Unfortunately, the traditional Direct Mail process is complex and resource-intensive, causing Direct Marketing teams to rely on bulk sends that require Average Cycle Times (ACT) of 90-120 days to drive top-line revenue. Missing from these campaigns is the level of personalization necessary to entice engagement and purchases.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Innovative enterprise Direct Marketing organizations are digitally transforming their Direct Mail capabilities with technology that leverages automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Check out how automated Direct Marketing technology revolutionizes Direct Mail strategy, execution and results.
Advanced Direct Marketing technologies leverage the power of automation, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to absorb the manual marketing operations processes related to marketing and data operations, procurement, vendor management, proofing and quality control. This cuts down on the time wasted on planning and project management tasks, managing inconsistent vendor processes, re-inventing the wheel with every campaign, paying vendors for re-works and multiple rounds of back and forth between Direct Marketing teams and vendors.
Innovative Direct Marketing platforms feature robust campaign libraries, allowing teams to easily access and re-purpose Direct Mail campaigns or develop entirely new ones equipped with the highest-performing variables. These technologies also easily integrate with existing Data Management Platforms and CRMs, enabling marketers to execute progressive multivariate tests and automate versioning and personalization.
With all of these capabilities at their disposal, cutting-edge marketers are setting campaigns in motion faster, enjoying the luxury of delivering higher-frequency, lower-volume campaigns, expanding the reach of their budgets and running multiple campaigns at once to increase audience engagement and performance.
Executing True Personalization at Scale
According to Adobe, 77% of marketers agree real-time personalization is crucial, but 60% report it’s a challenge to execute. If data is coming from multiple disparate systems and sources and not accessible via a centralized platform, it’s impossible to increase Direct Mail personalization and utilize it at scale.
Integrating a Direct Marketing platform into an existing (or planned) technology stack provides the opportunity to personalize campaigns with a range of available data on consumers’ gender, locality, region, native language, income, demographics, psychographics, purchase history, etc. With centralization, automation and endless information in-hand, marketers can execute complex multivariate tests and develop multiple versions of creative where copy, offer and packaging are all personalized.
Personalization enabled by automated technology improves campaign engagement and Direct Marketing profitability – driving higher ROI. Not only do marketing teams have the ability to quickly apply personalization to campaigns, but they have the knowledge at their disposal to apply personalization to the highest-performing variates.
Marketing units that utilize automated technology to run Digital and Direct campaigns gain necessary transparency into the delivery and engagement of both operations. This allows marketers to complement Direct Mail campaigns with email to extend exposure to and engagement with customers/prospects (and vice versa). With a truly optimized omnichannel approach, marketers can precisely time the delivery of less expensive, shorter-shelf-life email content with in-market Direct Mail engagement to re-enforce messaging throughout the Direct Mail lifecycle.
Integrating Direct Marketing and Digital operations via automated tech platforms is crucial to developing a consistent brand storyline and messaging across all communications with an audience. In addition, it allows enterprises to build a community between their brand and customers by developing innovative Digital and Direct campaigns that allow people to engage through interactive in-home experiences and social media.
When every member of a Direct Marketing team has access to real-time campaign reporting, teams increase accountability and their aptitude to make data-driven decisions related to campaign strategy, execution and vendor costs. Working from a centralized Direct Marketing platform also allows marketers to use their budget most effectively and increase revenue.
Results from KleerMail’s own Direct Marketing Survey reveal that organizations leveraging marketing technologies for improved automation reported Average Cycle Times (ACT) that were 70% shorter than less tech-savvy peers. In addition, technology-equipped Direct Marketing organizations experience 50-60% reduction in costs related to Direct Mail content creation, production and distribution, and up to 1.3X increase in content engagement.
If you're looking to learn more about the benefits of the Digital Transformation taking place within innovative Enterprise Direct Marketing operations, feel free to download The Drive to Digitize eBook.