Variable data printing can be one of the most powerful mediums of our time. However, most people who sell this to their clients are not even really doing variable printing. Eighty percent of all variable print is nothing more than mail-merge and fancy fonts. If I get another direct mail offer with my name spelled in sea shells on a beach I am just going to go insane!
"OK, Great, you have a sea shell font - wow - thanks!". What if I'm scared of the ocean? What if I am allergic to seafood of any kind? Are you selling me something to do with a beach or shells?
[First Name] mail-merge is kindergarten at best. The tiny increase in response (if any) will rarely justify the extra expense for this kind of fluff. Plus, you have to worry so much about all the negative associations with an unusual, unrelated approach to selling your goods and services. What's worse, I have seen entire campaigns switch themes away from a companies core brand just to include these fonts. If you are a medical supply company you shouldn't sell yourself with a beach theme just because it looks cool to you. Remember, it should be relative.
Unfortunately the real professionals of variable printing, the database teams in direct mail, have been inundated with printers that are being convinced to buy hundred thousand dollar specialty packages like seashell fonts and PURLs. So, in many ways, this is now the industry standard. To the real database marketing professionals this is very disheartening. However, use this to your advantage! We'll show you personalization that makes sense, creates additional results and is truly tied around the desires of your customers and prospects.
If you don't really know that much about your customers we can append over 100 fields of additional consumer data about them so you know if they like dogs or cats, drive Ford or Chevy, etc. When this is done by real variable data teams in direct mail it will still cost less than all those printers because we do it every day without the baggage of all that crazy software they bought.
At CSG Direct, we have over two decades experience in real variable data: variable data printing, variable data coding, randomization, variable data email, websites, and more. Our entire site is an example of variable data, but you wouldn't know that unless I told you. The images, alts, metas, content, embeds, etc. are all database driven variable content management. All of these tools are built right here at CSG Direct!
CSG Direct lives and breathes variable data so you get better results with REAL personalization!
I received a direct mail headline question and thought I would talk about it here too.
You are relying on someone giving you their quality time. If your headline is weak, you are assuming they will care long enough to read your whole copy. They probably won't.
Your instinct may be to use a headline like "The best service in our industry". But this is more like a followup to a real headline that grabs their attention and then makes them read more. People process information in bits and you can either lead them along or you can confuse them at the start.
I would rather entice readership with something like "Your Customers Don't Like You". which makes everyone say to themselves "WHAT? Our customers love us! Who is saying this?" and then you drop into your secondary line "How do you know you have the best service in your industry?".
At this point the person reading will at least ask themselves that secondary question and see if they can answer it. If they cannot - you can take them to the next line... leading them forward into your offer.
You have engaged them! Bravo! Step 1 complete. Remember not to think too much about step 4, 5 & 6 until you conquer step 1. Engage them and make them talk to your mailpiece and question it.
The main problem is that too many corporations wont allow you to use headlines like that. They'll say it's too unprofessional or too "small company". They want to lead with giant brand statements like "Great service for over 50 years".
So what?
Why should I give you 15 more seconds of my time, let alone some kind of response or business order?
Your headline must engage them.
Oh yeah, don't forget to track and test multiple headlines to see what works best with your audience or tier.
The mailing industry is going through major changes and I have heard several industry predictions that many mailing services companys and mail processing printers will "get out" instead of keeping up. This isn't a bad thing.
It's an industry reborn!
So as you look for your partner for the next decade I want to tell you what you need to know about mailing services companys.
"They all specialize in something"
Due to the large amount of mail and data processing needs in our country, you'll find that almost every mailshop is eventually pulled into some large account they cater to first and foremost. I have seen it time and time again.
They get pulled into tabloids, invoices, publications, credit card mailings, real estate franchises, etc. You go into any mailshop and see for yourself. What is the primary industry they serve? That is the industry that they are best ready to serve and most prepared to consult in.
These days you will often find out that their primary industry isn't even direct mail. The printing industry started adopting direct mail as a side business to increase revenue about 2-3 years ago.
How would you feel if you found out your "mailing vendor" doesn't even specialize in direct mail at all? It sure would explain some things that have happened along the way with your mailings, I'll bet.
We're a mailing services company through and through. Sure, we have also grown one of the largest digital print shops in the state of Nevada and we keep every traditional press within reach dancing on our projects. But we are a mailshop and we take that very personally. We make a huge difference with the customers that choose us over the status quo. Ask!
It is a big difference and it is what you are looking for. You will never find deep success with people whose core focus is printing. Printing is a secondary skill in our minds. This is database marketing. We're database marketers with a reputation in variable data printing going back to the 80s.
That is just one of the reasons to keep us in mind on your next project. Because we are close, experts in gaming direct mail and have the tools you need.
We cannot claim to be the Greatest Value in Direct Mail without talking costs. Across the nation we cost less than the average mailshop for all our mailing services.
My philosophy is that if another mailshop charges more than half of what we charge, they are overpriced. How is it possible that they can charge the same price we do without giving you all the benefits, service and focus that we offer in every single job we do?
This is why once you try us you won't look back:
We are the Greatest Value in Direct Mail.
I have been in direct mail and working in mailshops and mailrooms for over 20 years now. I know what everyone is doing and I'll tell you we dance circles around almost every other mailshop. Definitely around EVERY shop working with the gaming industry.
We are very passionate about your mail and making you look good during the process. We know that with every mailing it feels like your job is on the line and you are constantly having to cover for traditional mailshops.
That is unfair to you and it gives the more advanced mail shops a bad name. You deserve a shop whose #1 focus is handling the many details of your job like true trained career professionals.
I promise you that after we get through just 2-3 mailings together (to get each others' flow down), that you will never go back to a regular mailshop again.
You know we're qualified.
I humbly ask you to try us out.
We'll work hard to make you shine!
You deserve it and it doesn't cost any more than you are already paying so there is no real reason to say no.
At first glance database marketing could be seen as either a very vague expression or a very specific one. Obviously in direct mail we are always using databases in our marketing, but that does not really identify which of the above we provide in specific mailings.
We define the difference simply based on volume and functions used due to the volume. For example, even thought it is rudimentary at best; in order for a mailpiece to be considered personalized there is at least one area where you refer to the person you are addressing by name. With database marketing we may not specifically call the person by name, but we will make sure the offer presented will likely appeal to the recipient based on mining, tiers and historical data.
So in many ways both of these can be considered "personalization". However, when the audience gets large enough, we may have to resort to non-personalized printing in order to meet a large scale budget. This eliminates marketing directly to the person, and replaces it with marketing to a segment of people or interests. A quick example would be 20,000 pieces vs. 250,000 pieces. We can easily digital variable print (aka Variable Data Printing) anything from 500 to 35,000 pieces or more and keep costs reasonable and response rates elevated. But at 100,000 pieces it becomes much easier to reduce costs dramatically by breaking down the project into tiers and eliminating variables like "Hello, John" from the copy.
At 250,000 pieces we will have strategically separated the data into many tiers, some of which stay digital to maximize personalization and postage. The other versions are printed on a traditional press to maximize price efficiency and avoid paying the per-click charges that digital presses require. This is database marketing - the management of a campaign to optimize costs and response as well as postage cost and delivery balancing. This is one of the specialized services we are known for, as well as the actual segmenting and variable coding of the project. Much of this is accomplished with our proprietary programs to maximize flexibility.
You don't get this done at a printer, this is direct mail and database marketing at its core and belongs with database marketing professionals so you get real results, real savings and a 360 degree understanding of the balance of all the above. This is where CSG Direct has earned much of our reputation!
I don't think there is a compelling enough reason to do personalized URLS. We are a variable data printing company and database marketers ourselves. We find PURLS are pushed by the digital press manufacturers as something expensive to sell that the buyer can use to generate business. It's expensive to buy!
There tend to be a few quick uses for it and then PURLS lose their glamour. The primary use is to get data from a client. Wow, it's got my name in it! But the fantasy wears off after the first time; especially when they find out that it's a fact-gathering expedition or survey only.
(Which is great once, but you cannot do monthly surveys without a reason.)
There are just so few reasons to use PURLS.
We focus more on personalization for increased appeal and response. There are many (much more secure) ways to get a client to interact online without PURLS.
In short, expensive gimmick, few uses for the same customer, cool only on the first day it rolled out.
I (We) have been building variable data websites since 1995 to work with direct mail campaigns. It doesn't have to be fancy to be effective and you can do it quickly with simple landing pages.
By the way, did I mention that we invented a way to track direct mail through the normally hidden mailstream? When we do a mailing you can track the production of your piece online (since 1999) and also track when it is delivered to the US Postal Service. We also let you track each piece on its journey to its end delivery post office.
There are so many more things you can do on the cheap than to rely on PURLS.
Just my take, but then again I have been doing variable data printing and database programming for over 20 years in direct mail. Not meant as plug - just a reference of experience.
If you need a variable data printing quote just let me know. It's one of the things we are famous for.
IMPORTANT!
If you are researching direct mail vendors on, what you really need to ask is:
"HOW QUALIFIED IS THIS VENDOR?"
The direct mail industry is full of "so-so" companies that struggle every day with new barcodes, new postage, new technology and changing regulations.
PLUS, what about the results you want from your direct marketing investment?
At CSG Direct, we have a long history in direct mail as direct mail trainers, mailroom managers, database marketing managers and mailroom equipment operators and technicians. We know you aren't dabbling in direct mail and neither are we. We have one of the friendliest but most experienced teams in the direct mail business.
America's First Live Job Tracking System in Direct Mail - 1999
America's First public bulk mailpiece tracking systems - 2008 (reuters)(Yahoo News)
25 USPS Certified Employees working on all aspects of your projects
Direct NCOALink® Limited Service Licensee with the US Postal Service® (USPS.com)
Our prowess in database-driven everything
Providing some of the Greatest Value in Direct Mail - Bonus Bucks, free advertising, great pricing and more...
We live and breathe direct mail strategy and results! In my experience, if you go with the cheapest bid in direct mail you are likely better to have not mailed at all. The road to direct mail success is littered with the bones of people who thought they tried direct mail only to fail because they thought they we're saving a few bucks.
You are here today because you need results - so don't click away. We promise you the Greatest Value in Direct Mail right here! We have the testimonials, the skills and experience; you have a project. Let's get to work!
We often pitch projects to clients related to advanced marketing: model
development, behavior-driven segmentation, pricing optimization, data
mining, and other fun things. However, I always ask my clients if
they're doing the easy things before calling us in to refine their core
targeting methodologies. Without further delay, here's a quick
list:
New Player's Card Signups:Treat your new Club signups like
Gold. Get them a welcome letter as
quickly as possible, preferably within a
week. Personalize it,
acknowledge their earned level, and if they triggered
a good rating,
include a bounce-back. Bonus points if you integrate this
first contact
with your VIP introduction. Most properties do this, few do
this weekly.
W2G Winners:Here's one of the most valuable lists that
often goes ignored. Although
small, here's a great chance to recover your
payout. Send a
congratulations communication quickly, and several weeks
before the
first anniversary of their win, arrange a "winner's package"
where
you'll book their same room, comp dinner at the same restaurant, and
remind them of their great luck! On a side-note, if your behavior
models don't account for post-high-win sessions, the models will
overestimate this player's baseline play amount.
Hotel-only
first-time visitors:Just send a simple postcard to acknowledge their visit,
and include your
favorite retail-grade offer. Its a nice reminder of their
trip. If you
make the front of it postcard-like, it might find a place on
their
refridgerator! After this first contact, include this populuation in
your modeled hotel population.
Keno Players:The data is sitting
right in front of you. Find all those Keno
players! They're different from
the video poker players, ya know.
Very, very different.
Younger
players:Have you looked around your casino floor lately? Gaming has
traditionally been a leisure sport for a slightly older population.
However, there are many players in their 20s and 30s. Dig a little
deeper, push a little harder. Some of these players will become your
foundation over the next several years.
Spa or other
amenities:Just an easy initiative to bring people back to the service they
hopefully enjoyed. If your marketing database is sophisticated enough,
cross-reference this list with your player's club to find out if any of
your spa visitors are the spouses of your VIPs. Hint, hint... "Wow,
honey, they offered me a FREE spa session, can't you just play blackjack
for an hour or two without me?"
Simple Zip-code untargeted
mailings:Just kidding. I was just wondering if you were reading this far.
I
have never seen a program like this generate a positive return. Stop.
Your time & budget is better spent on other projects. Continuing to do
this is broadcasting to your competitors, "Hey, we don't have any
end-to-end analytics!"
Ed Gianos is the founder of North Leaf
Solutions LLC, a consulting
agency helping clients in gaming and other
industries maximize the value
of their data through data quality, modeling,
segmentation, testing,
reporting, and various methodologies to please both
players and
marketing budgets.
According to the US Postal Service they mailed 202.7 billion pieces in 2008.
Based on our Footprints Data Systems™ we mailed 111.5 million pieces in the past 4 years.
Here goes nothing. First up, I want you to know that I have read a thousand blogs and dug through news articles of every kind. They all differ. One of the main things I won't waste time on right now is a "comment" section on each article. Maybe later? I've got bigger programs on the proverbial stove right now and this "comments" thing isn't my first priority.
However, I do want to hear from you! I will come up with several fancy, cool, simple ways to reach me in real time or through e-mail or in posts in the near future.
If you find that our website has a problem that requires repair or attendance please contact us at 800-881-2150 or email us at service@csgdirect.com. Thank you!