New Research: Offline media drives online response

Arguably, the most burning question in marketing at present is “where does my search come from?” A very similar question can be posed in an entirely different way: ”Why are my response rates declining?” What these apparently conflicting questions indicate is that the paradigm in marketing measurement has shifted and marketers need to catch up fast.

Pre-internet, response measurement was simple
Direct marketing channels such as door drops have long benefited from having a tried and tested, linear measurement approach that meant they were seen as accountable.

You used a unique telephone number and measured the number of responses and, from this, the number of conversions received once they were distributed. You knew how much it had cost to produce and distribute the door drop and you measured this against the sales generated and the margin made to arrive at a return on investment.

Search engines complicate response measurement
All very straightforward, until the arrival of the internet when marketers began to put their web addresses onto their door drops alongside the unique telephone number.

All very straightforward, until the arrival of the search engines when it soon became apparent that the novelty of typing a full url into their browser had worn off for consumers. They much preferred to just tap your brand into Google to find you, thereby further clouding the issue.

Notwithstanding this, marketers began to actively encourage consumers to use the web to respond – sometimes even incentivising them to do so. And in many cases, they then simply forgot to work out how to measure the response through this new channel. Or perhaps they tried, but it was a bit complicated so they ignored it. Until the responses to the unique telephone number began to decline.

Offline media does influence online response
At the same time, web analytics began to tell them how many responses they were receiving online without beginning to dig into where they were actually coming from. So, they began to invest less in the declining direct channels that they used to understand and more in the digital channels that they didn’t understand, but it was flying so what the heck.

Then they realised that when they stopped the offline, their online went down, and they fall to their knees weeping; ”so really, does it have to be so complicated!” And we arrive back at our starting point. Where does my search come from and why are my response rates falling?

New research helps marketers measure response
In an attempt to dry the tears of the marketer, portrayed above at their wits’ end, the DMA Door Drop Board Committee and the DMA Inserts Council decided to put their heads together and organise a piece of research to help. This took place in June 2011 and the results were presented at the first ever DMA Door Drop Board Committee and DMA Inserts Council collaborative event in November.

Thanks to the generosity of the Royal Mail and Trinity Mirror, clients were offered free media to measure the proportion of response to a leaflet that drove both to a conventional response channel – such as a call centre via a unique telephone number or a high street store – and to the web. The results were fascinating for the brands involved and the wider audience.

Results prove offline media drives online response
Overall, an average of 56% of the response went online across both insert and door drop tests. To put it another way, if those clients had been measuring purely based on the linear response to the traditional response channel, they would have been underestimating the impact of that campaign by about half.

To gain deeper understanding we have looked at the results for each sector in more detail:

Retail: The Perfume Shop
The Perfume Shop delivered 250,000 leaflets via Newshare, targeted at a customer profile within the store catchments of selected high street shops. Perhaps predictably, given that the product appeals to the senses and the targeting was skewed in favour of a store visit, 80% of the redemptions to the coupon were indeed in store.

However, what impressed the client was that 20% of their redemptions went online and of these an amazing 90% of them were from new customers, reminding retailers what most direct response advertisers already know – that door drop is a very cost-effective way to recruit new customers.

Finance: Chartis Direct
Chartis Direct was advertising a brand new product in the UK market – a cancer insurance product. It delivered 300,000 leaflets via the Royal Mail and amazingly 100% of the response to this leaflet went online, perhaps indicating that consumers wanted to do a little private research on such a sensitive product before they took the next step of actually talking to someone about it.

Finance: Debt Free Direct
Debt Free Direct delivered 500,000 leaflets via both Newshare and Royal Mail to advertise its services. This was targeted using customer profiles identifying relevant Financial ACORN types.

The response was split 50:50 between offline and online and, interestingly, 27% of leads were converted to sales. This indicated that the targeting had done its job and that the leaflet had driven greater consideration of the product on offer prior to the start of the sales process.

What this says about direct channels and online response
It is evident that there are a number of factors that will affect the percentage of online response. This will include the range of products being promoted, the number of response channels available, the target market and its relative online usage.

What this does demonstrate categorically is that online response is now a very significant part of an overall campaign. In this study, it accounted for more than half of all responses received. Accurate measurement is thus more vital than ever before, if marketers want to really understand how every channel in their media mix is working.

The DMA Door Drop Board Committee and DMA Inserts Council will publish the full research in early 2012.

Mark Davies, Managing Director, TNT Post