How Do You Know if Your Direct Marketing Campaign Was a Success?

Here’s a big myth about email marketing and direct mail. Some say it’s impossible to measure.

How in the world would you know if the email or postcard you sent someone got them into your showroom?

As you know, ability to measure your automotive marketing success is critical. You can’t pump a lot of money into something that might work – or might not.

To bust apart this myth, here are five ways you can specifically measure your direct mail success.

1. Call Tracking

You simply assign a unique, trackable phone number to your marketing campaign. Do you send out multiple campaigns? No problem.

Phone numbers are inexpensive. Simply assign a different number to each campaign. Then you know exactly who responded to which campaign.

 

2. Promo Codes

Another great way to prove the success of your campaigns? Promotional codes. For each campaign, assign a unique code to the postcard or flier you send out.

 

How do you get people to tell you what their code is? Simply offer a discount for telling you the code.

Without fail, your responders will be happy to give this info to you!

3. Campaign Specific URLs

For each campaign you send out, make a landing page on your (or your promotional) website.

This is great for any sales campaign, and especially events at your dealership.

Make the URL of the landing page easy to type in. For example:

yourdomain.com/promo10/12345

The “12345” in the URL above is a special code that’s unique for each person you target in the campaign. Your call to action on the flier will include the URL.

Your prospect simply has to type in the url with the promo code (once again offering a discount for the correct promo code). Again something people are happy to do in order to RSVP, get more information, claim a prize or get a discount.

Keep in mind that “promo10” would ONLY be used on that printed piece for everyone in that campaign. You would not mention or link to this page from anywhere else on your site.

This allows you to see the overall campaign success (promo10) and the response of each individual (12345).

4. Geographic Info

If your campaign was limited to a specific area or region, watch your showroom traffic in that region after sending the campaign.

5. Google Brand Searches

Even with specific instructions on your mail piece or email, people will still Google and go to your website. Even though they didn’t go to the landing page set up for them, you may still see a spike in your traffic.

With Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools set up, you’ll see this. Years of ad wisdom prove this out: people need to see your brand a few times before they respond. So, this is also a measure of success for your campaigns.

Yes, you can measure your direct mail and email results.

With the simple methods described above, you’ll see what you’re doing right and where you can improve your marketing.

Contact National Auto Data for a free, no-strings-attached quote.

We’ll examine every inch of your ad goals, look at your competition and tell you something new.

Call us today at 866-363-9578 to get things started.