Why bother setting direct mail campaign tracking with online tools? Isn’t proving ROI and tracking direct mail campaigns difficult and/or expensive? Many marketers think so. In fact, 
Direct Mail Campaign Tracking = Smart Marketing
It’s no secret that direct mail campaigns are perceived to be expensive by many marketers. Despite all sorts of evidence that direct mail delivers consistently high response rates and return on investment, the costs of postage, paper and printing are considered high, especially in relation to newer channels like email, social and online display. To prove the doubters wrong, marketers and agencies need facts. Without detailed direct mail campaign tracking, budget dollars, resources and attention will chase new, sexy “game changer” marketing tactics, some of which will stick, and others which will fade away.
Online Tracking For Offline Campaigns?
“Counter-intuitive” seems like the phrase used to describe the idea of using online tools to track offline marketing campaigns like direct mail. However, if you pay attention to both B2B and consumer behavior changes of the past few years, it probably makes more sense. The reality is that buyers respond to ANY type of outreach by going online. If you’re reading this, you probably get it. Up to 94% of B2B buyers and 81% of Consumers will conduct online research prior to buying. The question is – how best to bridge the gap between direct mail and online traffic generated by it?
Tip #1 – PURL Redirect Campaigns – The Fast & Easy Way To Track Direct Mail
The Personalized URL Redirect Campaign is the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to set up detailed tracking for any direct mail campaign. These campaigns are:
- Set up in minutes using the same contact list that your mailer is using.
- Pointed to ANY web page hosted on any system. There’s no need to build a custom landing page for the tracking to work properly.
- Easily configured to tell you exactly who on your list responded online, when and how often.
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Learn How You Can Set Up A Redirect Campaign In Boingnet
Redirect Campaign Knowledgebase Article
Tip #2 – The Latest Breakthrough – Variable Redirect Campaigns
Recently, marketers have been implementing campaigns that combine the speed and ease of PURL Redirect Campaigns with the personalization advantages of traditional PURL Campaigns. Variable Redirect Campaigns are able to use Variable Data elements from the contact list (such as name, email, phone, sales rep, etc.) and pass them to a generic landing page as variables. Therefore, when your contact goes to their PURL, the redirect informs the generic page who is visiting. In addition, it sends that page contact specific data from the contact record, while recording the visit. How can you do this? With a little bit of Javascript dropped into the generic page and a properly formatted redirect URL.
This is an example set up within a standard HubSpot Landing Page – just a tiny piece of JavaScript:
To set up the Boingnet redirect, it just requires the naming of the Variables in the URL. You can structure the URL string like this:
http://boingnet-2334833.hs-sites.com/en-us/bn-external-form-0?firstname=%First Name%&lastname=%Last Name%&email=%Email%&website=%Variable Data 2%&jobtitle=%Variable Data 3%
Variable Data Redirects represent a new way to use existing landing pages and apply direct mail campaign tracking AND personalization.
Tip #3 – The Full Monty PURL Campaign
Your best bet to set up direct mail campaign tracking is to create a traditional PURL Marketing campaign. While it may take a bit longer to build a Personalized URL landing page or microsite, the benefits of being able to personalize the ENTIRE experience (from images and headlines to forms and links), the ability to not only track who visited the page but actually who converted (filled out a form) and what exactly each contact clicked on. This is what real direct mail campaign tracking looks like:
Conclusion
You can easily set up direct mail campaign tracking using modern online tools, with minimal cost and effort. Think about it; your audience is going online to conduct research no matter what. As a result, it’s a no-brainer to set up a landing page and track the activity using these simple techniques.
Boingnet helps clients strategize, set up and optimize direct mail campaign tracking every day. Some clients use Boingnet on a “self-serve” basis, while others use our Marketing Services team to build landing pages, microsites, PURLs and more. To learn more about our platform and services: