How Every Direct Mail Marketer Should Use Call Tracking

More often than not, when the mailman brings my mail, it’s full of catalogs, credit card offers and coupons. Though I primarily order products through ecommerce sites, I assume that each time I throw a paper catalog in the trash, there are many others who see the same catalog, dial the number inside and order products or services directly from that brand. There’s a reason why direct mail campaigns have remained a powerful marketing tactic for more than a century. For the right industry, and in volume, it’s still a relatively low-cost way of eliciting a direct response from potential customers

But how do companies measure whether their direct mail marketing efforts are successful?

In the early years, direct mail marketing campaigns involved loads of guesswork, making it impossible to know for certain which leads resulted from which efforts. Companies then started gaining insight by setting up campaign-specific URLs or including promotional codes to track conversions on direct mailing efforts.

But increasingly, businesses just want customers to pick up their phones and call. Thankfully, call tracking solutions now make it easier to track how mailing efforts impact revenue closed over the phone.

Here’s how marketers are using call tracking to measure direct mail ROI.

Step 1: Provision a unique call tracking number

Marketers can use tools like Revenue.io to quickly provision a unique call tracking number to be associated a with direct mailing campaign.

Step 2: Include call tracking number in mail collateral.

Now, instead of adding a normal business telephone number to the mailing collateral, simply include the call tracking number you just provisioned.

Step 3: Measure results and A/B test

The moment customers start calling in response to a campaign, marketers can really see the magic of call tracking. If a call tracking system integrates with a CRM like Salesforce.com, then marketers can see, in real time, the leads, opportunities and revenue resulting from that campaign.

Call tracking solutions can also help direct mail marketers quantify which campaigns offer the best ROI. Does a one-sheet mailing garner better returns than an expensive catalog? With call tracking, you can easily find out by simply assigning different phone numbers for each piece of collateral you want to track. Call tracking solutions can help marketers deliver the most effective messages and invest in the most effective mailing efforts.

Step 4: Share data with sales

While most call tracking solutions don’t offer this functionality, Revenue.io enables marketers to share campaign data with sales reps in real time. The moment a sales rep receives an inbound call, they’ll know that the lead resulted from that direct marketing campaign. Revenue.io even allows marketers to auto-route calls to reps that are trained to sell the products or services featured in the direct mailing campaign. This can be extremely useful if a business is mailing out a catalog with several different product verticals.

Imagine that a home furnishing company’s catalog features bedroom, bathroom and living room products. Three separate call tracking numbers can be provisioned and included in the catalog so sales and marketing reps can instantly see the type of goods that a customer is interested in purchasing. Some companies might choose to get as granular as assigning a unique phone number to each individual product.

To find out more about call tracking, check out our Call Tracking Buyers’ Guide whitepaper.