Timing on a Two-Touch Postcard / Email Campaign
Wednesday, 16 May 2012 13:50
Timing on a Two-Touch Postcard / Email Campaign
Let’s say you have a two-touch direct mail campaign ready to send. The first touch will be a postcard. The second will be a follow-up email. What’s the best way to handle the timing? Here are some ideas from some of the top marketers around the industry.
The standard approach is to follow up with an email five to seven days after the postcard hits. This provides immediate reinforcement for the mailing. If the recipient hasn’t looked at the postcard, it might encourage them to do so.
The timing depends on the geography of the mailing and the mailing services used, however. If you are mailing locally, you can assume that most people will have received the postcard within a few days. If you are sending nationally, it may take anywhere from one to two weeks for a first-class mailing and two to four weeks for a bulk mailing to arrive. For bulk mailing, some marketers might wait the full four weeks before following up by email. Others might split the difference at three weeks.
Whichever you choose, it’s best not to give any more than two weeks (maximum—one week is better) between the most likely postcard receipt date and the follow-up.
How soon the follow-ups need to be sent will depend on your brand strength, your offer, and other factors. So be sure to build in tracking so you can see who’s responding to which type of contact and when. What percentage of respondents contacted you based on the postcard only? What percentage of respondents were prompted by the follow-up email? Can you learn anything between the profiles of the two?
Make sure to test the timing, as well. Add or subtract days to see what is working best for you. If you follow up by email five days the mail hits, what kind of response do you get? If you follow up after three days, does the response improve or depress response?
This kind of monitoring and measurement, and tweaking based on the results will ultimately determine your long-range success.
