Which marketing technique works better? Communicating everything to your prospects all at once, or feeding them pieces of your message over time? It depends on your marketing goals, but in many cases, the latter (called “drip marketing”) can be highly effective.
Let’s look at the experience of one marketer that illustrates how drip marketing works.
Three-Phase Campaign
This marketer wanted to increase sales to affluent customers. To maximize response, it devised a three-phase cross-channel marketing campaign that looked like this:
Phase 1: First out was an eye-catching, high-gloss trifold mailer that would grab attention inside the mailbox. Once recipients opened the mailer, they were greeted with name personalization, relevant text, and a personalized URL that allowed them to enter an email address and download a free, high-value white paper and fill out an optional survey.
Phase 2: To the people who did not respond to the first mailing, the marketer sent out a follow-up mailing. This phase capitalized upon the name recognition built by the initial contact, but the styling of the mailer was tweaked to differentiate the two. Like the first mailing, the piece included a personalized URL that allowed recipients to download a white paper and fill out an optional survey.
After this, the marketer was swamped with responses—so much so that the third mailing was delayed for several weeks until the response team could catch up.
Phase 3: For the third mailing, the marketer removed the names of those who responded to the first two mailings. Then it used an invitation-style A7 envelope with full-color brochure insert, personalized note, and personalized URL. This more resistant group of respondents was offered the chance to win a sporting package or high-end coffee brewing system.
The results? The company exceeded its sales goals by 400% and achieved more than 1400% ROI!
What made this program such a success? This marketer understood that sometimes it takes more than one contact to build name recognition and trust.
How about you?