Lifestyles Online offers integrated email and DM

Lifestyles Online adds 150,000 new names to its 1.5 million strong file every month - each contact is available with the corresponding email address for pre- and post-online activity.

Lifestyles Online Business Development Manager Gaby Cox said: "In this online world, supplementary email activity is key to the survival of cold direct mail, in fact it is proven that using the digital email channel to warm up traditional activity can increase response by up to 50 per cent with as little as 10 per cent extra on spend.

"We would advise that any business currently using postal campaigns should at least test integrating email activity into their next campaign".

Cox offers several reasons why integrating email with postal activity is such a smart idea.

Response rates falling? Use email as a letter opener.

When asked why direct mail is left unopened, 45 per cent of consumers say that it is because they don't know why they received the correspondence or how their details were obtained.

The DMA code of best practice states that for email activity the consumer must be aware of why they have been sent the email and be able to unsubscribe directly from it.

These stipulations on email mean that any online campaign can be used to register the brand's profile with the consumer and resolve any queries over the origin of the postal mail.

Running out of new leads? Everyone's online so dive in.

Statistics from December 2007 reveal that 44 per cent of the European population is now online: that's a massive pool of opportunity for businesses to seek out their prospective customers.

Of course online data capture is the most efficient means of sifting out these customers and it follows that an online lead should be initially followed up electronically.

Dot, forward slash, hyphen - Is my url ugly? In a bid to track effectiveness many DM packs now come with a specific url for consumers to 'find out more'.

But chances are that url is clumsy and so customers find another way to the business site meaning that figuring out who responded to the pack is somewhat hit and miss.

But an email delivered after the postal pack can encourage consumers to respond directly and so provides an irrefutable means of tracking.

Of course integrating email into your postal campaigns needs to follow some rules to make it work, Lifestyles Online has narrowed the tactics down to three steps.

Make sure the campaign is fully integrated - always use the same imagery and text on the email activity as is used in the direct mail piece.

It's important that the two creatives work together in order to get the necessary uplift.

Smart links: limit the links in the pre-email, stick to a clear message that encourages the recipient to open their direct mail pack, then supply a code in the pack that is collected in the follow-up email.

It's all about the timing: pre-email activity should be sent a day or two before the direct mail pack is due to land and post-email activity should be sent in days of receiving the direct mail piece.

Seed names can help track when the direct mail piece has dropped, which can then prompt the subsequent email.

For specific advice on how to boost your next postal campaign with email activity contact Gaby Cox at Lifestyles Online.

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