April 20, 2016   |   Vol. 15   |   Issue 4
By Rebecca Rubin, MGI Account Supervisor

Implementing Channel Integration for Better Response

Many associations see online and mail recruitment efforts as mutually exclusive. Organizations will often rotate between email and direct mail campaigns in their acquisition efforts.

Interspersing standalone mail and email campaigns can prove cost efficient, and it enables you to avoid exhausting any one medium with your prospect base.

But while both channels can prove individually effective, when combined into an integrated campaign, we’ve seen campaign performance increase by as much as 63% over single channel campaigns.

If your association is in a position to also add outbound telemarketing into the mix for anyone who opens an email but abandons the registration process, your response rates can climb even higher.

And with response rates increasing by that wide of a margin, the integrated campaign can end up costing less per acquisition than the individual channel campaign.

Let’s address a few of the questions we are often asked when discussing integrated campaigns:

• What is the mix of touch points we find most effective?
  If your organization enjoys a high level of brand awareness and you’re primarily looking to close the sale, we’ve found that leading with the mailing and using emails as the reminders is most effective. While we suggest multiple follow up emails be sent, even one email will lift response. If your association is still struggling with brand awareness, tying a member acquisition campaign into a larger up front print or online awareness effort can boost response.
• Do we recommend paying to rent email records?
  Typically not. In most cases we combine email and mail for organizations’ house prospects. Unless an available email list is extremely well-qualified, it generally isn’t worth the expense of renting it.
• How do you time the drops of the campaign elements?
  Testing may make sense to determine the most productive frequency and spacing for your audience. We recommend dropping the first email around the same time the mailing reaches prospects, with additional emails each spaced out by a week.

What else should you keep in mind for integrated campaigns?

• Maintain a cohesive look and message throughout. The campaign elements should all reflect similar messaging, the same offer if one is being used, and a cohesive look. The idea of an integrated campaign is to have the touch points reinforce one another to incite action.
• Put tracking in place to ensure measurability. As with any direct marketing campaign, you want to be able to measure the effectiveness of your efforts. Both the mailing and the emails will need to have coding in place so that you can assess the performance of each individual campaign element as well as the cumulative response.
• Respect communication preferences and opt-outs. If you have captured communication preferences in your database for your house prospects, adhere to them. Ensure that you’re suppressing your email opt-outs from the emails, and ensure that if you are emailing into Canada, you are CASL-compliant.

For more information about developing integrated marketing campaigns to increase member acquisitions, please contact MGI Account Supervisor Rebecca Rubin, CDM, at RRubin@MarketingGeneral.com or tel.703.706.0395.