Every marketing campaign gives a company the chance to learn and improve, and more importantly, find the tactics that spell out success. Today, companies employ a number of popular methods in order to measure and fine-turn their direct mail efforts. They include QR codes, activation codes, social media and more. Discover which options work best for you.

Tactic 1: Personal URL (PURL)

Create a personalized website dedicated solely to your direct mail campaign. Include this PURL in your direct mail collateral only. That way, the unique visits, sessions and page views the site amasses will directly correlate to your campaign. Go one step further by adding a form to your PURL that allows customers to share their information, then measure the amount of responses you get.

Tactic 2: QR Code®1

Connect with your mobile customers through easy-to-use QR codes®. By scanning the codes, customers can access a special PURL, where you can measure their web activity, or track their activity through the QR code®companies themselves.

Tactic 3: Business Reply Card

Add a pre-paid, coded business reply card to your direct mail. This popular marketing method makes it easy for customers to respond to direct mail campaigns. Not only will you be able to measure the amount of responses you get, you’ll also gain valuable leads and customer information.

Tactic 4: 1-800 Number

Include a phone number in your direct mail that’s used exclusively for the campaign. Incentivize your customers to call it for special offers or more information about your products, then measure the call volume that comes in.

Tactic 5: Unique Offer or Activation Codes

By adding individualized activation codes for in-store or online offers, your business can track how many codes shoppers use, where and for what products. Get more out of this tactic by utilizing variable data printing. By printing different images and copy in direct mail, your company can also find out which content is the most successful at driving sales.

Tactic 6: Social Media

This one’s simple. Include your social media accounts on your mailers. Once they’re sent and the campaign begins, use the analytics tools on each social media site to track the up-tick of new fans and followers.

In Conclusion

When measuring a direct mail campaign, businesses have the opportunity to refine their strategy. By adding one or two tactics to a mailer, any size company can understand the strengths of its campaign. Better yet, it can use the information to create a more potent marketing strategy in the coming year.