If you are able to identify 90% or more of your responses in terms of tracking them to the original marketing source, congratulations! You can skip reading the rest of this INSIDER Marketing Bulletin.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE, read on...
Example: One client insisted on mailing 3 different direct mail lists of 5,000 each for a $795 two-day seminar. Total mailing of 15,000. Usually got 30 attendees. Every time they reordered the lists for the next offering, we would ask: “Which lists worked best?” The answer was always the same: “We don’t know. Just reorder them for us.”
Finally, we worked with them to do STONE coding (some call it rub-off coding) for the 3 lists. Result: They found that 75% of the registrations came from ONE list of 5,000. So, the next time they reordered, we got them the one best list and found that there were a couple of thousand more names available than just the original 5,000. They mailed about 7,000 and got 28 attendees. This cut their marketing costs in half and doubled their profitability.
What is STONE CODING?
It gets its name from the days when they set type with hot lead, but that’s another story. What you do is typeset something like “1 2 3 4” on the registration form that gets mailed, faxed to you. Let’s say you have 3 lists:
| List A | | 5,000 | | 1234 |
| List B | | 5,000 | | 123 |
| Internal List | | 3,000 | | 12 |
| Extras | | 500 | | 1 |
You have your printer print 5,000 of the 1234 and then they stop the press and take the “4” off the metal plate. They continue to print 5,000 of the 123. Etc. You tell your service bureau which list goes on which coded brochure. Printers will typically NOT charge to do a reasonable number of stone codes. This process also works well when you are inserting brochures in an envelope and have no other way of coding them.
What are KEY CODES?
The best way to describe this is by example. Have you ever ordered from L.L Bean or Land’s End? They ask you to look at the mailing panel on the back cover and read the code, usually inkjetted in a color box close to your address. You probably will see a customer number there, too. Key codes correspond to the various lists you use.
If your registration form is on the mail panel, you can have your service bureau inkjet it on the registration form. Perhaps put a box in which they have to inkjet it. Give the box a name, like VIP# so that you ask people on the phone “Please read me the VIP# in the box in the upper right corner of the registration form.”
Typically you will ask your list broker (hopefully, you will use InfoLists) to be sure that a key code is provided on each list that you rent. If you are still using what are called CHESHIRE lists, you can have the key code printed on the label.
E-MAIL & WEB TRACKING
If you are using e-mail for marketing, you have a number of alternatives for tracking.
If your email message has a hotlink to your web site, have your web master give you different extensions for the URLs that you use in each message. Keep track of what extensions you use, and use your web site traffic log to determine how many hits you got from each email.
If you are posting Adobe pdfs of your brochures on your web site that people can review and print, be sure to put a code on the registration form. That way, when you receive it by fax or mail, you can track the source.
Be creative with your web marketing tracking. Your options are endless.
INVOLVE THE STAFF WHO TAKE REGISTRATIONS
Be sure they know how important tracking is and review with them the coding schema and the various ways in which they are used. This will help boost the percentage of responses that are captured.
TRACKING IS CRITICAL
Response tracking is the very essence of increasing response in the future and reducing and controlling marketing costs. Do everything you can to capture 95% of your codes. The most successful direct marketing companies consistently capture at least 95% of the sources of every inquiry, registration, or order.
The above are just the highlights of tracking. If you have a question on any of these methods or a particular tracking problem you are trying to solve, call us. We’ll be happy to help if we can. No charge.
ONE MORE THING ...
For direct mail lists, email lists, high volume laser letters, and seminar or conference marketing strategy and production assistance, your can contact us at:
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