[6] Tips to BOOST Your Direct Marketing Response Rates | #1 Understand Your Audience

Welcome to our new blog series, 6 tips to boost your direct marketing response rates.

Campaign response and performance are two things that are top of mind for direct marketers. That’s the point of direct marketing, right? To engage and drive response. And on top of driving response, we’re always looking for ways to improve response. Our intent with this blog series is to provide you with one tip each week on how you can boost your marketing response rates. With our 6 different ways to boost your direct marketing response rate, you are sure to find a few that are perfect for you.

To get all six tips upfront, simply download our ebook, Augmenting Digital Marketing with Direct Mail. 6 Tips to Boost Response Rates.

TIP #1 | Understand your Audience.

Learn everything you can about your audience’s needs, purchase behavior, buying triggers, and media preferences.

Most marketers understand the impact of using demographic, firmographic and behavioral data to micro-target the best segments for their offer. However, it is also critical to remember that both consumer and business buyers make purchase decisions based on a variety of factors.

Certainly, the tangible elements of cost, value, and need play an important role in the funnel, but according to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, 95% of our purchase decision are made subconsciously and 90% of purchase decisions are based on emotion. As emphasized by Tech Entrepreneur, Logan Chierotti, on Inc.com, “[t]his idea is of great importance because it helps us realize that human beings are not as logical as we might imagine. And understanding this has significant implications for marketing, sales, and branding.”^*

Now, put this into perspective with your own business. By only marketing the attributes of your product, you are likely generating lackluster results. And as Professor Zaltman's research has shown, these poor results are directly correlated with the fact that you are completely missing the subconscious, human element in the decision-making process.

Let that sink in again...

90% of decisions for purchases are based on emotion. 

So if you only understand the demographics of your target audience, how will you ever make a connection and motivate them to not only engage with your brand, but to actually use your product and service?

You must go beyond the demographics to the psychographics.

Get to know who your target audience really is and what  motivates them.

If humans are motivated by emotion, marketers need to be able to tap into that well to become top of mind when tangible purchase decisions are being considered. In order to evoke those emotions, you need to reach people throughout the day, whether your target audiences is actively shopping or not.

Tip 1 | Understand Your Audience

  EMOTION

To learn more, download our BKM Marketing e-book guide Augmenting Digital Marketing with Direct Mail | 6 Tips to Boost Response Rates >>

And stay tuned for next week's Tip #2  |The Importance of an Integrated Marketing Mix...

Quick links to other posts in this series

Tip #1 |  Understand your audience >

Tip #2 |  The importance of an integrated marketing mix >

Tip #3 |  Why and when to use direct mail >

Tip #4 |  Test something new with every marketing campaign to maximize your long-term ROI >

Tip #5 |  Take advantage of marketing technology to better reach and understand your audience >

Tip #6 |  Six tips to make your campaign more environmentally friendly >

Key Takeaways | [6] Tips to boost your marketing response blog series >

*Chierotti, Logan. “Harvard Professor Says 95% of Purchasing Decisions Are Subconscious.” Inc.com. https://www.inc.com/logan-chierotti/harvard-professor-says-95-of-purchasing-decisions-are-subconscious.html.