Testing times: does direct mail work?

I'll start with the answer: Yes, it does. Or rather, yes it can.

At the Print is Different event hosted by the DMA recently it was really nice to hear Suzanne Coleman at Golley Slater speaking about testing direct mail. I mean, properly testing.

This was very interesting for me because, during the course of my work I encourage people to continually test multiple data sources when prospecting. Data, however, is just one element. During my conversations I will sometimes hear; ‘Yeah, we tried it once but it didn’t work’. I am intrigued at this point and ask why they feel it didn’t work. ‘Er, I don’t really know’ is ALWAYS the reply, with a strong leaning towards blaming the data with, I hasten to add, zero evidence to support this.

As Suzanne pointed out, there are multiple factors at play here, each of which will affect the outcome greatly. These are; the target or the data, the offer and content, the timing, and the creative. To truly test a campaign there is a need for a scientific approach, which I will agree not every organisation is geared up for. I’ve been involved with lots of A/B and multivariate website testing in my ecommerce days and won’t go into the complexities here. It's not possible to test direct mail in the same way and to the same degree but trying something once and not tweaking any of the variables doesn’t indicate if something ‘works’ or not.

Ultimately, we know it ‘works’ because we see it working very nicely for lots of brands, but they’ve more often than not had to work hard at it over a period of time to get it right. And, importantly, they understand the importance of continued testing, building test segments in to each prospecting campaign and learning continually. Standing still is not an option, external factors alone mean the playing field is ever shifting. Take now, rarely have we seen such a challenging environment. GDPR and Brexit are sorting the haves from the have nots. Some test, adapt and plough on, others make assumptions and bow out.

Having a bad holiday doesn’t mean one stops going on holiday, one just needs to try again - a different destination maybe, or a different time of year.

What’s your experience of testing – have you given up on something without trying a different approach?