Читать книгу Direct Mail in the Digital Age - Lin Grensing-Pophal - Страница 25

There needs to be a way for you to determine at the end of the campaign whether or not you achieved success. For instance, “Increase repeat purchases from existing customers by 15 percent,” is an objective that can be measured. “Create a high-impact direct mail campaign” is an example of an objective that is not currently stated in a measurable way. What is “high impact”? Who will judge whether or not the campaign is high impact? How will you quantify the evaluation?

The key here is to ask yourself: “Based on this statement, how will I measure whether or not the objective has been achieved?” If you can’t come up with an answer, you don’t have a measurable objective.

In addition to the question of whether or not it can be measured, marketers need to consider the ease or cost of measuring the desired results. In direct mail this is generally very straightforward — you can measure the number of responses, number of sales, etc. An objective related to raising awareness, though, might be more difficult and costly to measure. You would need to establish some form of baseline level of awareness among your target audience (perhaps through a survey), conduct the direct mail effort, and then remeasure awareness to see if there has been a change in the level of awareness.

Having to establish new processes or dedicate additional staff to measure whether or not you’re achieving your objectives needs to be carefully considered to determine whether the knowledge gained will be worth the investment of time. Again, direct mail marketing efforts, unlike other forms of marketing, tend to readily lend themselves to cost-effective measurement.