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Technology enables marketers to customize direct mail offers beyond personalization
Traditional direct mail personalization techniques allow you to customize communications at the group level, using information such as age, income, location and education. However, these techniques cannot address the fact that every segmentation group is comprised of individuals with very different wants, needs, attitudes and buying behaviors. Trigger programs give marketers added power to act on individually supplied facts about what each customer actually wants and needs rather than statistical inferences.
Direct response trigger programs use an individual’s responses to media, input, interactions, purchase transactions and even complaints to deliver a fully customized marketing message at the individual level. Each of these triggers, when “pulled,” can release a unique direct marketing message geared to that individual at that specific moment in time.
Trigger programs truly are individual conversations in print, brought together through the intelligent application of technology. Sophisticated content management systems and dynamic document publishing tools provide the platform for integrating brand assets and transaction assets with individual-level data to produce and deliver appropriately timed, fully customized communications.
Three Keys to Success
Trigger programs can be built on any customer or prospect data. Such data can include phone calls, mail responses, visits to a Web site, input gathered at the point-of-sale and individual information like birthdays, customer anniversaries, appended demographics or psycho-demographic clusters. Transactional information such as purchases, returns and product trials also are a fit.
There are three key elements to building a successful trigger program:
• Listen to what your consumers are saying and doing, and capture as much relevant information as possible.
• Think about the appropriate format in which to compile consumer information; then think about how to use it to influence response.
• Respond in the most effective media at the most appropriate point to trigger the desired consumer action.
Thanks to advancements in technology, trigger programs push customization far beyond traditional print personalization. Today’s dynamic document publishing, production workflow tools and variable digital output enable direct marketers to integrate “listen,” “think” and “respond” into successful trigger programs.
Content management systems store templates, text, graphic assets and business rules. Dynamic document publishing tools then integrate individual-level data feeds with the stored content to create fully customized communication.
Focus on Creative Design
To develop successful trigger programs, the creative team needs a strong understanding of the available data at the start of the conceptual design process. These data will drive the creative development of the format template, as well as all of the variable content and assets. It’s the designer’s job to turn these variable components into a high-impact communication that maximizes the capabilities of the digital output.
For example, Vertis developed a successful trigger program for a leading specialty retailer. State-of-the-art technology and customer information were used to develop and deliver a truly customer-centric trigger program that has increased sales over traditional, personalized direct mail.
The company analyzed both its RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value) segmentation and transactional data to identify the appropriate customer trigger points. The desired outcomes then were defined:
• Increase the frequency and value of a customer’s purchasing cycle; and
• Boost customer retention and loyalty.
On a regular basis, Vertis Digital Production Services receives a data feed of those customers who had been triggered for communication. Vertis’ proprietary dynamic publishing workflow then populates the appropriate template with the specific individual-level content (event, recommended product, etc.) and a selection from hundreds of graphic assets determined by the client’s business rules. The result: an individual conversation in print composed and printed specifically for each customer that exceeded the client’s ROI expectations.
Top Tips for Trigger Mailings
Here are 10 tips that can help make trigger programs successful.
Tip No. 1: Ensure senior-level decision-makers support the program. As trigger programs have cross-functional boundaries between marketing, IT and advertising, project managers need to ensure that senior-level decision makers from all departments work together effectively.
Tip No. 2: Know your data. Trigger programs are only successful if the underlying data is retrievable and relevant. Before designing a program, inventory the data you have and consult with a marketing services group that is skilled in trigger program development to determine if you have the right data.
Tip No. 3: Understand your customers and customer segments. Trigger programs cost more per piece than traditional direct mail programs and might not be appropriate for lower value segments.
Tip No. 4: Know what outcome you want to drive. Trigger point, assets and template design all need to be aligned with your ultimate goal. Decide before you develop and design your program whether you want to trigger a sale, enrollment, inquiry or Web visit.
Tip No. 5: Understand the relationship between the trigger event and the outcome. Frankly, just because you can push a trigger on someone’s birthday, it doesn’t mean you should. All trigger events should be appropriate to the individual consumer and your product/service.
Tip No. 6: Be appropriate, not overbearing. Strive to delight and surprise the consumer. The individual receiving the trigger communication should think, “Wow, this really fits me right now!” and not, “Why do they know that about me?”
Tip No. 7: Involve creative from day one. Your creative team needs a strong understanding of the output process and data from the start. Design and file preparation for trigger programs is complex. When making a decision on a design resource, ensure they have experience with content management, dynamic document publishing tools and the options for variable digital output.
Tip No. 8: Be sure you can measure your outcome. You’re still a direct marketer! Know how you are going to measure the ROI of the program and ensure you can do it before designing the program.
Tip No. 9: Be prepared to change content as you learn. As with any direct marketing program, you need to continuously analyze and optimize results.
Tip No. 10: Understand what the output technology can and can’t do. A successful trigger program comes down to the right design, the right data and the right production partners who can optimize your program. u
Janice Mayo is senior vice president of sales and marketing at Vertis, a leading provider of technology-based integrated marketing and advertising solutions headquartered in Baltimore. She can be reached at jmayo@vertisinc.com.
Traditional direct mail personalization techniques allow you to customize communications at the group level, using information such as age, income, location and education. However, these techniques cannot address the fact that every segmentation group is comprised of individuals with very different wants, needs, attitudes and buying behaviors. Trigger programs give marketers added power to act on individually supplied facts about what each customer actually wants and needs rather than statistical inferences.
Direct response trigger programs use an individual’s responses to media, input, interactions, purchase transactions and even complaints to deliver a fully customized marketing message at the individual level. Each of these triggers, when “pulled,” can release a unique direct marketing message geared to that individual at that specific moment in time.
Trigger programs truly are individual conversations in print, brought together through the intelligent application of technology. Sophisticated content management systems and dynamic document publishing tools provide the platform for integrating brand assets and transaction assets with individual-level data to produce and deliver appropriately timed, fully customized communications.
Three Keys to Success
Trigger programs can be built on any customer or prospect data. Such data can include phone calls, mail responses, visits to a Web site, input gathered at the point-of-sale and individual information like birthdays, customer anniversaries, appended demographics or psycho-demographic clusters. Transactional information such as purchases, returns and product trials also are a fit.
There are three key elements to building a successful trigger program:
• Listen to what your consumers are saying and doing, and capture as much relevant information as possible.
• Think about the appropriate format in which to compile consumer information; then think about how to use it to influence response.
• Respond in the most effective media at the most appropriate point to trigger the desired consumer action.
Thanks to advancements in technology, trigger programs push customization far beyond traditional print personalization. Today’s dynamic document publishing, production workflow tools and variable digital output enable direct marketers to integrate “listen,” “think” and “respond” into successful trigger programs.
Content management systems store templates, text, graphic assets and business rules. Dynamic document publishing tools then integrate individual-level data feeds with the stored content to create fully customized communication.
Focus on Creative Design
To develop successful trigger programs, the creative team needs a strong understanding of the available data at the start of the conceptual design process. These data will drive the creative development of the format template, as well as all of the variable content and assets. It’s the designer’s job to turn these variable components into a high-impact communication that maximizes the capabilities of the digital output.
For example, Vertis developed a successful trigger program for a leading specialty retailer. State-of-the-art technology and customer information were used to develop and deliver a truly customer-centric trigger program that has increased sales over traditional, personalized direct mail.
The company analyzed both its RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value) segmentation and transactional data to identify the appropriate customer trigger points. The desired outcomes then were defined:
• Increase the frequency and value of a customer’s purchasing cycle; and
• Boost customer retention and loyalty.
On a regular basis, Vertis Digital Production Services receives a data feed of those customers who had been triggered for communication. Vertis’ proprietary dynamic publishing workflow then populates the appropriate template with the specific individual-level content (event, recommended product, etc.) and a selection from hundreds of graphic assets determined by the client’s business rules. The result: an individual conversation in print composed and printed specifically for each customer that exceeded the client’s ROI expectations.
Top Tips for Trigger Mailings
Here are 10 tips that can help make trigger programs successful.
Tip No. 1: Ensure senior-level decision-makers support the program. As trigger programs have cross-functional boundaries between marketing, IT and advertising, project managers need to ensure that senior-level decision makers from all departments work together effectively.
Tip No. 2: Know your data. Trigger programs are only successful if the underlying data is retrievable and relevant. Before designing a program, inventory the data you have and consult with a marketing services group that is skilled in trigger program development to determine if you have the right data.
Tip No. 3: Understand your customers and customer segments. Trigger programs cost more per piece than traditional direct mail programs and might not be appropriate for lower value segments.
Tip No. 4: Know what outcome you want to drive. Trigger point, assets and template design all need to be aligned with your ultimate goal. Decide before you develop and design your program whether you want to trigger a sale, enrollment, inquiry or Web visit.
Tip No. 5: Understand the relationship between the trigger event and the outcome. Frankly, just because you can push a trigger on someone’s birthday, it doesn’t mean you should. All trigger events should be appropriate to the individual consumer and your product/service.
Tip No. 6: Be appropriate, not overbearing. Strive to delight and surprise the consumer. The individual receiving the trigger communication should think, “Wow, this really fits me right now!” and not, “Why do they know that about me?”
Tip No. 7: Involve creative from day one. Your creative team needs a strong understanding of the output process and data from the start. Design and file preparation for trigger programs is complex. When making a decision on a design resource, ensure they have experience with content management, dynamic document publishing tools and the options for variable digital output.
Tip No. 8: Be sure you can measure your outcome. You’re still a direct marketer! Know how you are going to measure the ROI of the program and ensure you can do it before designing the program.
Tip No. 9: Be prepared to change content as you learn. As with any direct marketing program, you need to continuously analyze and optimize results.
Tip No. 10: Understand what the output technology can and can’t do. A successful trigger program comes down to the right design, the right data and the right production partners who can optimize your program. u
Janice Mayo is senior vice president of sales and marketing at Vertis, a leading provider of technology-based integrated marketing and advertising solutions headquartered in Baltimore. She can be reached at jmayo@vertisinc.com.
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