How To Measure Your Direct Marketing Results

If you want to measure your direct marketing results but you don’t know where to start, in today’s market, there are three most common ways to do it. Not only can you know which of your marketing campaigns really work to your advantage, but you also get to increase your sales in the process.

1 – Cost Per Acquisition

This is the first of the most common measuring tool to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaign such as your full color postcard printing. When we say cost per acquisition, it simply means the result of having your target clients respond to your postcard printing ad. You can determine this quantitatively by getting your total cost of mailing your, say, postcards, and then dividing that number by the amount of responses you have.

The cost per acquisition is very important as it helps you to determine whether getting new leads for your business is worth the costs it’s going to take to generate them.

2 – Cost Per Piece

The cost per piece is determined by taking your total cost of mailing your postcards or envelopes and then divide it by the number of pieces you actually sent out. This second measurement is very important to take note of because when you decrease your cost per piece, you also get to lessen your cost per acquisition. Provided however, that you have the same response rate for your print ad.

3 – Response Rate

The third is when you measure your response rate to your direct marketing campaign. You can easily calculate the result by getting the number of people who actually responded to your campaign and then dividing it with the number of people you sent the direct mail package to. The response rate measurement is very important as you can predict early on the success or failure of your direct marketing campaign.

Before anything else, you need to understand that advertising is a science in addition to it being an art. When you employ direct marketing in your promotional campaign, you not only make it more scientific, you also get to quantify results making it easy for you to decide on the best marketing campaign to effect.

Use these three direct marketing measurements to your ads and see which of part of your advertising is wasted and which part can best help you to increase your profits.

SMS Marketing

Texting ads and promotions to customers is an excellent way to announce sales and drive foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores, service providers, and restaurants. But can text messaging drive site traffic to online retailers, too?

Dutch Bros. is a regional, drive-through coffee shop chain in the Western United States. The franchise store in Caldwell, Idaho has built a significant following by sending out one or two text message ads each month offering a deep discount to customers on their short message service (SMS) list.

On a recent morning Dutch Bros. announced via text that all lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, coffees, and the like were just $1 regardless of size. The result was a traffic jam with dozens of vehicles waiting to take advantage of the special. Although Dutch Bros. was probably not making a lot of money selling $5 drinks for $1, it was rewarding loyal customers and building the kind of relationship that will lead to long-term growth.

The SMS Marketing Opportunity

SMS is the technical protocol for sending a text message to and from a mobile handset or similar communications device. Anyone familiar with texting is familiar with SMS. As far as marketing is concerned, SMS uses a model similar to email. Customers opt to receive discounts or other communications via text message, and marketers send messages as promised. The customers should be given a clear opportunity to opt out at any time too.

SMS is actually even more popular outside of the United States, with some estimates stating that there are 2.4 billion active users worldwide.

Ecommerce's Particular Opportunity

Mobile handsets are also changing, as increasingly consumers are choosing smartphones like any of the Android-based devices or the iconic iPhone, which are capable of voice, SMS, and Internet-based communications.

The relationship between SMS capabilities and Internet capabilities in these devices creates a particular opportunity for ecommerce merchants who can send SMS messages to interested consumers with a link that those consumers may act on.

Separately, a published report said that 34 percent of consumers who have opted to receive SMS marketing would, in fact, respond.

Getting Started with SMS Marketing

In most respects, SMS lists can be built in the same way as email lists. Online merchants will want to include opt-in offers on-site and encourage shoppers to join by offering discounts, special offers, or even rewards. For example, when a shopper is checking out, a store may offer a $1 off coupon code for joining an SMS list. The customer enters a valid mobile phone number, and the coupon code is sent via text messages for use on the current purchase.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2805-Should-Online-Retailers-Embrace-SMS-Marketing-

SMS Marketing

Texting ads and promotions to customers is an excellent way to announce sales and drive foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores, service providers, and restaurants. But can text messaging drive site traffic to online retailers, too?

Dutch Bros. is a regional, drive-through coffee shop chain in the Western United States. The franchise store in Caldwell, Idaho has built a significant following by sending out one or two text message ads each month offering a deep discount to customers on their short message service (SMS) list.

On a recent morning Dutch Bros. announced via text that all lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, coffees, and the like were just $1 regardless of size. The result was a traffic jam with dozens of vehicles waiting to take advantage of the special. Although Dutch Bros. was probably not making a lot of money selling $5 drinks for $1, it was rewarding loyal customers and building the kind of relationship that will lead to long-term growth.

The SMS Marketing Opportunity

SMS is the technical protocol for sending a text message to and from a mobile handset or similar communications device. Anyone familiar with texting is familiar with SMS. As far as marketing is concerned, SMS uses a model similar to email. Customers opt to receive discounts or other communications via text message, and marketers send messages as promised. The customers should be given a clear opportunity to opt out at any time too.

SMS is actually even more popular outside of the United States, with some estimates stating that there are 2.4 billion active users worldwide.

Ecommerce's Particular Opportunity

Mobile handsets are also changing, as increasingly consumers are choosing smartphones like any of the Android-based devices or the iconic iPhone, which are capable of voice, SMS, and Internet-based communications.

The relationship between SMS capabilities and Internet capabilities in these devices creates a particular opportunity for ecommerce merchants who can send SMS messages to interested consumers with a link that those consumers may act on.

Separately, a published report said that 34 percent of consumers who have opted to receive SMS marketing would, in fact, respond.

Getting Started with SMS Marketing

In most respects, SMS lists can be built in the same way as email lists. Online merchants will want to include opt-in offers on-site and encourage shoppers to join by offering discounts, special offers, or even rewards. For example, when a shopper is checking out, a store may offer a $1 off coupon code for joining an SMS list. The customer enters a valid mobile phone number, and the coupon code is sent via text messages for use on the current purchase.

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/2805-Should-Online-Retailers-Embrace-SMS-Marketing-

Marketing research can boost your busin

You may have heard of marketing research services but aren’t sure what they involve. Marketing research is not simply a matter of collecting data in order to process it; it involves complex thinking on what subject matters to pursue, and how to go about finding the right information on them.

Data collection

It may seem simple to decide on the concepts and method of data collection that you will use, but it is in fact a far more complicated process; one must find the right questions to ask and know exactly who to aim those questions at; finding the most accurately tailored market sector to question. After this, the content that is gathered must be analysed and understood, taking into account all aspects of the respondent’s feedback in order to make a full and accurate analysis.

Reports

Once data has been fully analysed, a report on said data analysis is then made, detailing a full and accurate conclusion that can be acted upon. These reports generally involve:

Highlights of the survey as well as recommended strategies to follow resulting from the survey, as part of an “Executive summary”

Profiles for each of the participants of the survey, in order to ascertain and ensure that they were fully suited to taking part in the survey

Findings from the survey structured into charts, tables and matrices with accompanying comments; considering all areas of the survey and organized thus

A conclusion section that summarizes all the major points found in the survey, so that the reader can concisely see the major points in an instant, should they need to

As you can see, far more work goes into Marketing Research Services than meets the eye. There are various areas of research than can be studied, all varying widely depending on your needs. They include:

Studies on usage of services or products and their attitude to said product or service

Market development, product development, retail development and creative development

The tracking of product or company image and awareness of said image, in order to ascertain progression of the company or product in the market place

Development of strategies, in order to take the brand or company forward

Employee or customer satisfaction levels, to see how well the company is taking care of their employees or customers

Brand research, to define where the brand sits within the marketplace

Up-to-date Bulk Email Lists - A Big Boon For Online Marketing

Bulk email is essentially mail sent to a large number of people and in this sense bulk email lists are an integral part of online marketing campaigns. At times such bulk mails may have useful information that is dispatched to a specific targeted group of recipients through a business email list. Very often it can also contain unsolicited advertisements and other types of junk mails sent to a massive audience. Companies may get their hands on email addresses through random searching of message boards or implanting viruses to extract addresses from individual address books.

Bulk email lists are also used by advertising, gambling and pornographic sites, and novelty items, cosmetic pills are some of the products that are generally promoted through such emails. To make sure that your message is effective, you need to have a solid business email list to reach out to your target audience. A little more important than the impact of the message are recipients on your bulk email lists, to whom these mails are being sent.

Therefore, you should choose a list carefully. These lists are maintained by certain companies, are regularly updated and affordably priced. You can browse through such bulk email lists to locate the right audience for sale.

Bulk email list is the best possible way to sell new products and services to regular customers and also get sales from new customers. When there are not enough resources for marketing or not enough time to organize them well, a wise alternative is to get in touch with bulk email list service providers and let them handle your marketing campaigns. However, prior to finalizing the type of service, make sure you know exactly what it will achieve for your business. Following are some factors you can consider when opting for such services -

The bulk email list must contain fresh and updated email addresses so that mails are sent to recipients that are most likely to open and read them.

* The list needs to contain valid updated addresses and not those which are no longer in use.
* Avoid working with a company that is willing to sell their list outright. This obviously suggests that the company has sold it previously to multiple clients. This automatically lessens the possibilities of a healthy conversion rate for you. Regular bulk emails lists providers update and maintain their lists for clients.
* It is better to pay more for a service that effectively manages and addresses your business needs and ensures that your mails reach only those recipients where chances of finalizing a sale are high. Though initial costs are more, at least a return is guaranteed.
* Hire services of a bulk email list provider who knows how to structure and design emails and make them appear attractive enough to recipients who may perhaps have tried to block pictures of such emails.

Today companies have taken greatly to email marketing through companies handling bulk email lists because it is inexpensive yet effective. Besides, this is the best way to attract prospective clients with a goal of converting as many of them into customers as possible. Companies as these offer premium business lists from across the world, giving their clients access to global business databases at very reasonable rates. Quality control is assured because these lists are regularly updated and hence ensures repeat customers.

Marketing research can boost your business

You may have heard of marketing research services but aren’t sure what they involve. Marketing research is not simply a matter of collecting data in order to process it; it involves complex thinking on what subject matters to pursue, and how to go about finding the right information on them.

Data collection

It may seem simple to decide on the concepts and method of data collection that you will use, but it is in fact a far more complicated process; one must find the right questions to ask and know exactly who to aim those questions at; finding the most accurately tailored market sector to question. After this, the content that is gathered must be analysed and understood, taking into account all aspects of the respondent’s feedback in order to make a full and accurate analysis.

Reports

Once data has been fully analysed, a report on said data analysis is then made, detailing a full and accurate conclusion that can be acted upon. These reports generally involve:

Highlights of the survey as well as recommended strategies to follow resulting from the survey, as part of an “Executive summary”

Profiles for each of the participants of the survey, in order to ascertain and ensure that they were fully suited to taking part in the survey

Findings from the survey structured into charts, tables and matrices with accompanying comments; considering all areas of the survey and organized thus

A conclusion section that summarizes all the major points found in the survey, so that the reader can concisely see the major points in an instant, should they need to

As you can see, far more work goes into Marketing Research Services than meets the eye. There are various areas of research than can be studied, all varying widely depending on your needs. They include:

Studies on usage of services or products and their attitude to said product or service

Market development, product development, retail development and creative development

The tracking of product or company image and awareness of said image, in order to ascertain progression of the company or product in the market place

Development of strategies, in order to take the brand or company forward

Employee or customer satisfaction levels, to see how well the company is taking care of their employees or customers

Brand research, to define where the brand sits within the marketplace

The Whole World Is Your Marketplace

Throughout the ages of our civilization, merchants have been limited to how many customers they could get to shop in their stores. Only within the past century has an organized postal service been able to expand a companies customer base through mail order catalogs and advertising. Then at the end of the twentieth century the internet and the world wide web have made it possible to offer your wares to the just about everyone in the world.

With the advent of increased security for online money transfer, the online market has become a prime selling place for just about everything imaginable. Secure Socket Layering to protect sensitive credit card data has increased the use of internet shopping by an astronomical rate. According to "Business Week" magazine, over 44% of people who use the internet do their banking online as well. The l

The latest innovation to increase the security of online transactions is the prepaid debit card. This new concept takes away the potential danger of having your bank account data being intercepted. You can purchase a card for the amount of your online purchase and then use its data to complete the transaction.

It has never been so inexpensive to get your product before so many potential customers before. Compared to print advertisements a company website is not only more affordable but offers a greater ability to show the user just why they would want to purchase an item. A savvy internet marketer will make the best use of the media. Since there are still many people on slow dialup connections, a business website should not
use too many flashy bandwidth intensive features on their sales pages but design them to be clean and informative.

It is not just the traditional retail merchant that has prospered from the global spread of internet marketing. The music and entertainment industry has changed its look now that so many people are willing to pay to download a music album or movie directly off the internet. Flea markets are slowly dwindling as more people use auction sites like eBay to sell their wares. With the global competition this brings, the more profitable dealers can now run their sales from their homes rather than drag their merchandise back and forth every week.

Other outlets that have grown in popularity with the expansion of the internet is in the "name your price" style websites like PriceLine.com and the HotWire.com "find the best price" models. E-mail advertising has become extremely popular. With its ability to send an advertising letter to thousands of people at no extra cost it has gained immensely over traditional postal mailings. Recent reports indicate that over 90% of all e-mails sent are advertising some product or service and has grown into a multi billion dollar industry in itself.

But with success come other inevitable concerns. With business being done all over the world, state governments especially in the United States are increasing their pursuit of the sales tax money they feel are owed to them from your online sales. While government has yet to find a reliable way to monitor and enforce their tax laws onto the internet marketplace yet, remember that even the global internet store is still a commercial venture.