imagine a giant like AT&T has the resources to build impressive database segmentation - yet I continue to get totally off-target mailings from them that ignore the most basic household demographic data they have on me.
Like “4 ADDITIONAL free cell phones if I take out a new contract with them and buy a new phone…a 5-phone offer mailed to a 2-person household? Aren’t there any other offers that might be more practical? Never a “loyal customer bonus” or mention of the fact that I’m a 10+ year loyal cell customer of theirs?
Comcast is dismal at building a 1:1 relationship: everything they send is a slick ad in an envelope. Basically a mailed version of their broadcast spot. Generic and devoid of any human connection.
I’m seeing Fortune 100s sending mailings without offers; mailings with zero sales messaging, (just impersonal boilerplate brochure text,) or worse…pretty pictures with almost no messaging at all, save a clever headline or two. (Guess we don’t want any crass salesmanship messing up the design!)
Okay…done venting! :)
November 19th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I deliver these marketing wonders. One example: in the last 6 weeks, 4 mailings from a major health insurance company; their mailing list is so old only about 30% of the names are still current residents. So, they waste money, waste time (first class needs a carrier endorsement to be returned- Forward order expired, unknown…) and repeat the same mailing four times. This is not an uncommon event, and I wonder who sells these bad lists. Are the companies too lazy and inefficient to verify the lists as current?
November 19th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Yes, lists are so critical yet so few marketers — often including seasoned direct response pros — spend too little time on data. Thanks for your comments. Pass the word and let’s read more stories…