The changing landscape of direct marketing

The future of direct marketing is already evident: over the past years, research has continued to show the benefits of email marketing. For example, a recent study reported that effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of traditional direct mail.

The brief

Piaggio announced its last production run of the famous Vespa PX 200 models, allocating 11 to South Africa. Guerrilla Marketing was briefed to use direct marketing to sell these legendary models to target consumers.

The solution

An email strike at a list of 1460 names with immediate electronic response devices was created and broadcast.

The response

• 35 responses, response rate 2.5%
  
• Offer over-subscribed by 200%
  
• Total cost of mailing: R9000 (including creative and broadcast)
  
• Mailing cost per name: R6
  
• Acquisition cost per lead: R257
  
• Acquisition cost per PX sold: R818
  
• 11 units sold within seven days of broadcast
  
• Total income on mailing: R440 000
  
• ROI per PX: R39 000
  
• ROI on campaign: R401 000

“If the same campaign was executed using snail direct mail, it would cost approximately R30 per mail pack, including creative, print and mailroom. The total campaign cost would be in the region of R44 850 versus R9000 for an email strike,” Gullan points out.

One of the greatest advantages of direct email is that recipients can respond directly within the same medium. Direct mail takes time to produce and is expensive. In addition, the recipient has to respond by physically filling in their details and posting the response card, or make use of an additional medium such as the telephone or Internet.

‘Captured in the moment'

“That is when interference can creep in, and a marketer can lose consumers' interest and their instant response. Direct email, on the other hand, captures the recipient in the moment, and response is just a click away. For direct marketing to be effective, it has to be easy for the end user to take action. Direct email marketing answers these challenges in an extremely cost efficient manner,” Gullan concludes.

For more information on marketing strikes that get results, contact Guerrilla Marketing on (011) 640 5259 or visit www.guerrillamarketing.co.za.