NEW YORK CITY-Direct marketers spend too much time on the appearance of packages and not nearly enough time on lists or testing, says Dick Benson, the 1990 Direct Marketer of the Year and a 43-year industry veteran.
Giving away some secrets of successful direct marketing at a recent session sponsored by Boardroom Reports, Benson advised on effective testing, creative, timing, pricing and premiums.
An effective campaign, he notes, begins with an excellent list. "I disagree with the old adage that direct marketing is 40 percent offer, 40 percent list and 20 percent creative," Benson says. "The importance of the list and the creative is higher."
Benson is adamant about the worth of copy when it comes to getting the most out of a list: "Your copy should be strong so that rather than writing different copy for different target groups, the direct mail piece is effective for the whole list."
Few of his clients-which have included Time Inc., Dow jones, Hearst Magazines, World Book and R.L. Polk-do enough testing, Benson says, particularly with their more mature products. Even minor changes in the offer, copy, envelope contents or appearance of the letter can make a big difference in response and must be tested more than once before each new roll out, he stresses.
Regarding solicitations, Benson suggests approaching a customer no more than four times. In terms of seasonality, he advises mailing in months when competitors are not. "Generally speaking, December and january are absolutely the best months, and july through September are also good."
When it comes to product pricing, Benson expects to see more use of installment payment plans. "I predict quarterly fees will be a major breakthrough in the magazine business," he says. "People have talked about credit cards and automatic renewal for magazines, but I have yet to see examples of those work."
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