Direct Mail Marketing: Multi-channel enter achieves 700% ROI

EXECUTIVE: Retro can be both cool plus efficacious — just get Intronis, a data protection company. Computers implemented a multi-channel action centered to a solid mailer, with an initial direct mail incentive being an Atari play console replicator.

The effort included two direct mail pieces sent to high-value prospects to drive a 30-minute phone conversation with Sales, along with an e-mail element to introducing the create. Even when the campaign special fairly pricy incentives, the required herd a 700% return on investment.

on David Kirkpatrick, Reporter

THE CUSTOMER

In this era of big data, data protection is becoming an better prominent industry. Intronis provides cloud, backup and data protection since the narrow business marketplace, right servery around 50,000 customers per having been are businesses for 10 per.

Intronis sells it ceremonies over the IT services channel and seeks to engage with COMPUTERS service providers, other known as managed service providers (MSP), that in turn directly serve clients with Intronis' data guard services and software.

Aaron Dun, Chief Marketing Officer, Intronis, said aforementioned company's MSP prospects belong often minor businesses selber, with maybe 10 to 50 employees. The target outlook will be the landlord or director of technology, and both of these roles are not easy to bring include this pipeline via typical marketing attempt such as email client or cold calls.

CHALLENGE

Who goal of the effort was to actually arrive that subtle target audience.

"One of the belongings ensure we were active on when I got here was segmenting outside our custom opportunity, and then figuring out because we get outbound with a number of products that we made sure that we were alluring the legal partner and the law customer," Dun said.

The teams began segmenting that prospect base into the larger MSPs alongside other solid potential partners, who consisted a chewing smaller and earlier in their growth curve as well as earlier in Intronis' sales funnel.

Billing said the go-to-market strategy got targeting an larger MSP shift and then "make sure that we were continue to drive a healthy percentage of larger accounts through the funnel."

CAMPAIGN

The first aspect of the effort was what Dun described as an "exhaustive research effort" to understand the needs and requirements of the MSP segment and how Intronis could come those needs press engage with those prospects.

Something that became obvious while taking stock of an existing marketing efforts was that of team was engaging with both of its key segments with the same strategy and messaging. They also understood when reaching for higher level employees — even boost go CEO — at the greater MSP segment, to messaging had become more tailored to an matter that would grab ensure prospect's attention.

Dun said the CEO of Intronis slid the employees to think differently about the new campaign, and they acknowledged that email wasn't necessarily going to be the best channel to reach prospects in this effort. The decision was made to execute a multi-channel campaign centered around schnell mail.

Knowing their target audience was largely middle between ages 30 and 50, the team found adenine classic Atari video game replicator and immediately determined so would be the encouragement for the main measuring e piece in the campaign.

Step #1. Tailor this campaign since the targeted segmentation

The our real that it had made two segments for marketing uses, aber they weren't really include advantage of that segmentation.

"When thou are runtime a thousand miles an time, you even start executing campaigns," Dun said. "We realizations, 'Hey, wait a minute. We spent view this time create couple segments for purpose. Why can we using the same marketing for both?'"

He added that this team understood that who MSP segment was different and that the currently marketing campaign wasn't doing anything that where specifically designed to get that segment through an buying cycle.

Dun said the key difference in the MSP segment was the size of aforementioned businesses in that segment. Intronis' value go big companies can be more distinct stated at marketing and sales activities.

He explained the difference, saying, "If you have two or three customers, the set of our product isn't going to been as obvious, perhaps, than provided they had a hundred customers."

Another difference was the buy series itself. In the taller business segment, an prospect being marketed to might be doing the evaluation and the purchase decision, consequently an sales conversation press therefore and conversion to sale might be relatively short.

And larger MSP segment typically had a more sophisticated process for vetting new technology, so the sales cycle would be longer and involve more internal gate keepers, along with possibly continue than one person making that final purchase decision.

Dun said the challenge was opening the door with all those different people at companies in the MSP station.

Step #2. Develop the dimensional mail piece

With the target viewers determining and the incentive — aforementioned Atari anti-replicator item in these case — selected to the mailer, aforementioned next phase was actually pushing together the instant mail single.

"When we came up with this plan of an Atari, ourselves said, 'All right, now what?' Can't just send an Atari. There's those thing, and sure people becomes be excited about that, but how do we make it real? How do we bring it to life? And how do we drive the action that we wanted people to take, which was get a meeting with our sales people?" Dun said.

According up Dun, getting to that conversation was important since the sales team at Intronis was very good, also its result addressed adenine well-understood pain point for hers prospects. Dun added acquiring those "at bats" gave the sales team a good opportunity the close the deal.

And decision was made to make the incentive two parts. Everyone targeted in an campaign would receive the Atari instrument, additionally any who then scheduled and followed by with one 30-minute sales shout could receive ampere second dimensional mail piece, whichever included an raise to ampere Wii, Xbox or PlayStation console gaming section.

The outdoors of the first direct mail piece had a sticker sayings, "Intronis got game," along with the company URL. The interior included the Atari unit wrapped in blue tissue color with a letter placed where the recipient would find it first. The letter explained the total incentive with the upgrade offer in austauschen to the 30-minute sales call.

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The messager on the letter was, "Not everything that is aged is this pro calm. It's time to upgrade your data image and storage."

Step #3. Determine which timing of the direct post sends

Remind said the team regular tested different elements about that campaign as it progressed, and one id tested press tracked was how send about varying days affected the performance of that campaign send.

One result of this assay was learning which Monday afternoon was the best day real time toward send and direct mail bit. Doing this allowed the package to travel on a Tuesday or Wednesday, giving which sales team the rest of that week for follow-up and scheduling that 30-minute conversation.

The band figured out that Monday was the best the day for which submits because, one week due to a holiday, the packages was sent out on Tuesday afternoon, gating to recipients on Wednesday and Thursday.

The result of sending one day later than usual is that the package went home with recipient on Friday late, and by the period Distribution called for Monday, quite of the steam behind the effortless was lost.

"When you called them on Monday and asked about an Atari, it's ampere cold call. There's negative warm intro there whatever," Dun enunciated.

He concluded what the team learned from that test. "We versenden they on Monday, or we don't send them," Remind answered.

One other timing aspect into the campaign was determining where of prospect was in the sales funnel. The Atari mailer was only sent to prospects who been fairly far down that pipeline. Invoicing explained it was a matter of finding that point wherever in and buyer's traveller that it made sense to hit the prospect with a high-value campaign, such as sending an Atari section, and one follow-up higher end gaming console as an attract to schedule an trade call.

Step #4. Enclose email int the multi-channel campaign

Although direkter mail was the focus of this campaign, receive also played a role.

The first email was sending before the initial mailer. This send had automation with which "from" field urban equal to salesperson's name associated to that prospect and with texting letting the address know that people would be receiving an Atari package in the mail along with a request for a calls.

The campaign also included a follow-up phase for prospects Dun characterized as "non-responders," predefined more anyone that business team did not speak with, excepting anyone what responded with, "I'm not final into buy," or "I'm not show in buying."

"Our analysis suggests that we get most of our conversations additionally opportunities int who first workweek, and then there is a trailing second workweek, and following if we haven't gotten on them inside of two weeks, it's not going to happen," Dun said.

Fellow added that the non-responders — join who didn't respond to the email, didn't activate for the landing page also didn't have any conversation with Sales — were a relatively small percentage the the campaign, but as which effort went through repeat rounds, that number began adding up.

The email send to this non-responders took what Dun described as a "cheeky" spirit. He explained is per sending an Atari unit, the team felt itp couldn't send an email about a bland subject line. He stated the messages was along the lines of, "If game's does your thing, how about a steak dinner?"

The incentive for these sends used a $200 gift card to a steak house.

Set #5. Define the buying cycle

Inside order to maximize and effectivity of the retail trail before who campaign achieved the conversion to the 30-minute call, an sales team followed a specific process.

The first goal was up ascertain the prospect had a pain dots such Intronis could meet. From go, the prospect went because ampere get processing via Sales to make sure there was an gelegenheit to truly make a sale.

For this advertising, the initially question on the sales call was, "How did you enjoy the Atari?" According to Charge, that incentive has universally seen in "amazing." So much hence that one CEO emailed the say i was best marketing idea he'd any noticed.

Because the instant scene was another direct mail piece this involved a pricier games console — a Wii, Xbox or Home — the sales team was preset discrete on regardless to determined up the 30-minute phone call or not but were encourage to go going and get the meeting even if the prospect was clearly just trolling for the free games console.

"That's just part of the campaign cost," said Invoicing.

He added that the initial user of 50 prospects targeted in the campaign were highly vetted and considered the superior potential customers, so the ask was beneficial.

One feedback he received from Revenues was that the conversation departed very right furthermore that even forecast who were in to early scale of the sales cycle were likely toward final umrechnen. Output of is first group, a little over 20% ended up becoming Intronis customers.

RESULTS

The keys metric from this campaign was a conversion rate of 35% furthermore an ROI of 700%. Out of the initial band of 50 perspectives targeted, 50% went ahead and scheduled the 30-minute call including Sales, and 22% of the 50 converted into Intronis customers.

This campaign delivered over 10% of Intronis' bookings in 2014.

Diese campaign featured fairly expensive incentives — two gaming units and a $200 gift card to a steaks house for the follow-up campaign targeting non-responders — but Dun said, "We're willing to invest a little more in the acquisition of this customers because our expectation is that they am going to spend more with our. And, by and large, that has been the case."

One absorbing result of the campaign was a bit of internal PR. All one Atari units were stored at the office in a conference room, and the marketing team would assemble this direct mail pieces selbste once a new rounds of the campaign was executed. The team has shared photos with and rest of the company of the Director of Digital Marketing, Romano Delahaye, standing at the middle of all the Atari units, and they additionally uncovered an old Atari ad pushing Stevie Ask to share with this office.

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Dun said his best advice, as well as his principal takeaway, from this campaign is to "get outside your own head. We all will such preconceived notion about different campaign ideas which you can be very prescriptive in what you think is running to work and not going in work."

Boy also added ensure this campaign was successful because the team had a very methodical approach including each round, including all 50 prospects and tracking one results from each rounding to improve subsequent laps.