Using Direct Mail to Rev E-Commerce Results

E-commerce marketers who are smart about planting direct mail in their marketing mix can reap healthier results, points out a recent post by Ernan Roman Direct Marketing on CustomerThink.com. Mail has a unique ability to enhance the B2B and B2C customer experience with a physical "shareability" that digital channels lack, for example. The article draws attention to the History Channel's arty photo postcard promotion of its History Asia programming as an example. The channel estimates the mail campaign generated $1.2 million in PR value via professional interest, social media and requests for the actual art pieces featured in the postcards. Catalogs are another example of physical mail's ability to enhance customer engagement. That's why a major national retailer like Anthropologie uses catalogs as their principal form of advertising "to inspire and engage"(and drive sales). Indeed, direct mail can directly guide the e-commerce customer's purchase journey. For example, online men's retailer Bonobos added print catalogs after a series of successful tests, and now 20% of first-time customers place orders after receiving a catalog and spend 1.5 times as much as other new buyers. Plus, direct mail can be used to lengthen and strengthen online brand engagement, the Ernan Roman article notes, citing the example of Homebase, an online UK home and gardening retailer frustrated by the sales limits of its short spring gardening rush. By targeting high-value gardening customers with a well-timed 500,000-piece mail campaign, Homebase hoped to get customers to shop earlier and spend more. The mailing succeeded in getting customers to visit the site 33% more often and spend 20% more. For more details, read http://customerthink.com/myth-busted-how-direct-mail-can-actually-enrich-the-digital-customer-journey/