The USPS has announced there will be not rate increases in 2010. Obviously, this is good news for those in the direct mail business. As the economy recovers marketers will be able to spend money more on their message and less on delivery.
http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091016/FREE/910169997/1078/newsletter011
Personalization is a popular direct marketing tactic to help stand out among the clutter that enters consumers’ mailboxes and inboxes. But in today’s technologically advanced world, simple personalization doesn’t cut it anymore. “We follow the Seth Godin school: You have to be absolutely remarkable to make a difference,” says Jay Regan, vice president of client development at Daytona Beach, Fla.-based cross-media marketing solutions organization DME.
“So good marketing is actually awful; excellent marketing you might get your toes in the water. The name of the game is to be remarkable and get attention,” he expounds.
Here, Regan and Ed Ickowski, director of business development and sales for variable data printing and cross-media marketing software provider DirectSmile, share insights on how to make personalization remarkable.
1. Have a good database. First and foremost, you need to have a good, clean database, says Ickowski, and it’s important to have a strategy behind what you want to do with that database. “”If you’re working on a campaign for a vacation request but don’t have in the database that some people like skiing and some people like the beach, and you only send people a personalized image with their name spelled in snow blocks, well, you’ve alienated the other half of your database,” he illustrates.
2. Personalize it. No, really personalize it. Sometimes, all you know is a person’s name and address, but when you have the data to truly personalize, do it. “For customer retention especially, it is sinful to have something go out that says, ‘Dear Customer,’” says Regan. “You have the tools now that aren’t very expensive to not only call them by name, but to use other bits of the data. You know, ‘Thank you for your patronage for the last 10 years.’ ‘Thank you for being a season ticket holder for the last five years.’ ‘All the other fans in section 232 look forward to seeing you this season.’ Believe in that one-to-one communication.”
Ickowski agrees: “Personalization doesn’t just mean creating a great, beautiful image on the front and the back, but it’s also putting their name in different areas and making sure the campaign matches the imagery.”
3. Do something different. DirectSmile leverages its technology to create personalized images that go back to the Godin school of thought. For example, DirectSmile can take a customer’s alma mater and create an image of that school’s band spelling out the recipient’s name on the school’s football field (see image below). “Somebody gets that personalized postcard form the university with their name spelled out on the football field, the inclination is not to throw that piece out. They’re like, ‘Wow, there’s my name!’ and they’ll turn it over to see the offer,” describes Ickowski.
4. Be multichannel. Integrate your campaign, with the personalization following suit, across all channels—print, e-mail and online. There are instances where single-channel personalization still works, but it’s becoming more and more vital to hit consumers from all angles.
5. Track it. “We will not let a program out of here unless we can track it because even if it fails, that’s the only way we’re going to learn,” says Regan. “… We actually insist with our clients, ‘If you’re not going to track this, we don’t want to do business.’ That sounds like a harsh statement, but we’re in this to develop a relationship. And unless you track, you’re not going to have basis to go forward. That’s important.”
By Lori Gertz
Those who have success with direct mail tell everyone they know how effective it has been for them and how amazing their return on investment is, but often I hear from confused marketers how while they hear it is the single most effective element in someone else’s marketing mix, they can’t seem to make it work for themselves.
What I’m finding is that it usually is because they don’t “get” the right techniques for using direct mail, and as such they rarely make the most of even a smidgen of the opportunity that good direct mail can offer.
The golden rule of direct mail success sounds something like this: Success is based 40% on the list you use, 40% on the strength and relevancy of the offer you make, and 20% on how you execute. In other words, it is much more about saying the right thing to the right audience than how you say it. Content beats style for sure!
1. Do they even read ‘em?
While 25% of most ads are read, the Direct Marketing Association’s proven statistics are that 75% of mail is opened and read. When you consider that direct mail costs more per contact as it compares to an ad reaching the masses (many of whom it doesn’t relate to anyway) this is an important statistic to remember, because the quality of contact is much better with direct mail.
2. How many prospects/customers will call me as a result of my mailing?
As for the response rate you should hope for, 2% is the industry norm for prospecting leads. This has long been reported by the Direct Marketing Association in cases where “more information” is the call to action. While 2% may seem low, consider that on a percentage basis, ads typically get response levels below .5%.
Also, consider that the responses from a pre-qualified mailing list are almost always better than from any othersource. I guess the most important point here is not to get all hung up in the averages, and keep your eye on your objectives.
3. How many touchpoints do I make? How often should I mail?
The general rule is to mail 3 times in a relatively condensed period of time. Typically, you will receive 60% of your total response from the first mailing, 20-30% from your second, and under 10% from your third.
4. Should I change my offer or my message and how often?
New people will enter your market all the time. If you are mailing to the same list, don’t mail the exact same package many times in a very short period of time- you must give the market time to change.
5. Where should I get my mailing list?
Start with your own POS system. Current customers are by far the best because they already know you, trust you, and do business with you. Plus, experts say that it costs 6-10X more to convert a prospect into a customer than it does to sell to your past customers.
The next best lists are your sales leads that have inquired about you and your product or company before. They have already pre-qualified themselves as in the market for what you have to sell, and it’s seldom that people inquire about things who aren’t authorized to buy them or play a role in picking them.
Since most of your mail will be working to identify new prospects, finding a reputable list broker who carries lists that are regularly scrubbed (cleaned and purged), from media files to postal delivery lists. With selects up to the thousands, you can pull your lists by virtually any criteria you can think of. Drilling down to specific segments is amazing. Some lifestyle databases have up to 30+ different “markers” per individual – from gender, age, and income to value of house, hobbies, and type of pet or pets owned. Lists can also be crossed with each other to further fine tune a prospective audience. The best rule is to investigate the method the lists were compiled to see if they are on the up and up in terms of quality. Again, a reputable list broker will put his or her reputation on the line to assure quality of their lists.
6. What is the best “Call to Action”?
If you are selling direct, the best offer is related directly to your product or service. Go for the order right outta the mailbox! If you are selling b2b or high-end merchandise, the better offer would be for more information. In a lot of cases, the sale can’t be made until two people talk. Contact and a sales “touch” is imperative. The role of the direct mail in this case, is to identify the prospect and create a situation for that personal touchpoint to occur. Product literature like How To Guides, Case Studies, and white papers offer more information in a highly professional manner and they will increase response as they help to differentiate your product and company as superior and more “expert” even if your products are not any different than your competitor. It’s all in the positioning.
7. What’s the most important part of the direct mail piece?
The letter gives you the chance to make a lasting impression. Research with hundreds of split-run tests between letter-based mailings and those without- the packages with the letters almost 80% of the time “out-pull” those without. Use the letter to get personal with your prospect. No form letters here….let them know you know who they are and what their needs are and let them know “what’s in it for them”.
8. What should my direct mail look like? What format?
There are many right answers to this question. Your format really depends on what is strategically right for the particular goal you have. Testing is key to knowing if a self-mailer versus and envelope, postcard versus self-mailer, or if a business letter versus a graphically driven pamphlet is right. They are all right for certain outcomes.
9. Should I personalize the envelope or send to a person’s title?
Direct mail lets you personalize down the person who shops in a particular place and has a particular income and a particular number of children, etc. The medium is so personalized that skipping that on the envelope would be missing a huge opportunity to make a touchpoint impressionable. The general rule is that names pull better than titles – which is also why name lists typically cost a little more than title lists. But so goes the saying, you get what you pay for.
10. Should I put teaser copy on the envelope?
YES YES YES! You only have one opportunity to make that first impression, and you only have a few seconds to grab and hold that person’s attention too. Make it memorable!
11. Should I use a stamp or metered mail? Does one get opened more?
Generally, whether you use a stamp or first-class postage vs. metered mail doesn’t increase the response enough to warrant spending more. That said, make sure you work closely with your printer and mailing house to execute the package in a way that is most cost efficient to print and mail.
12. I’m ready to roll, but should I test first?
TEST TEST TEST! There aren’t any rules to follow on your way to finding the direct mail success of those who boast about the ROI they are getting on their mailings, but there is a lot known about this incredible medium that CAN guide you. The wisdom I speak of came from testing one package against another, one list against another, one offer against another, one format against another, one timing against another….so you see….even if you have a mail package that’s giving you good results, you need to keep testing this “control” to try to increase your overall performance. This is the key to achieving your greatest success in using direct mail as a marketing tool.
The days of blasting promotion messages to all�or, at the very least, many�are dead and gone. The conversation has changed. We must put ourselves in the customers’ shoes and target them individually as best we can through data-driven strategies.
What’s more, this concept is no longer just a myth or impossible to put into practice. The fact is that excuses such as bandwidth, budgets, and lack of data access are just that�weak explanations. There are ways to quickly and effectively harnessing customer and prospect information you most likely already have.
Here are five ways to do so, in rapid fashion.
1. Make a list
If you are a multichannel marketer, you likely have a lot of customer data floating around in silo databases, such as customer relationship management (CRM), email, point of service (POS), and Web analytics. Yet many marketers don’t know where their customer data is being stored or how to get to it.
Do some digging and make a list. Dust off an old copy of your preferred flowcharting software to document the current state of your data flows. This “state of the state” view will allow you to identify integration points moving forward.
2. Build an alliance with your IT folks and marketing-technology vendors
Marketing and technology now go hand in hand, with many organizations and responsible parties logging in to multiple interfaces daily to execute campaigns and track results (email, Web analytics, e-commerce, etc.).
Technology-vendor account managers are provided incentives to grow your business, so leverage them to do so as much as you can: Run ideas by them, ask for advice, understand the pricing associated with integrations, and inquire about what their other customers are doing.
Internally, consider your IT folks your partners, not your enemy; they will need to be included in the integration process. Together, you will identify opportunities, prioritize, and build out a strategic road map with common goals in mind.
3. Identify relevant customer data points
Within your available sources look for standard customer data points�such as customer IDs, purchase history, sale dates, and order values�that will allow you to build rich customer profiles for target marketing. Doing so will also mean that your IT team will be more accommodating if all you’re asking for is basic customer information.
The goal here is to find the data points that will allow you to target customers with content and offers that are relevant to them as individuals based on their preferences and the purchase information you have on them.
4. Pilot with email
Email marketing continues to drive the most return on investment (ROI) versus any other marketing channel in the online-marketing portfolio. Such campaigns provide an incredibly flexible medium to leverage for data-driven campaigns.
Nearly all the best-of-breed service providers include API (application programming interface) solutions for data/technology integrations and dynamic content engines that will allow you to populate emails with targeted content and offers. Pick a population of your customer and prospect databases and do a split test. Target your test group with a data-driven campaign and the control group with your standard messaging.
5. Implement a test-and-learn methodology
Set some realistic goals as you pilot your initial data-driven campaigns. A couple of small wins will give you the insight you need to expand your strategy to include additional integrations (Web analytics, e-commerce, social media, Short Message Service [SMS, or text messaging], etc.). Over time, this incremental approach will allow you to become a rock-star one-to-one marketer.
* * *
The common theme of all these steps is common-sense simplicity. If marketers can take a few moments to put these steps in motion, their productivity and ROI could skyrocket.
It’s really more a question of whether an organization can afford not to leverage its existing customer data to realize higher conversion rates and sales. Because, otherwise, companies will be leaving money on the table without even knowing it.
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Morgan Witt is senior strategist for Red Door Interactive, an Internet presence management firm that helps organizations (such as Overstock.com, Cricket Communications) profit from their Web initiatives. Email him at mwitt@reddoor.biz.
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From DM News June 15th, 2009
Gary Sierzchulski
VP, data systems, Arandell
For more than 20 years, we have seen 15% to 20% of all mail files in such poor shape that often the client says, “just mail it” to avoid delays or additional work. This cannot continue. As postage costs continue to rise, you should keep the following tips in mind.
Even though the US Postal Service now requires that some form of Move Update be completed on your files every 95 days, it is important to read and understand the reports that are generated from the list processing on your files. The reports show what was corrected/updated and also what was not or cannot be. The records that cannot be corrected (with ZIP-plus-4s and delivery point validation) should almost always be eliminated from the mailing. These records will cost more to mail, may not be delivered and should be flagged on your housefile to avoid future problems. Also, Move Updates will not correct or catch all issues. Additional products should be used, or at least tested, to see what incremental gains can be achieved.
Once the file reaches your printer or mailer, verify what products are run on your file to either verify or clean up the records. Often nothing should be run because the work was already done and you do not want to lose your segmentation schemes. Many of them do have the capability to verify files without changing data.
Clearly, co-mailing is key to reducing postage costs. Many printers do not have the appropriate software and/or equipment to provide this service. You should always receive a postage estimate that shows the discounts you are going to receive from drop shipments and co-mailing. They should be provided separately, so that you can compare them with other vendors’ capabilities. The discounts shown should also be net of costs.
Finally, review mail plan and drop ship dates. Verify with the mailer how the tracking is going to be done to insure on-time delivery to the destination facility and perhaps even to the mailbox. After the project is complete, review all steps and timing so that future projects will be even more efficient.
THE TAKEAWAY
Work with your printer on data hygiene and co-mailing to keep costs down
Jason Ellis
VP, business development, The E.F. Group
The communications industry has weathered tough economic times and businesses are seeking more efficient methods to reach the market. As a result, many are rethinking how to reach consumers.
Customized communications via cross-media marketing that embrace the Web and personalized direct mail are essential for reaching more lucrative customers as well as driving customer loyalty, growth, and profitability. Postcards are an appealing, low-cost choice that often work well in a cross-media strategy when complemented by a URL.
To implement this kind of strategy successfully, it’s important to find a vendor that can help your company define, understand and forecast market growth; comprehend the critical success factors within your market; understand competitive positioning; and independently assess and understand user implementation needs. The end result is pricing and business models that work.
If you plan to send an e-mail blast to 50,000 people, do you know who you’re sending it to? It’s essential to target the audience so the client’s message is relevant and reaches people who want to read it, and further want to click into a personalized Web site created to pique their interest.
For example, we developed a targeted response URL campaign for a startup company that resulted in a 58% response rate. We first identified key ZIP codes, and then further targeted the homeowners by narrowing the demographics to match the client’s marketing objective. We then produced personalized postcards with detailed information on each homeowner, and directed consumers to a microsite. An automotive company used this approach and experienced a 24% response rate — 12% of those new customers.
Businesses that have adopted cross-media marketing and customized communications are experiencing high returns on investment. More than 64% of businesses using an integrated strategy indicate improvements in overall revenue, profitability and sales. More than 60% experience improvements in response rate, customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction. More than 43% indicate reductions in cost per lead and improvements in the quality of leads.
THE TAKEAWAY
Pair customized postcards with URLs for more targeted efforts that can be measured
Elizabeth Lombard
National postal-carrier manager, Pitney Bowes
On May 11, new prices went into effect for US Postal Service Mailing Services, as well as new classification changes, modifications to mailpiece characteristics and changes in classification terminology. To help mitigate postage expenditures, mailers should consider the following strategies and solutions.
Avoid nonmachinable characteristics of letter-size mailpieces. First-Class Mail letter-size pieces that do not comply with the new standards are subject to a 20-cent surcharge. Standard Mail letter-size pieces that do not comply are rated as nonmachinable letters. Also, avoid nonmachinable prices and qualify for automation pricing by meeting design standards for CDs.
You should also consolidate mailings. By mailing fewer, heavier pieces, mailers can take advantage of the low additional ounce rate for First-Class Mail. For Standard Mail, the postage price is the same within that shape and sortation level for pieces 3.3 ounces or less. Intelligent inserters can selectively feed documents into each recipient’s envelope to increase content value, which is ideal for targeted mailings to households.
Also, consider redesigning flats to letters. Inserting and tabbing solutions are good for folding and inserting “flat-size” content into letter-size envelopes. Converting two-ounce flats to two-ounce letter-size mailpieces reduces postage by approximately 40%. Solutions that barcode your mailpieces can significantly increase savings and deliverability, as well.
When content is limited, consider converting First-Class Mail letter-size mailpieces to postcard size, reducing postage up to 38%.Redesign mailpieces that are categorized as parcels to meet flat-size dimensions and physical characteristics.
Use the right USPS Extra Service. When only proof of mailing is needed, consider Certificate of Mailing rather than Certified Mail services. When delivery information is needed, consider Delivery Confirmation or Signature Confirmation services as opposed to Certified Mail or Certified Mail with Return Receipt. The savings can be as significant as $1 per piece.
THE TAKEAWAY
Find cost savings by understanding the attributes of mail and the USPS services
Connie Hill
President and founder, TFC Inc.
Direct mail spend can be one of the largest cost items in the marketing budget. This makes it a primary target for the automation of certain processes, thereby driving efficiency and effectiveness.
While campaign management is often a focus of marketing automation, there are several often overlooked areas that provide tremendous savings for direct mail marketers. Consider those particular areas that will have the greatest potential to increase effectiveness and efficiency.
Direct mailers know that data holds the key to improved campaign efficiency and effectiveness. But the challenge many face today is the inability to gather routinely all valuable data scattered through out a company and organize it effectively into one comprehensive data repository. Reasons for this vary from lack of IT resources to misconceptions about costs. Today, services and technologies combine to create affordable solutions for marketers struggling with harnessing their data in real time routines.
Customer analytics provides the insight marketers need to improve customer profitability. Often, analysis teams manually gather data from areas within the organization in an effort to create a comprehensive view of the customer. Marketers should consider applying an analysis tool that integrates with a data mart to gain immediate insight into customer profitability and response behaviors.
Many marketers rely on manual processes to gather disparate reports in an effort to understand campaign performance. These reports are typically one-dimensional and do not provide drill down analysis to truly understand at a granular level what drove or what prevented campaign results. Automating theese processes gives marketers immediate insight and enables immediate action.
Insight, which is core to any successful direct mail program, is gleaned from disparate data sources. However, automating the process is a strategy overlooked by many marketers. Automatically harnessing data, automating access to customer insight and automating performance reporting are ways to reduce costs through improved efficiency and effectiveness.
THE TAKEAWAY
Automating insight processes can improve campaign efficiency and effectiveness
Direct marketers fear cutting costs too deep and impacting the ability to generate revenue, forgoing potential acquisition, losing market share, or just damaging the franchise or customer relationships. Regarding direct mail spend, marketers can do a number of things to cut costs and increase ROI while minimizing the impact on overall revenue and key customer acquisition and retention metrics.
1. Shift to e-mail, particularly as a substitute for follow-up mailings in a multiwave campaign. E-mails are not always ideal for initial prospecting. However, they can be terrific and much less expensive for follow-up communications and, in conjunction with an initial direct mail piece, often increase overall response rates for a campaign. They also provide more options for tracking responses in a more granular fashion—e.g., opens and forwards. A membership association did this very effectively for its renewal mailings. It found e-mails were effective in getting the majority of its members to renew as well as to drive them to the Web, where the cost of renewal was lower. It now reserves direct mail for the laggards who do not respond to e-mail reminders or cases where it does not have valid e-mail addresses. This has driven down renewal costs significantly.
2. Provide multiple response mechanisms within the direct mail piece for the respondent, including personal URLs (PURLs). This not only increases response rates, but also reduces the need for follow-up mail, again reducing costs. As an example, in the fundraising space, it is typical to ask donors to increase the amount of their giving by reminding them of their last contributions and suggesting that they give a little more. Both the direct mail piece and the PURL can reflect this by making the regular contribution the default but highlighting the desired amount. PURLs also can make it easier for contributors to suggest others in their network, who are more likely to give if they have been referred by a friend.
3. Make it easy for your customers to indicate how they want to be communicated to by setting up preference centers online. If they prefer e-mail or texting, you can save as much as 90 percent per customer. Besides, customers appreciate being asked, feel more in control and are more likely to respond to communications through their preferred mediums.
4. Be more aggressive in cleaning up your lists prior to mailing. There are various filters that can and should be used to scrub your outbound mail before it goes out—National Change of Address (is your screen as comprehensive as it can be?), suppression lists based on prior customer preferences or national do-not-solicit lists, and, above all, recent responders. Nothing irritates customers more than getting a solicitation after they already have responded.
5. Use targeted models more aggressively. The most effective way to cut spending is to stop mailing to folks who are not likely to respond. Use active and passive control groups to identify segments and treatments that are not likely to yield the desired results, and focus on the most likely responders. Don’t skimp on champion/challenger testing—in the long run it can save you more money than any other technique. Skimping on test cells is penny-wise and pound-foolish. In almost every instance where Quaero clients have resisted setting up control groups, they have regretted that choice on the back end when trying to measure the true effectiveness of a campaign or when they need to justify the cost of the next campaign.
Naras V. Eechambadi, Ph.D., is senior vice president and general manager of Charlotte, N.C.-based Quaero, a CSG Systems company. He can be reached at (704) 414-0200.
Some people think that since the evolution of email marketing, there is no place for direct mail anymore. There’s no doubt that email is a fantastic and inexpensive way to reach your current customers, but there are certainly times when direct mail rules, especially for getting NEW customers.
Here are 5 reasons why direct mail really can work for your businesses.
1. You don’t have email addresses for your customers - If you’re like most businesses, chances are you have a bunch of customers or prospects that you don’t have email addresses for. It’s easy to send them a postcard directing them to your site to sign up for your offers. Make sure you tell them that these are “Email Only” offers meaning, they’ll only get these great deals if they sign up today!
2. You want to find new customers – There are so many unscrupulous email lists that people are likely trying to sell you and it’s tough to find one where email addresses weren’t scraped from the web. But with direct mail, it’s totally acceptable to rent a list and send a postcard.
Check out D&B for business-to-business lists, USA Data and InfoUSA for business-to-consumer lists. From tests that we’ve done, if you mail first-class (you’ll get the bad addressed postcards returned to you) we’ve seen about 10% of the mail returned. Also, if you want to do follow up mailings to this list, make sure you’re not just limited to a one-time usage make sure you can use the list multiple times. You’ll end up paying a bit more, but it might be worth it to re-mail those people at a later date. The more they see your offer and brand the more likely they are to remember you.
3. You sell something that is expensive – If you are offering a an expensive product, service or event, you may start your campaign by sending a postcard about your promotion. By the nature of what you’re selling you might be able to afford to make a bigger splash with a postcard that ends up laying on your recipient’s desk or on the kitchen table as a reminder. Your recipients might even expect it. Real Estate agents do a great job keeping in touch with their contacts with “Just Listed” postcards and neighborhood information.
4. You want to reach new movers – If your business is local, one great way to introduce yourself to a new neighbor is a postcard with a “new mover” special. People love getting a nice welcome when they move to a new neighborhood. Check out USA Data and InfoUSA for their new mover lists. One suggestion, if you’re finding that this works for you, make it a monthly program.
5. You telemarket to businesses – Try sending a postcard about your offering, then in the postcard copy tell your prospect you’ll be following up by phone shortly. It gives you a reason to make the call and remind your recipient why you’re calling. The script might read something like this:
“I’m following up from a mailer we sent you a week ago about our special offer this month. Do you have just a few minutes now?”
And no matter what your offer is on any direct mail piece you produce, make sure you include the following:
All in all, direct mail can be a great way to get the attention of your recipients when they’re not staring at their inbox. Once you get them to your site and get their email address, your cost of marketing to them will decrease with email marketing campaigns. Give it a shot. Try VerticalResponse Postcards.
By Barb Pellow
May 28th, 2009 — With the increased focus on interactivity and multi-channel communications, marketers want to integrate online media with documents to enable a cohesive and unified marketing tool. At the same time, however, fully executing these multi-channel programs is often elusive. Although technologies like text messaging, short message codes, and PURLs are seen as promising, they lack a quick, precise, elegant encoding system to efficiently transport the recipient from paper to an online experience.
Marketers are beginning to explore QR (Quick Response) codes as the ultimate answer. A QR code is a high-density barcode readable by cell phones and simple PC cams. Recipients can quickly and easily interact with the QR-enabled documents they receive. By simply pointing their camera at the QR symbol, they are instantly connected to a QR-encoded Web page without ever having to remember or type in numbers and promotional codes—they just point and shoot.
On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, I opened the USA Today that was dropped off at my hotel room. The business section featured two start-up companies that are dedicating their businesses to QR codes. The first was ScanLife. Founded in 2000, ScanLife is dedicated to making QR barcodes a mainstay of the modern experience. ScanLife requires a Web-enabled phone and works on 400 different combinations of handsets and phone plans. Individuals can use their phones to download the free application from www.getscanlife.com, then use that application to scan ScanLife barcodes. The application opens the individual’s mobile browser and connects him/her to a designated Web link. ScanLife also enables consumers to create personal bar codes tied to Web links of their choosing. Teenagers can have a barcode linked to their Facebook page taped on a dorm room wall or silkscreened on a t-shirt. This will make QR codes viral.
The other company that was featured was Jagtag. Jagtag doesn’t require a Web-enabled phone—anyone using a Verizon or AT&T phone camera phone with text messaging can access the content. The consumer takes a photo of the tag and then sends it to 524824. If the person is an iPhone user, the code is mailed to iphone@jagtag.net. In response, the user receives a picture message that may contain an image, video, or audio.
QR Codes… It’s Time to Think Hard about the Possibilities!
Already a big part of mobile culture in Japan and Korea, it is not uncommon to see a QR code in a magazine, on a poster, or even online. More than 40% of mobile users in Japan regularly use their mobile phones to scan QR codes in advertisements. In fact, a lot of mobile phones in Japan come preloaded with the application required to scan such codes.
This has helped mobile advertisers a lot in Japan and Korea. Mobile users find it easier to scan codes to obtain information versus sending a text message or making a call. Scanning minimizes effort on the mobile user’s part and makes the job of the mobile advertiser easier than ever.
As mobile technology advances, it is time to imagine the possibilities and the ability to integrate print with smartphones. InfoTrends projects that 89% of new mobile phones shipped in the U.S this year will have cameras. Scanning a QR code with a camera-embedded smartphone will enable users to access Web sites and get real-time information. Using QR codes, business transactions can take place anywhere—users can download information from a movie poster while standing at a bus stop, access a Web site while reading an advertisement in a newspaper, or view a listing and take a virtual tour after coming across a home for sale.
Reality is Beginning to Set In
While the U.S. is off to a slow start, there are some “real world” examples and practical applications that effectively leverage print and mobile technology. It’s time to look at the multi-channel market and print differently.
During last year’s U.S. Open, Ralph Lauren introduced QR codes into its print ads, direct mailers, and store windows to send traffic to its new mobile commerce site. When scanned with a mobile phone with QR software, the codes directed the phone’s browser to a Web site where the consumer could shop for RL products.
A Japanese magazine called Tada Gets (things for free) started to put out issues composed almost entirely of QR codes. By scanning these codes, the reader can link up via cell phone to free ringtones, decorations, games, music, pictures, and other kinds of content. The magazine’s approach to the print media market has been aided by the fact that many young readers now get unlimited data plans on their cell phones and can download and scan barcodes from the print magazine without incurring huge charges.
Combining the power of QR codes, mobile Internet, and camera phones, Spektacle is the world’s first magazine to provide readers with fresh content daily for the next 2 months after purchase. In its own words, Spektacle bridges the gap between the world of offline and online content. Published in the U.K., this special magazine explores the world of fashion, design, and music. Readers use their camera phones to take shots of QR codes in the magazine, and the content in each QR code changes every day for the next two months. The unique selling proposition is that while a printed magazine becomes outdated after a single read, Spektacle readers have two months’ worth of articles to look forward to, bringing them extra value.
The short-run label market represents a tremendous opportunity for QR codes and promotions. Coca-Cola Japan is giving away free bottles of its two new teas with a QR code promotion. Coca-Cola Japan sells a lot of bottled tea and many cans of coffee. Consumers who see the advertisement (example picture below) can snap the QR code with their mobile device, then bring their mobile device to a vending machine to obtain the free tea. The vending machine recognizes the scanned coupon as payment. (Consumers can pay vending machines with their cell phones in Japan, and these machines have built-in cameras.)
QR codes transform packages into multi-channel documents, and the applications and opportunities are limitless. In another example, two Portuguese wineries are using QR codes and labels to build out a social network called Adegga. This is an online community of wine lovers that dubs itself a “social wine discovery” service. Consumers that scan a QR code on a wine label will be taken to a special page on adegga.com dedicated to that particular wine. They can read other people’s comments about it, check prices, and read comments from the winemaker.
Printed maps are using QR codes to better guide tourists. The Regional Tourism Promotion Council for the Japanese prefectures of Iwate and Akita has produced a tourist map with QR codes. This is an area of mountains, rivers, and forests with many naturally occurring hot springs, temples, and historical sites. The QR codes provide a link to a mobile Web site where the user can select a particular interest (e.g., history, accommodations, temples, museums), and a Google Map is displayed with the relevant locations highlighted.
Canada’s National Post, a 200,000 circulation daily newspaper, has begun placing ScanLife codes on some print stories so readers can use their handsets to follow developing news coverage from the newspaper’s Web site.
Finally, if those examples aren’t enough, I came across a posting about barcode tombstones in Japan. This truly illustrates the public acceptance that 2D barcode technology has received in Japan. A QR code is inscribed onto a tombstone, enabling visitors to the grave to access the biography and photos of the deceased person and leave a personal message. This concept will probably take some time to get used to, but it could certainly be argued that it adds some value for cemetery visitors. There’s only so much information that can fit on a tombstone, and QR codes provide a way of telling a person’s life story to those that truly want further information!
What Does All this Mean?
The USA Today article that I came across provides evidence that QR codes have a place in the U.S. market. I firmly believe that the marriage of print, QR codes, and mobile technology are the ultimate in multi-channel communications. While some are running away from print and putting all their eggs in the online basket, savvy marketers will consider going offline and getting their BRAND in front of the consumers on the street. They will reach consumers who are unchained from their home computers and connect with them via signage, packaging, interactive magazines and newspapers, catalogs, and direct mail. Graphic communications service providers need to realize that print is not dead… it is interactive!
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Pellow can be reached at barb@whattheythink.com.
Barbara A. Pellow
Barbara Pellow recently assumed responsibility for the development and delivery of two new services at InfoTrends specifically focused on the evolution of the Graphic Communications Market – The Business Development Service and the Custom Communications Service. Pellow has served in a number of roles, including the Chief Marketing Officer of Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group. In this role, Pellow was responsible for all marketing activities for the division, including marketing communications, public relations, marketing intelligence, and advertising strategy. She was an active participant in developing business strategies and helping to define the group’s go-to-market organizational structure.
Prior to joining Kodak, Pellow was the Gannett Chair in Integrated Publishing Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) School of Printing Management and Sciences (SPMS). She has also held senior marketing roles at IKON Office Solutions, InfoTrends, Xerox, and IBM.
For information on InfoTrends’ e-Learning program, a Web-based training portal that offers a self-paced curriculum on customized communications sales training with guided audio and engaging interactive exercises, click here.
Reduced Advertising During Recession Negatively Impacts Consumer Perception
More than 48% of U.S. adults believe that a lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession indicates the business must be struggling. Likewise, a vast majority perceives businesses that continue to advertise as being competitive or committed to doing business.
The Ad-ology Research study, “Advertising’s Impact in a Soft Economy,” analyzes consumer perception about businesses that continue to advertise, and those that do not, in the current economy.
The study finds advertising appears to play a key role in consumers’ view of how a business is doing, and by not advertising, businesses may be sending a warning signal to current and potential customers.
Other key findings:
TV, newspaper, direct mail, and Internet are the top four media from which consumers saw/heard an ad within the last 30 days that led them to take action
40% of consumers use coupons more now than a year ago
Most consumers are as willing or more willing to pay more for ‘healthy’ or ‘organic’ products than they were a year ago
A ‘deeply discounted price’ was the number-one factor that would make consumers more likely to purchase a big-ticket item (+$1,000)
Store Web sites ranked second only to search engines as the way consumers research products and shop online.
Methodology: Ad-ology Research surveyed an online consumer panel of 1,225 adults in a manner that is 98% representative of the adult population of the United States from April 24-29, 2009. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 2.2 percentage points.
Source: Ad-ology news release, New Ad-ology Study: Reduced Advertising During Recession Negatively Impacts Consumer Perception, May 13, 2009
