Benchmarks

The most consistent challenge I have as a marketer is obtaining reliable information from new clients on the results of previous marketing campaigns. When I ask a new client about how well a particular mailer or email deployment or telemarketing campaign worked, the answer is usually along the lines of “didn’t do too good” or “it increased traffic a little” or “we had more people calling in than usual”. I rarely get a quantitative answer like “65 people brought the postcard in and 37 of them bought resulting in sales of $16,500”. That last answer is what we need to create a benchmark for a new client. A benchmark is something we use to measure our Direct Marketing campaigns against. When we establish a benchmark, Baber tries to create a campaign that will outperform it. Then, we continue to try to create better and better Direct Marketing campaigns.  If a client simply does not have the information necessary to create a benchmark, then the results from our own campaign become the benchmark. When I make a proposal to a new client, it will contain information about how to track response and I do my best to get the information. It takes some discussion with the client to find a way to do it. Everybody’s operation is different and we have to find a way to make it work in each operation. I’ll recommend delaying an email deployment or mailer if I know the client is not set up to track the results. Sometimes it takes a culture change within the organization to make sure they get the information I need. But once new clients see how important it is, they’re eager to get the information I need to analyze the results of a Direct Marketing campaign. Mike Baber