A couple of months ago the Direct Mail blog focused on utilizing PURLs as a response method on direct mail pieces. To recap, PURLs are simply personalized URLs (www.briansumner.com, for example). The thinking is that people will be more inclined to check out a website with their name as part of the URL, thus turning into a lead. We asked the readers what they thought of this idea and their response was … nothing. Not one single person had an opinion (or not single person read it).
This month, I’m putting the challenge out there. I’m looking for 10 people to respond to the topic below. If that magical number is hit, our very own Michael Mackie will dress up and wear a chicken outfit for an entire day (he doesn’t know about this yet, so let’s keep this on the down-low).
Topic: Do you think a direct mail campaign is more successful if the person receiving the piece has their personal information pre-populated on the business reply slip/card? By personal information, I mean mainly name and address.
I’ve been looking for data that supports this argument one way or the other and have come up empty handed. The Direct Mail team is pushing to test this (currently we pre-populate everything we send out), but until we have some rock-solid data, we want your opinion. Remember, we need 10 people to respond in order for Mr. Mackie to dawn the chicken outfit.
You have the topic, now discuss.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
I’m not sure about PURLs. I think the idea is solid, but if I recieved an offer with my name in the URL my knee-jerk reaction would be, “what’s the catch?” I would know that I had not persoally set up a website using my name, so I would be a bit skeptical…questioning the legitmacy of the campaign and the security of my personal information.
Bring on the chicken.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I think we have some data supporting something similar in e-mail marketing. We pre-populate contact form landing pages so the user only has to fill in minimal information. Not only is this easier for the user, but it adds some legitimacy to the campaign as well.
I’ll pester British Matt to see what hard data we can come up with on this.
December 14th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I’m not sure that pre-populating the reply card would be the thing to make or break someone’s decision - to send it in or not to send it in. If it’s a few less words you have to write and it makes the piece feel more personalized - I think it would be a good thing. Unless of course you sent the piece to my mom and she wanted to fill it out for me… then I guess that poses a problem. People might hesitate to send it back in if it doesn’t have the correct contact info on the card. I think this is definitely test worthy.
I can’t wait to see Michael as a chicken…
December 14th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I personally don’t feel this should matter one way or another. I never look at the address to see if my actual name is on it, I’m only interested in the design and message.
December 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I think it would make the recipiant feel like the piece was sent to them with their good in mind. If I receive something that already has my information on it I assume that the company has done their research. Unless it is a credit card then it goes in the shreader.
Michael is going to be a good looking chicken. Can I get some mashed potatoes with that?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:51 am
We are a print provider. We recently started providing PURL services. The first one we did was for our company. We wanted to “test drive” the new technology to make sure we could meet the expectations we are setting for our customers. We received a 12.83% hit rate and a 10.58 percent conversion rate. Needless to say, we were very happy with the results of our campaign.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Maria - Thanks for the feedback on your test. Are you able to give me an idea on how big of an increase that is compared to what you normally see as a hit and conversion rate? Also, can you elaborate more on the type of offer that was contained in your message?