From Research to Results: What Winterberry Group’s White Paper Means for Direct Mail Marketers

all right well let’s go ahead and get started welcome everyone to our webinar we are thrilled you have chosen to spend

some time with us today and we will not disappoint in today’s marketing ecosystem there are common struggles in

the pursuit of effective strategy and use of the direct mail marketing channels such as rising costs declining

data addressability siloed marketing and fragmented audiences and today we will

explore how to overcome these hurdles in a complex marketing landscape in particular we will focus how a strategic

Omni Channel approach including the Resurgence of direct mail can cut through the noise and deliver

breakthrough performance now since the dissolution of the dma it has been increasingly important in my opinion to

have research studies and data regarding marketing best practices and we’re in for a real educational symphony today

with the exploration of the Winterberry group delivering performance report and insights from our expert panelists now

real quickly just a couple of housekeeping items and the agenda for today we will begin with some quick

intros then Jonathan from the winterbury group will lead with a review of the delivering performance white paper and

report and then I will lead a Q&A for insights from our expert panelists if anybody has any questions please just

pop them into the chat I will get to them at the end of the webinar as we have a lot to cover so now for some

quick intros I’m Morgan DiGiorgio I am the chief Revenue officer for Direct Mail 2.0 and who’s mailing what and

collectively our sole purpose is to make Direct Mail the most effective form of marketing by integrating it with

cuttingedge technology we have a 15 technology Omni Channel marketing platform with realtime reporting

dashboard that integrates into Direct Mail campaigns to lift the response rates on average about 50% and provides

tracking and attribution data and or who’s mailing what platform assists printers and Brands take mail to the

next level with competitive intelligence insights and lead generation opportunities to seek and acquire new

Direct Mail customers now as technology companies we are constantly evolving and finding ways to

add value our newest project will be unleash this year with our dm2 doai

platform so keep your ear to the ground for what we’re going to do next and don’t miss out on the next value added

service you should be leveraging to bring your business and revenue to the next level Jonathan I will kick it over

to you give us a quick intro sir uh thank you very much Morgan I’m Jonathan marges the managing partner at

Winterberry group uh we’re a strategy consulting firm based in New York um focus exclusively on what we say are the

intersecting disciplines of marketing advertising technology data and um

practically what that means is we spend a lot of time working with service providers um in the marketing World

agencies data companies technology platforms Production Services vendors

you name it um helping them think through disruption um changes in their Market how they should be investing um

to best support their own growth um we do quite a number of other things as well which I’ll get into in a few

moments that’s me impressive fantastic thank you Jonathan Stephanie you’re up

thanks so much for having me Morgan um VP I’m Stephanie corz I’m BP of Business Development for the direct marketing

division at rrd um I think many of you that know are donally know us for our core history as a printer um with our

experience in direct mail specifically going back nearly a century ago when we produced our first mail order

catalog which is kind of wild to think about right now um since then we’ve continued to evolve with the times to

becoming a leading uh Marketing Solutions provider um with speal really specialized expertise and the largest

Direct Mail platform in the industry to support modern marketers uh We’ve also expanded our portfolio over the years

into being an end-to-end partner for Packaging Supply Chain Solutions um by driving efficiencies for clients with

our global scale um as part of the leader ship team my main role is solely dedicated to the direct marketing

practice with my main focus being keeping a pulse on and predicting market trends um urance we ensuring we have the

most sophisticated and diverse solutions to best support our clients and with their business goals fantastic thank you

Stephanie happy to have you here thank you Greg please tell us a little bit about you and more oh yeah great um I’m

Greg Fox I’m Chief strategy officer at Moore uh you know Moore is a constituent experience management consulting company

um you know that works on all medium all channels um are and our primary focus is

working with purpose-driven non uh nonprofit organizations across many

different sectors of the industry large and small um personally I’ve been in the

industry uh 40 years I’ve spent most most of that in the nonprofit sector and

I’m glad to be here today so thank you we’re we’re pleased to have you as well

all right Chris we will have your intro now sir well thank you for much thank you so much for having me with all these

other panelists so I’m Chris Foster I’m VP of new business development and modern postcard it’s a hybrid role that

touches both Marketing sales and strategy and product development modern postcard focuses on Direct Mail

Marketing Solutions or smb’s mid-market Enterprise agencies nonprofits of all

sizes and types um our unique specialty is focusing on helping small businesses

especially with traditional and automated direct mail so they can use this channel in acquisition retargeting

and retention um along with integrating other digital strategies with the direct mail marketing to really focus on

reaching the right person at the right time very important fantastic thank you Chris all right well now we’re going to

kick this over to Jonathan for the delivering performance report review thank you very much Morgan let me

yeah deck ready to

go and if you can’t see anything by now tell Morgan and she’ll tell me but I

this seems to be working for me we can see it you’re good perfect um thanks

everyone I uh I’m GNA spend a few minutes um link some of the foundation for a kind of an upto-date view on

what’s Happening not just um in in the direct mail ecosystem but re but really

kind of broadly across the marketing ecosystem as people think about um data

and the role of datadriven media like mail um as part of omni Channel

strategies in general I mentioned um before at the outset that uh that our work focuses exclusively on sort of

these intersecting disciplines and suppliers that live in that World um from very early days of our practice we

believe strongly that you have to keep sort of a a highly concerted Focus View

on on the trends and dynamics that shape um these industries if you’re going to be useful as advisers to folks in the

space so um understanding and keeping tabs on what’s Happening um from a media

and execution standpoint as a means of understanding how it impacts suppliers and others has always been for to our

practice um Direct Mail is plays a a real important role and as as we continue to learn sort of a foundational

role and help people think about and use other channels um and so it’s a topic that that we’re we’re close to um for

the last few years we’ve been pursuing it in a structured research project um that we call delivering performance and

so the content I’m going to speak to for the next 14 minutes or so um is derived from the last um research that we

published on the topic um back in December of last year um in conjunction

with a number of Partners um some of whom are represented in our panel today um our goal in this in this exercise is

to kind of take keep tabs on on how brands are engaging with with male first

and foremost but but more importantly how they’re thinking about um their evolving priorities and the changes that

are going to need to have to keep the channel front and center but but keep their marketing efforts continually

effective and efficient as they think about their future Investments um and and structural needs otherwise um we we

published this in a in a fairly extensive paper last year and so I’m only going to have time to really hit

some of the Highlights today uh I think as you’ll you’ll come to learn that even for for a channel we often talk about

using terms like traditional and established and what have you there’s there’s really quite a bit that’s um

that’s changing and and even more that’s um that’s changing or poised to to change the channel as we think about um

what’s happened since we published um the I think I think to start at with the with the basics um direct mail um

continues to represent one of um the largest um and most strategically

important marketing channels in Youth by Brands today we’ve been tracking um annual expenditures in the channel

broadly across across postage production materials a host of other functions

involved in campaigns for um the better part of two decades and uh as best we

can tell it it continues to represent one of the top five measurable channels

of all Market media that that brands in the US are using to reach audiences last year um Direct Mail expenditures grew um

in the aggregate of about 2.6% um over the the previous year which

which in itself may not sound like a particular Stellar year-over-year growth uh but when you contrast it to to the

performance of the the same the previous year when dollars dropped 133% um from the the previous Benchmark

um get a you get a sense for for just how impactful even a a modest rebound

can be male continues to to command enormous budgetary influence and and and

enjoys this kind of stability for a number of reasons some of them somewhat short- term some of them really um

wellestablished in the fabric of of priorities that are driving Market or investment um for for starters of course

um 2024 was a more stable um consistent year

macroeconomic um short-term volatilities aside

marketers tell us that they felt more confident about budgets and were more willing to set aside budget earlier in

the year um for campaigns than they had been previously um over the long term we

know that that brands of All Sorts are prioritizing Investments that drive specific definable performance outcomes

whether that’s new customer acquisition incremental sales reactivation of a

lapsed customer and direct mail is foremost among the the performance media channels that that drive those kind of

black and white results we we’ve been arguing for years that um even a certain digital media paid search paid social

and the like capture headlines for their performance impact um so much of the of

the practice um and the the practice that that drive those channels was

really established and continues to be used by effective direct mailers on an everyday basis um uniquely last year

maybe for the first time since since some of those competitive digital channels really achieve maturity we saw

Direct Mail benefit from the growing cost and the height and complexity

associated with those channels um and this is this is a a much longer discussion but as digital media have

grown more expensive and as Digital Data has grown less addressable given regulatory

changes given changes to data access and security policy changes among Tech

developers that may require you to say opt into the to the trade of of data

among other parties and digital ecosystem Direct Mail sort of emerged um as a more favorable outcome in fact we

we heard anecdotally and across broader panel many stories about Brands reallocating dollars to mail last year

that that previously were your mark for digital um 2024 was a a election year of

course you may remember um that always has has positive impacts not just on

mail but all sorts of media channels and and in fact um much of the the net

growth in the channel last year is is more or less directly attributable um to what was happening in the uh in the

election realm and then finally um data data remains available and the quality

of data that is accessible to to drive um high performance uh Direct Mail campaigns continues to grow and that’s

that’s driving confidence and that’s driving investment in a way we haven’t uh hadn’t seen previously of course as

as dollars remain um robust in the channel we’re seeing a secular change

otherwise um that’s that’s changing the nature of male is as those as those

dollars um grew in 20124 volumes continued to decline in the aggregate uh

and continuing a trend um that’s been ongoing for for a number of years you don’t have to dig deep into

USPS reporting to to know that um mailboxes in the aggregate are are

getting a little lighter than they were previous and so even though um we talk about stability from a St spend

perspective quite clearly Direct Mail as a channel is becoming one that is is

being marked by let’s call it more strategic Precision use of the channel even at lower volumes so we we we lost a

little bit more than 1% of total volume from the the marketing M flow as you might imagine the the the reasons

underlying that that sort of systemic change are in many respects similar to the reasons that actually reinforce

confidence in the spend marketers as they focus on performance from an Effectiveness perspective make this

piece resonate with a with a recipient are also focused on the efficiency of

their campaign help me send less mail particularly to folks that are less inclined to response marketers more than

ever before focused on the net Roi of their total marketing investment which has them focused on those components

that are driving less volume more more reason to cut less performing let’s say

desiles from Their audience base um the Embrace of all things data driven the Embrace of all things that engage in

segmentation targeting personalized content the use of triggers is I think

having a a a very very positive net impact on male and the role that it

plays in the mix but but the the role of it is also switching from a vehicle of

mass communications to one that could be used in deeply impactful ways to engage smaller more targeted audiences and we

hear as well a lot of concerns and circles about the the high upfront cost of of direct mail and that representing

something of a concern to brands that otherwise are used to the deeply performed

um oriented pay pay approach of uh let’s say comparative digital media and the

like all sort of adding up to a paradigm whereby marketers deeply focused on the

channel in tend to keep it in the mix um but in very different ways than perhaps

they have um previously what brands tell us they need in a go forward basis

though um is pretty diverse even as they as they reflect some some great

confidence in where B is headed um far and above other priorities that we hear

um the the need to integrate male better with um other channels other elements of

more complex um customer engagement strategies right and so we call this Omni Channel sometimes call it multi-

Channel call it connected in some verticals and the like but the the bottom line is pretty consistent across

the board um marketers are growing less siloed less tunnel visioned how they

think about their independent efforts and trying to put the customer the target the audience at the centerpiece

of all of their marketing Investments and so um the ability to stand up

consistent infrastructure technology operations to support all the channels at their

disposal a a universal um priority foremost among those that sort of

integration effort is of course measurement if you understand what you’re what you’re spending if you

understand the incremental um performance impact of of every dollar of that spend you can better Slide the

levers to really optimize the performance of the next campaign this is um this is an area where where skilled

practitioners would tell you you’re never going to get 100% perfection in any approach you’re also there’s

widespread recognition that there’s a lot of room for um direct mail to improve and for direct mail to gain

greater Acceptance in measurement and attribution approaches and also the supporting technology that um support

this aim across a wide array of channels we expect that um for that reason you

know measurement and attribution will continue to remain a a heavy duty priority of Brands going forward um as

will of course AI because all things AI um are occupying that kind of attention and priority um in not just the

marketing Suite but certainly the SE Suite um our panel of uh of media and marketing um senior Executives was uh as

you might expect rather bullish on the opportunity for AI to advance um the

value of direct mail um for a whole host of reasons right the better better use

of available data better tailoring of of content to to drive relevance today of

course um most of those applications are are mostly related to workflow um of

complex maale campaigns um creating um derivative set creative um variations

and the like um but a lot of enthusiasm for for the role of of AI in all sorts

of campaign strategy planning composition and delivery functions for the long-term even though while they

pursue that sort of long-term opportunity what we what we learned and I think that maybe open opened eyes the

widest on our side is that um mailers are are finally reaching a Tipping Point

in terms of their adoption and generation of value um when it comes to a number of innovations that are maybe a

little bit more incremental a little bit less you know transformative than AI but many cases have been in the works for

mailers for years and and always sort of positioned as um Leading Edge stuff that

is is finally now coming into the mainstream and and delivering real

substantial everyday values so we asked our panel of mailers for example you

know are are you using actually several different handfuls of potential options

and is it driving value and what we learn is across the board um investments in personalization in the retargeting of

digital visitors integration of third-party marketing technology maybe

wasn’t custom designed or designed first and foremost for use of direct mail the use of Behavioral triggers QR codes um

the these aren’t Niche these aren’t emergent these aren’t experimental test approaches to just

eing out a little bit more value from Direct Mail these are now market Standard best practices um that that

Brands large and small are relying on um to both uh maximize the value of their

investment but also back to a theme from a couple moments ago better integrate

the use of mail with other channels where response mechanisms of the these

types are um just just standard the way those channels are integrated I think I

think that that speaks well um to the potential for direct mail to continue um

continue delivering upon its Omni Channel um potential over the next few years um there’s much more in terms of

um what’s actually happening today in in our research paper but particularly as we think about the kind of topics we

want to discuss with the rest of our panel um over the the next 45 minutes or so we we concluded our study with with

an analysis quickly of some steps we think that both Brands and suppliers are

going to need to take to advance the value of their their direct mail programs over the the next few years I

don’t think many of them will come as a surprise um I I mentioned performance as sort of the the primary theme that

continues to drive Brands to engage with Direct Mail well for many Brands ensuring a continuance in that Dynamic

mix of channels is going to require that you man manage direct mail through the

same lens of a performance vehicle that you manage certain paid digital channels

um for a number of reasons operationally it makes more sense it’s going to be better you’re going to be better positioned to allocate dollars across

those channels appropriately but I think there’s also an advocacy angle here um

Direct Mail isn’t isn’t just a print Channel a traditional Channel something that is wholly different from the other

touch points at your disposal is a core performance driving vehicle same as as

certain others and should be managed that way and elevated in the marketing mix and in the budget of the

organization um those that are doing that are seeing are seeing some pretty substantial benefits to that we think

that it’s going to represent um a best practice sooner rather than later of course doing that requires the ability

to measure um the results of those Direct Mail efforts continually test different scenarios and in ways that are

very similar to the way that you’re managing um digital and other efforts uh and so likewise I I probably could have

said measure measure measure as a as an imperative at almost any time over the

last several decades and I would have been spot on but now measure test and do it in conjunction with other media is

the real challenge that are facing marketers um and the opportunity to to shine over the long term um continue to

to evaluate and invest in in datadriven technology that’s supports holistic

campaign management that supports the optimization of spend across both mail and and other addressable channels goes

without saying um that that the more you’re the better you’re able to orchestrate a combination of touch

points centrally the better off you’re going to be able to do this is typically a very difficult step though for Brands

um there are lots of tools out there and precious few of them were made custommade to support all channels um

sort of equal level of of control and optimization so um the the evaluation

burden really does face the marketer first and foremost but um as technology improves the task of doing um the

integration work will theoretically get easier as well and so so focusing on that is a real task at hand um going

forward AI is is probably the the central um tool the central technology

function that offers the opportunity to drive um truly transformative performance impr improvements and so

even though it’s sort of dangling out there as the long-term objective um understanding understanding both what it

does understanding how it can impact your programs and campaigns and understanding the timeline for

integration um is something that all organizations should be concerned with right now and then finally think about

your orc structure think about how you manage Direct Mail think about the role of operational silos internally where

they benefit you where they may be hindering your abil ility to think and act in an omni Channel basis I think

it’s it’s easy for folks like me to Simply sit here and say tear down those silos tear down that Direct Mail

operations group tear down that team that speaks in one language and one media channel but not others when the

truth of the matter of course is that sometimes operational stos serve very good purposes from data governance

privacy perspective incubation of expertise etc etc um the the

prescription then for any organization is going to be very different from the next one based upon their needs their

mix of media their budget their vertical you name it um but keeping a a close eye

on that and being very intentional about how your org structure supports what you want to accomplish from a marketing

perspective is something that I I don’t think can happen in the background anymore really does represent sort of

the central responsibility of of central marketing um and something that that will help you derive value from from

every touch point that was that was about an hour’s worth of content in a in a very short period of time I told this

team before we started I could have gone even longer but I’m gonna I’m gonna stop because I think our panel is going to

have much more interesting things to say um our our paper is available um it’s

available on our site at uh at Winterberry group.com insights available from a number of the panelist

organizations that we’re going to talk through in in a few minutes and so um I’m going to going to pause here and

stop sharing we’ll go back and and have a a good discussion around many of these themes thanks everyone Jonathan thank

you very much uh you did condense quite a bit of data into a very short time if anyone has not taken a look into that

Winterberry group uh delivering performance paper as Jonathan alluded to it’s available on their site it’s

available on our site and I’m sure a lot of the other panelists as well so much data in there that can be leveraged for

Effective marketing strategy surrounding Omni Channel and effective practices for Direct Mail we’re increasing Roi and

marketing spend not just for yourselves uh but for for Brands and your clients as well um so I’m going to go ahead and

and open up to the panel um I I’ve definitely have some questions and I’d

love to get their expert Insight uh on a few things so the white paper highlights

the dynamic interplay between between direct mail and digital channels and shaping Omni Channel marketing and you

know this is something that at Direct Mail 2.0 we’ve built an entire business around because there is an an exact need

for that and it does help in leveraging the highest results from the direct mail

marketing channel when you’re you’re utilizing direct mail and digital so I just want to pose to our panelists from

your perspective over the years what’s the most significant shift you’ve

observed and how businesses are integrating these channels I I know that some have been slow to to adopt these

principles because from a lot of what Jonathan was talking about breaking down those silos can be very challenging so

I’ll start with You Chris um and and what have you observed in how businesses are integrating these channels or are

moving into an omni Channel marketing strategy I think the biggest change is

the mindset from the sales folks um who are actually talking to customers I think that um

they uh are moving from you know a Performance Marketing perspective that’s

a single channel to Performance Marketing that’s across all channels and I think what’s important for what

marketers intuitively understand and we get as we start moving through our careers is that each channel has a

specific job you don’t ask a digital channel to do the job that’s really best suited for direct mail and vice versa um

I think sales folks have a harder under harder time understanding that and communicating that to their clients um

and really knowing that that deeply um that the Facebook ad has a very specific

job to do in terms of awareness and interest maybe getting somebody to the website but that’s still a tough ask if

it’s an acquisition Facebook ad and you’re scrolling and you’re looking at your neighbor’s puppy and your friend’s vacation and then you see an ad for

something that’s interesting and you keep scrolling it’s really it’s really hard to get to get someone to actually act on that and and then actually truly

convert um whereas the direct mail retargeting for example like we’ve

talked about is a touch that happens after someone visits a website and the direct mail lands that’s a very specific

job that that card has which is different than awareness or interest because the customer already expressed

an interest and that the job of that card is to get someone to actually act so I think that you know your question

of what that big challenge is is for the sales team who are talking with individual clients to recognize that the

digital component of a direct mail program and the direct mail compo component of a digital program each has

a different job to do and you kind of explain that to the customer in terms of setting expectations because when they

look at response rates and attribution they might challenge or question but if they understand fundamentally that it

all works together and they all have a different job to do it makes the conversation a little easier did that

answer your question yeah 100% I couldn’t agree more you know historically years and years ago it was

this proverbial tug-of-war between you know where should I invest my market marketing spend in digital or direct

mail and the truth of the matter is is that if you’re not leveraging both and having them woven together in in a

cohesive marketing strategy you’re you’re leaving a lot on the table because they do each play an intricate

role in the entire marketing strategy and I like what you said about getting the sales team uh to digest and be able

to effectively speak to that to a client because that’s that’s a big ask too for someone that’s been justly specializing

and Direct Mail you know for for years and years and and having to position yourself as a marketing expert or

someone that’s leveraging a different channel that might be foreign to you um so I agree with you Chris thank you for

that Insight um Stephanie what about you what are your thoughts on that yeah I think

um kind of along the lines of what Chris was saying from the sellers position um I think from the our CL the client

position I’m seeing a lot of how you know buying patterns have definitely changed um as a result of this shift

from um essentially Mass marketing to micromarketing or as you’ll see in Jonathan’s white paper they talk a lot

about from uh volume to Value so uh as an example you know National advertisers

still need to reach a national audience but um are looking to more microt targeted and fully integrated campaigns

essentially localizing portions of the population at a specific time which is very different than you know 10 20 years

ago so I think this has really led to this growing need for all these new technologies such as you know as

everyone knows QR codes pearls retargeting are all very highly effective for this reason um as well as

the significant growth in digital printing um as well as seeking we’re seeing a lot of marketers seeking

partners that have system integration to support you know fully integrated Channel strategies nice yeah no

definitely agree right we have to be more strategic especially with the cost of mail Rising but you know even if you

think about from a digital marketing perspective you put spend in and you have an audience and they very

sophisticated algorithms on the back end aren’t displaying the same amount of ads evenly across that audience they’re

displaying the the right amount of ads to the people that are showing the highest propensity to be likely to

convert right and maximizing that utilization of that spend and so now

we’re we’re looking to do that more with Direct Mail as well so um Greg what are

what are your thoughts on that well from a non perspective I I think that the

biggest shift that you know we’re seeing and it uh continues to evolve but is

that more and more organizations more nonprofit executives are are embracing

the value of direct mail uh and the role that it plays in an organization’s

overall marketing strategy you know it wasn’t too long ago that everyone said as we all know that you know DM’s dying

but just but but just the opposite is happening and these organizations to you

know to many of them uh to their to their shagrin is that they understand um

that it plays a vital role far bigger than what they initially thought you

know DM in a lot of these organizations and the most evolved um is no longer

just considered a program it’s not considered a channel you know we consider a channel the way somebody

responds more and more they’re seeing that Direct Mail is a vital media just like everything else people are sending

out it’s a media regardless of where the person is choosing to give um you know

across our sector um you know there’s this desire uh to get younger audiences

and because you know as our traditional 70 year old donors are dying off have the get younger um and the mindset is

digital digital digital but the fact is today we’re finding that Direct Mail is

super effective at targeting younger audiences in fact all the research is showing now that they prefer to get it

that way um they may choose to go online to give but Direct Mail played a vital

role in getting that the other thing is as Direct Mail continues to sort of

increase its importance you know I think organizations are starting to put more value greater value on the in mentality

of DM um for from donors who initially acquired that way for example a lot of

organizations are finding that 25% or more of their online revenue is coming from DM acquired donors um they’re

finding that a third of their drtv campaign data or drtv revenues coming

from DM acquired donors and that 70% of their plan givers who give oh you know

um you know hundreds of thousand dollars a year no $100,000 when they die they’re being attributed back to their giving a

first gift to the organization in direct mail so while attribution rules aren’t really fully used in direct mail like

they do in other Medias organizations are becoming fully aware of the value

that it brings to the organization and finally it is really pushing the

frontiers of this audience driven approach to what we do in the nonprofit

sector so very positive change that has been taking place that’s incredible yeah

I mean I I couldn’t agree more and you know to to be fair okay everybody talks

about the rising cost of direct mail with all the postage increases but the cost of digital media has been rising as

well and the response rates to that have been going down whereas the response to direct mails seems to be getting better

and better especially as there’s less real estate in the mailbox it’s making more of an impression and I agree with

you that there there is this huge misconception about a younger demographic responding better to digital

when all the statistical research and data out there shows they prefer to to be marketed to with direct mail and they

see it as a more trustworthy Channel um and I just can’t think of something better to leverage when you’re trying to

increase your audience for nonprofit so that’s very very insightful Greg um

Jonathan what about you uh what’s the most significant shift you’ve observed in how businesses are integrating these

channels uh it that’s that is an important question it’s also a really hard question to to answer because of

the you know just the the focal point of the question itself U I can answer that question differently based upon every

end user vertical you know we talking about Enterprise customers or are we talking about you know smbs because it’s

totally different there are a few things though you know that some of some of my my panelist colleagues here have all

that that I think are real important Ste Stephanie for example mentioned um the the concept of volume to value

that we talk about in the research the other way I’ve heard that sort of uh articulated over years is the is the

need for targeted Mass right that that particularly among let’s say Enterprise

class companies companies that have National or sort of Super Regional reach

you know they they love Direct Mail because they recognize that it is a

reliable mechanism to reach large audience audiences and they need access

to those large audiences to fill their customer funnels to to to help support

the the kind of scale and in response and purchase activity conversion that they need to to put points on the board

at the same time the the value that’s inherent to this channel is by by

leveraging it for the targetability the personalization the the ability to

deliver a relevant appeel a message that compels an action um um and so you can

get the mass is sort of the cost doing business but if you can’t drive that

bottom line impact by by leveraging mail for what it’s distinguished by you’re you’re

you’re only getting part of the the potential benefit the other thing I call out that that is still very much sort of

a work in progress right now um is and we’re seeing it from from marketers

Downstream but we’re also seeing it driving a lot of innovation and investment among you know folks in the direct meil supply

chain is is the need to simplify the process of standing up and executing

campaigns particularly campaigns that include digital components cross-channel components um and this is an area where

you kind of see a distinction between how an an old school direct mailer thinks about their their work and their

challenge versus someone who maybe came up through a digitally Centric career

path in their organization kind of expects that they should be able to orchestrate all all the media touch

points that are part of their portfolio from their screen right leverage common

dashboards and interfaces and the like whereas the more old school person is picking up the phone to call an agency

to call a production partner to call a data broker etc etc etc um the the table

Stakes of modern marketing are you know what’s what’s in front of me what can I orchestrate can I run this from a

command post kind of um setting Direct Mail hasn’t historically played as well

um with that kind of of campaign management system but that’s changing um

and and increasingly we’re seeing seeing folks in the in the supply chain do everything possible in order to uh to

make Direct Mail more addressable um and

and and essentially steerable in the way that that complement

digital channels um are being transacted and executed and so I think that’s that’s the the area where you haven’t

just seen the most change recently but we’re likely to see the most change over the next few years thank you thank you

Jonathan very insightful um I I just wantan to I want to talk a little bit about uh metrics because

um you know Greg you had mentioned something about some of your clients we’re seeing a certain percentage of

response from the direct mail and I can tell you that over the course of my

career one of the greatest challenges that I find with marketers is that they

have a very challenging time tracking the performance of just a direct mail campaign in general then when you start

to layer additional Technologies on top of it it starts to become a little convoluted about you know which came

first the chicken or the egg and where are we attributing the response and and to which channel and where did they

enter the fun and and what was the the key or core driving channel in the response in this campaign so um I think

I’ll I’ll start with you and I’m just curious um you know because the winter

group’s research emphasizes delivering performance and what key metrics or kpis

do you see your clients focusing on because you guys are very heavy on Omni channel right um but what do you see

them focusing on when measuring the success of their Omni Channel Direct Mail campaigns Greg but not only that

you know how are they attributing this percentage of response to the DM specifically like you were alluding to I

mean you know it’s a great question and you know it’s um you know we conduct this annual survey every year and we

look at the you we we try to look into the answers for why revenue is up why

revenues down look at campaign level uh performance and in and someone Sur

surprising yearby year we find that that DM performance isn’t changing much um

response rates to donor campaigns are very consistent year-over-year average gifts are up a bit um overall income per

name up a penny or two um the biggest change that we do see is that acquisition response rates decline are

continuing to decline which is being offset by higher average gifts so so

when you just look at metrics like campaign performance you don’t see a

problem you don’t really get a good view of what’s taking place also in the you

know our interest industry and others is that we think of kpis in terms of

retention rates and gift frequency and average gift but in fact these metrics

don’t tell much of a story um in fact they can be very Mis they can be very

misleading um they’re difficult to move I think retention rates have been the same largely for the last decade or two

um the only thing that is lower is acquisition response rates um and they can be man they can be manipulated to

the point that they can do whatever you want them to say so it’s important that when we look at kpis now we are linning

those kpis with what our annual strategic plan and our annual objectives

are and that it will vary from organization to you know from one organization to another it’s also not as

important not to think of it as a Omni Channel Direct Mail campaign but rather

an omni Channel campaign that uses Direct Mail as a part of that mix and

how do you validate the value um equate a value to direct mail in that total

Omni channel in engagement and once you make that mind shift um I think you can

get out of the realm of response rates only to a true Omni Channel calls to acquire in the life time value um you

know we still find this Morgan is that most people even though we want people to participate in multiple channels most

people prefer to engage in a single Channel and there doesn’t appear to be much movement year over year in donors

migrating from one of their preferred channels to another for fact you know in

the last couple of years we found that that of only donors who have ever given offline of those who gave the next year

99% of them gave only in direct mail um 90% of those who have only given offline

no I’m sorry uh gave online and gave again the next year over 90% of them

only gave online and then very surprisingly donors who gave in multi- channels most of them only a third of

them gave again in multi- channels so but that doesn’t mean that Direct Mail as a media was not

influencing where those gifts are going so that that’s why it’s very important

to find out the value that BM plays um we can’t just look at performance and

say that didn’t work right we have to look at we have to match back campaigns

whether it be acquisition mailings uh we do know that people over uh over the uh under the age of 50 who are who are

giving are being motivated by a direct mail piece um but if you don’t use

matchback logic to go back and evaluate it then you would never know that so

really it’s about engagement with the brand it’s about multi- Channel

engagement it’s about engaging with the organization um and direct mail is going to play a role in all those factors sure

yeah no I agree with you and and I I definitely do know that a a buyer or a

marketing Prospect you know they prefer to start the marketing journey in some channels they prefer to convert in

others but they all do PL integral role and Omni channel has been so effective at at driving that increase in

conversion through the channel That that marketing Prospect prefers right like at the end of the year since we’re talking

about nonprofit um or giving right I am I’m giving so many asks you know for my

alumni or all these other organizations that I donate to but I am so busy right it’s not like something that I jump

right into but because they utilize a a multi or an omni Channel approach it gives all these additional opportunities

for me to convert through the channel That I prefer because they’re reminding me of it otherwise they’re most likely

to get that check or that that online debit card donation for me six seven eight months later right because I

forget about it and it’s stuck in that stack on my counter or on my desk of like oh yeah I need to do this or write

this check right but when you keep getting back in front of me you’re eliciting that response to that Channel

that I prefer to engage in we know that on average a marketer is leveraging or utilizing probably about eight different

channels in Prospect Journey right but they are still converting through the channels in which they prefer absolutely

and the problem and the problem in the last part the problem is is that there’s still very little

integration amongst the different programs or channels um and and the

experiences are fragmented and um nonprofits have to get better at that if they’re going to continue to evolve here

so but and you can help them with that though can’t you Greg absolutely all day long all day long

fantastic um Stephanie what about you and you know I’m curious you know as a as a heavy direct mail service provider

right um I would think there’s probably a really cool focus on wanting to be able to prove to a direct mail marketer

or brand that the direct mail is a driving force in their overall strategy and so what kpis or or uh performance

indicators do you feel that your customers are focus on to judge the efficacy of their campaigns and and how

are you showing uh proof that the direct mail is playing an integral role in the overall

campaign uh yeah well I I I definitely agree that uh buyers have or donors have

a a preferred you know Preferred channel that they you know more consistently interact with um but we’re really heavy

on a test and learn methodology but you know compared to the past when it was you know we’re going to test and learn

from specific Direct Mail only solo campaigns it’s more about learning

increment and adding and adopting what mix of channels work best versus radical

changes like this didn’t work so we’re dropping the mail Channel or email doesn’t work Al together so um given our

recent acquisition um of a major player in the uh digital marketing space we now

have all of those resources and talent Under One Roof so we’re able to um you

know do these more robust and sophisticated uh testing and learning strategies with you know the right mix

of channels vers this one doesn’t work or this one works better altogether so and it’s very individualized to the

person it’s not a you know you know one to many situation most of the time it’s a you know one to one so it’s a very

comp you know a complex balance um not a perfect science at the moment but I think we’re very close to um you know

getting there in terms of you know having robust reporting and attribution metrics uh to support that yeah and are

you speaking to the vases AC position sure yeah and I love what you’re saying

there it’s about testing and you don’t just throw the baby out with the bath water right so I like that you push back

on that a little bit and really dig into what’s working and what’s not I don’t see as M much AB testing as as I feel

like I should in in the marketing space just in general so um Chris what about

you what are your clients focusing on from a response perspective or what channels are are or kpis are they honing

in on uh I think it’s dependent on the kind of business that they’re in what is more

more important than others um for maybe the larger Enterprise brands that are looking at a variety of response

channels return on ad spend is the key performance indicator period um we have

very little control over return on investment in terms of the margin like the the gross margin of a business right

that’s that’s not something that we can control and so we work with them to figure out what the return on investment

is so that it’s it’s good and profitable for them but we’re more concerned on return on ad spend um so that for them

is if I’m if I’m spending a dollar in this marketing channel am I getting a dollar a150 $2 $4 dollar Etc so we focus

on that um for our clients I think for small business they’re less concerned

about return on ad spend I think and more concerned about um how many new customers did I get um so for that group

it’s more of an education on C customer lifetime value and we kind of try to help them with that to project that over

time because for them they’re willing to spend a little bit more to get a customer because for a smaller business

it’s the customer that that they need because they can get a lot of lifetime value out of the customer whereas for an

Enterprise business they might be looking at a seasonal sale where they’re trying to lift some you know lift some

Topline for spring or summer the like so that the the roas is more important to them um so those are the two different

metrics we look at of course with targeting we look at engagement and when we do Omni Channel we look at engagement

but in the end of the day the customer really wants to know if I did spend a dollar um am I making that back and to

Greg’s point about using a variety of you know matchback services and the like we can we can determine that return on

an ad spent for any customer program sure very important right so let’s not

focus on on the specific Channel but the results were more leads driven into your

organization you know did you profit on this absolutely very important you know

and I think that’s what I think that’s what marketers want to know right I mean Marketing in itself is a it’s it’s not

for the faint of heart right you have to be a little bit bold and courageous to spend money on something that truly

isn’t unknown um right you never actually know what the performance will

be until you see the results even if you have a predictive model even if you have past performance metrics um it’s still

something where you’re spending money right and you just don’t know if you’re going to get that money back and so uh

one one of the things that I I think is helpful about Direct Mail is that it is very conclusive be it sour or sweet

right we work with a lot of clients who say gosh I spent $10,000 over the last three months on my social and I don’t

know if it worked right with direct mail that’s not the case you do know if it work if it

performs or not um so I think that’s one of the areas where even if even if the even if the response rate isn’t what you

like of course you do it well should be what you like right because it works the channel Works um there’s a certainty

about it and a stability and reliability um that other channels don’t necessarily

have absolutely no I agree Chris well wantan to I want to move on to this next

question and and Jonathan I’ll pose it to you uh each of the companies on this webinar today do provide Omni channel

strategy as a service right as as marketing experts we know what is is

delivering the highest Roi on marketing ad spend but um I’ve been in the print

industry for quite some time and in my experience more print providers than

should have been very slow and reluctant to adapt to these marketing Trends or being able to deliver the highest value

service for their customers or even best practices not just for direct mail but

for marketing as a whole by providing Omni Channel Services they just kind of stick to Old ideas or or to what they’re

used to um and do you feel that your adoption of omni Channel or effective

marketing tactics has grown your business in the last few years

Jonathan um so I I uh bearing in mind that I I’m a little dissimilar from

everyone else in the panel and that that we’re we’re not an agency or selling that but but we work with companies who

are doing that kind of work all the time and I I think I think we started you

know weighing in on this topic you know the the transformation of old school

marketing service companies into more hybrid solution providers probably 20

years ago I I I I wrote a white paper sometime in that vicinity about how

printers in particular would have to adopt um a marketing Services orientation and then feel sort of

unencumbered from any one channel in particular if they were going to continue to thrive um

that I think is still a good directional Northstar um for the industry and certainly we continue to see um best

performers in the in the services industry be those that adopt essentially the objectives and needs of their client

organizations as the guiding principle for what services they should be investing in and how they orchestrate

different media channels capabilities what have you you know in the furtherance of um of those aims if it’s

not always that simple in fact it’s rarely simple at all and it doesn’t mean that at some level um marketers aren’t

going to default to whatever the simplest reductive pattern is to to

identify what it is you do and you do particularly well relative to others in the space but kind of kind of picking up

a little bit on our theme around kpis if if it you know when all of said and done

you can substantiate that you helped Drive business results

that matter to that brand um it doesn’t really matter what you do or you know

what what services components exist under the hood you’re going to find

yourself um a a good and loyal based clients um for the long term I think I

think more often than not going forward as as as the clients themselves tear

down more of those silos that have distinguished different channels um being focused on those outcomes and

being focused on weaving together different media to to Really you know take advantage of what they do best is

is a great directional best practice great a great a great thing to to

basically aspire to um but on a day-to-day basis still being able to

stand up and ability to strategize design build audiences print print buy

media do all sorts of things that may may look a little tactical um still sort

of the the cost of of managing complexity on client’s behalf and that’s and that’s valued so much aw sure yeah

and I mean I can just personally share I mean I I have insight into a lot of

competitive sales that are going on because I work with print providers all over the United States whilst I would

never divulge any individual you know company or organization or or what they’re doing or who they’re they’re

selling to but you know I see this printers bidding for rfps all the time

and I see ones that are adding Omni Channel or value added services and I see the ones that aren’t and they’re not

the ones that are winning the business because if you’re not doing something above and beyond or you’re not providing

value added Services you know that’s something that’s that’s attractive and shiny and in alignment with best

practices and overall marketing strategy and increasing um Roi on ad spend and

and marketers and brands are migrating over to these PR providers that have these value added services and I also

see businesses go out and acquire new Direct Mail business all the time by positioning something of value of hey we

can layer Omni channel on top of your direct mail and I also see businesses lose customers by not providing a value

added service so you know whether it’s Omni Channel or whatever it might be but in all reality as a print provider or

direct mail service provider you are selling your customer marketing you are selling them leads and it is just so

integral that you are leveraging the most optimal way to do that and positioning yourself as a marketing

expert and leveraging the best type of strategy so if you are a print provider

uh or a mail service provider or even a brand you know I would encourage you to tap into that winter very report and

really dive into all the data that’s been compiled and put together for best practices and really see how that can be

leveraged within your business um whether that’s you as a print provider or if you’re a marketer as well so um I

wish we had more time you know I could really talk about this all day long uh but we are at the top of the hour here

we’re at 3 pm I I just want to thank all of our panelists for taking time with us today just so insightful all of you

really appreciate it and thank you everybody that joined us today everybody have a great afternoon thank you thank

you thank you