Attitude Adjustment: Using Behavioral Data to Boost Direct Mail Response

Eliminating the Guesswork and Improving Response
Have you ever wondered how prospects interact with your pieces? Have you considered using direct observation in a series of one-on-one interviews to observe how someone opens your direct mail package or views your website? This type of behavioral data can yield actionable information that effects how you structure a creative piece or design a landing page.

I remember one such observational study where we learned that 20 percent of our sample immediately looked at the brochure in our direct mail package prior to looking at anything else. Another 30 percent of our sample opened the package upside down and consequently viewed the elements in the package in reverse order from how they were intended. This of course helped us to place the offer in strategic places in the package to make sure that these people saw it correctly upon opening the package.

You may be familiar with web page "heat maps" that showcase where prospects eyes go on a page. Placing your offer on the page in a way that works with the viewing pattern can help you improve time on site as well as click through and conversion rates.

Providing Greater Testing Opportunities
An obvious way in which we use behavioral data is measuring response and designing tests that focus on specific variables. When we see prospects reacting to one single variable test at a statistically significant (and greater) rate than another, we are able to understand the prospects interest and react accordingly. For example: An offer can be presented as a percentage savings, a total dollar amount saved over time or a monthly savings amount. While the offer may be technically the same in terms of its cost to the company, it is presented differently to the prospect. (e.g. $10 off for 10 Months, Save $100, and 10 percent off a $1000 product). The prospects may respond more favorably to one presentation of the offer over another.