Next Generation Marketing Personalization to Differentiate Campaigns, According to New Research
Thursday, 12 October 2006
Consumers’ postal and e-mail boxes are stuffed with marketing messages. But how do recipients decide what merits attention—and what gets tossed in the trash? Do “one-to-one” marketing efforts really cut through the clutter? And how are leading-edge marketers putting new personalization tools to work to bolster their response?
Those and other important questions will be addressed next week at DMA06 in San Francisco as a dynamic cross-discipline panel discusses preliminary results from their survey of leading marketers designed to determine “What’s in the mailbox?” and identify real, actionable opportunities for others to stand apart in the crowded marketing landscape.
The panel, “What’s in the ePostal Box: The Impact of 1:1 Marketing on Consumer Response—Tales from the Field,” is being held on Wednesday, October 18 at 11:30a.m. at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center.
Sponsored by four leading firms representing the direct mail, e-mail, integrated communications, market research and strategic consulting sectors, the panel’s initial findings suggest that a growing cadre of marketers are embracing advanced customer data and analytics tactics for event-triggered marketing campaigns—but many still struggle to provide more than a one-dimensional level of personalization to help differentiate their efforts.
Analyzing the breadth of direct communications sent to consumers, their findings further show that:
· 44 percent of marketers are introducing an element of personalization in every e-mail campaign they send, yet over 80 percent only modify salutation and a few basic content elements
· 66 percent of direct mail is personalized, representing little change over the past three years
· 71 percent of consumers read direct mail from retailers—more than any other vertical market
· 21 percent of direct mail responders visited a corresponding Web site within 30 days of mail receipt, up from 14 percent in 2003
“True ‘relevance’ lies in the content and context of a marketing message, not in the mere strategic placement of a recipient’s name or other customer data in a marketing solicitation,” says Bruce Biegel, senior managing director of Winterberry Group and moderator of the panel discussion. “If marketers expect results, they must tailor relevant messages by utilizing data and analytics programs that react to geo-, demo- and psychographic information to enhance behavioral targeting and measurement.”
Further research results will be discussed on October 18, 11:30a.m. at DMA06, the Annual Conference & Exhibition of the Direct Marketing Association, to be held at the Moscone Convention Center in Room C133. There, Mr. Biegel will be joined by a panel of leading industry observers including Susan Menke, vice president of finance reports for Mintel International Group; Scott Olrich, chief marketing officer of Responsys, Inc.; and Jim Litwin, vice president of market insights at Vertis Communications.
Complete research results will be released in the form of a white paper later this fall.