Direct mail and catalogs have long been a marketing staple for the obvious reason that they resonate with customers and drive sales. For instance, 87 percent of consumers say that catalogs make them more interested in a retailer’s products, with 84 percent of catalog recipients claiming that they either share it with someone else, make a purchase, or visit the brand’s website or store.
Because direct mail has proven so effective, retailers are hesitant to improve what’s not broken, particularly because it is so closely associated with a brand’s image. But with the rising quantity of customer data, the increasing complexities of dynamic customer journeys, and the proliferation of channels, retailers struggle with creating a relevant experience. This applies to all of direct marketing; direct mail, catalogs, and personalization on digital channels.
In the direct mail space, customers identify in a myriad of ways with various names, prefixes, addresses, etc., which makes it more difficult for list processors to trust that their campaigns are targeting the right audience. The same holds true in the digital space, where 24-hour list processing runtimes are unacceptable.
Furthermore, the ability to deliver a personalized experience – online and offline – depends on how well a retailer determines a customer’s identity in the context of various relationships, such as within a household or a business.
Flip the Script with a Focus on Data Readiness
Retailers can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of direct marketing with a focus on data readiness. Data readiness ensures that retailers have the most complete and accurate customer profiles available for business use the moment they’re needed.
Data quality and advanced identity resolution are foundational elements of data readiness. When data quality is completed in real time as data is ingested, retailers have the contextual customer understanding that is needed for direct marketing success, whether for direct mail campaigns or for instantly recognizing a customer online and providing a hyper-relevant experience.
Eighty-seven percent of consumers say that catalogs make them more interested in a retailer’s products, with 84 percent of catalog recipients claiming that they either share it with someone else, make a purchase, or visit the brand’s website or store.
The more relevant the online experience, the more a customer is engaged. A personalized digital catalog experience, for example, might show a loyalty member how many points she has accrued, an itemization of what she’s eligible for, and how many points she needs to move to a higher tier. It might display a hero image where a model that resembles the customer (age range, demographic, etc.) styles an outfit that complements something the customer has already purchased – or that a predictive model indicates will be of interest for the target audience. In short, the depth of customer understanding greatly influences the level of personalization.
The need for an accurate, updated customer profile is just as essential for outbound marketing. The same personalization tactics apply for a direct mail campaign, but retailers must also be confident that the content is going to the right customer. Address hygiene, householding and other components of identity resolution are essential for reducing waste and inefficiency.
Customer Journeys are Dynamic, Can Your Segmentation Keep up?
With a real time, continuously updated customer profile that lets a brand know everything there is to know about a customer – a Golden Record – the next step is to ensure that dynamic segmentation produces targeted audiences that can be activated across every interaction touchpoint, both digital and physical.
Dynamic segmentation accounts for the complexities of the customer, e.g., life changes, evolving interests, preferences, transactions, and other factors that influence the Golden Record. If a customer makes an online purchase that makes them ineligible for an offer – or eligible for a new offer – dynamic segmentation automatically moves the customer into the right segment. The same holds true for other changes or updates such as a new address.
Furthermore, dynamic segmentation means that models do not have to be taken offline for updates, either because the business decides it wants to chase a new metric or because a segment has to be built for a new channel. The ability to build a segment once and use it across all channels is a cornerstone of consistent personalization, providing marketers with the ability to engage with a customer in real time as the customer journey unfolds.
For instance, a customer who starts their journey by opening a catalog, then accesses product details through the mobile app, through a link in an email, or through a browsing session using a laptop should expect the same experience irrespective of the interaction touchpoint.
Maximize Your Data Value with Minimum Code and Development
Direct marketing is at a crossroads, where it is becoming counterproductive to accept diminishing returns by following the same script. Customer expectations for personalization are intensifying just as the volume of customer data is increasing, giving retail marketers the formidable task of cost-effectively processing an unprecedented amount of data with newfound speed and agility.
A game-changer for direct marketing is being able to build and access unified customer profiles without having to write code. Retail specific data models provide access to dozens of pre-built tools to ingest, parse, transform, and cleanse data from any source – giving marketers data that is always ready for use.
The ability to easily configure, test, and save data pipelines is a huge factor in driving down direct marketing costs while increasing efficiency with a readily available menu of templates that make it easy to change content on the fly.
A game-changer for direct marketing is being able to build and access unified customer profiles without having to write code. Retail specific data models provide access to dozens of pre-built tools to ingest, parse, transform, and cleanse data from any source – giving marketers data that is always ready for use.
Without a need for outside experts to configure data, direct marketers have more control over how to optimize campaigns based on a current understanding of a customer. And with a system that connects to all sources and destination systems, they are able to support omnichannel personalization from a single platform.
Improve Direct Marketing with an Investment in Data
Direct marketing is a powerful tool in a marketer’s arsenal, but in today’s complex retail landscape, success hinges on data readiness. Whether optimizing traditional direct mail campaigns or delivering highly personalized digital experiences, retailers must ensure that their customer data is accurate, accessible, and actionable in real time.
Investing in data quality and dynamic segmentation reduces inefficiencies and unlocks new opportunities for engagement and revenue growth. As customer expectations evolve, the brands that harness data effectively will be the ones that thrive.
