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What's The Most Effective Response Mechanism?Premium Member
Posted By: maureen.szlemp on 8/30/2006 4:13 PM (CST) 500 Points
Is the BRC dead? I'm looking for information on what mechanism elicits the greatest response? 800#, business reply cards, microsites, on-line lead pages?

Posted by: BrandMill Accepted Answer
8/30/2006 4:22 PM (CST)
Hi Maureen,

Not to be a smart-aleck, but I always tell my customers, that the best response mechanism is offering an incredible product/service/experience, backed by strong/believable testimonials/customer references.

As to a specific mechanism (i.e., BRC, online lead page etc.,) again, my experience is to offer several choices (different strokes/different folks) all to make it easy on behalf of your prospects to find out more or to immediately purchase. So, short forms, two-click orders, quick phone "picker-uppers" etc.,

Lastly, to ensure a cost-effective marketing effort, test a few mechanisms on a small target audience - fast-fail - and redeploy with your new found knowledge.

Good luck,

Steve
 
Posted by: BrandMill Accepted Answer
8/30/2006 4:48 PM (CST)
Maureen,

Thanks for the note.

There is some information for you here: http://www.thedma.org/research/executive_2005responserate.pdf

It’s an executive summary of 360+ pages.

http://www.the-dma.org/research/

The DMA is an excellent source as is www.emarketer.com

 
Posted by: greg Accepted Answer
8/30/2006 5:25 PM (CST)
Of late I have found my best response mechanisms to be web (micro and short forms) and 1-800. If they can't respond almost immediately, they usually don't get around to responding at all.

I no longer include BRM in any of my mailings. It just wasn't worth the investment anymore. Web has taken a small lead over 1-800 during the past year. Of course, much of this depends on the product or service and your target. I target mostly home consumers. B2B may be more responsive to BRM due to time management.

The only BRC I have done lately was for a B2B client who had a sizable package that he wanted to send to an entire mailing list. I talked him into doing a BRC where the recipients info was pre-populated on the card. All they had to do if they were interested in more information was make corrections to the info - if any - and drop it back in the mail. The response was very good and he saved a ton on printing and mailing.
 
Posted by: maureen.szlemp Author Response
8/30/2006 5:36 PM (CST)
I should have mentioned that the company is B2B. Our lead data indicates that BRCs are still a strong mechanism for generating leads but may be trending down. For our company the 800# is actually used the least in response to DM campaigns. I'm wondering what other B2B companies are seeing.
 
Posted by: Jeff K. Accepted Answer
8/30/2006 9:54 PM (CST)
Something new that I've been looking into and using is Email newsletters/marketing. Utilizing a service like ConstantContact.com, you can craft a Email marketing piece and then keep track of all kinds of statistics like open rates, pass alongs, click throughs, etc. It's pretty amazing the statistics you can get from it. Also, it is actually pretty cheap to maintain your email list on the site. I'm starting to do it with our dealer network and getting a good response. Might be something you want to look into. There's a lot of services out there, but the one I'm using is www.ConstantContact.com.

Good luck!
 
Posted by: skoobie99 Accepted Answer
8/31/2006 7:44 AM (CST)
Maureen,

I find e-mail and related electronic communications (with required opt-in of course) work best in a B2B environment, especially when speed is required.

My experience has been amazing when we add some juicy news or offers in an electronic newsletter - the leads just pour in. Then you need to make sure you respond in a timely fashion...

Hope this helps,
John
 
Posted by: ShannonD* Accepted Answer
8/31/2006 9:10 AM (CST)
B2B wants service with the sale more the just sales. They want fast response and great treatment. B2B needs personal phone calls and account reps who keep up with each account. In B2B the greatest response comes from person to person contact. Flyers, phone numbers, and websites are all great, but set an appointment and get a person in the door. Nothing speaks like eye to eye contact. This leads to the B2B seeing also that the person they were sold by will either help them if they need it later, or will "personally" make sure a service man or tech finds them.

The greatest B2B relationships are the ones where the owners and best sales people keep constant contact with their current business and use that to create referrals and reputation for other business growth.

Marketing gives you an idea of where to look and who to talk to, but the art of getting in front of the key desicion maker is the hard part. They're are gate keepers, guards, and the all favorite personal assitants. If you keep your people in front of those boundry setters, it's much harder to say no face to face than deleted E-mail and voice messages.

The other problem is most business feel that they were just fine before they met you, so why would they need you? That's where your B2B turns into value building skills that the industry needs to have growth and profit. Prove yourself, get infront of desicion makers, then present your evidence. Phone calls, direct mailers, and E-mails will only be door crackers that will allow you to knock and not be a stranger.

Hope some of this makes sense,

Shannon D
 
Posted by: cpowers* Accepted Answer
8/31/2006 11:32 AM (CST)
We are a state-wide trade association (B2B) serving home care agencies. We have found that email solicitation is our best vehicle for actually moving our members to action. We do use all channels, but it seems they actually MOVE when the email arrives. Second best response rate mechanism is also electronic, but a different animal -- our weekly, Friday afternoon legistlative update newsletter. As a heavily regulated industry, our members find this publication a must-read. Therefore, any marketing snippets I can squeeze in are key. And they get read and remembered.
 
Posted by: DR Hitch* Accepted Answer
8/31/2006 1:31 PM (CST)
Maureen,
you indicae that you're best success to date is to use Business reply cards for your b2B company. But, step back. You're still unsing a "push" marketing scheme where you a) send something to a prospect and b) expect a percentage of them to reply and inquire/order.

Where's the natural "pull" from customers and prospects to want more info? Have you created an incentive for them to "want" to send in that BRC or 800-call-in?

BRCs are good for a company to solicit more "general information which contributes to your brand awareness, but not necessarily converts to a active consideration or a "hit".

In order to increase the actual market share, you need to continue to use tools that build brand awareness, but other tools that actually create revenue-generating sales. So, not sure what B2B you're really in, but a) leverage your current customer base with incentives for referrals, b) create some sort of "pull" such as "get something free by placing this 1-800 phone call" or c) offer different pricing based on the tool being used. BRCs have one price, online shopping has a different price. Maybe really special time-limited pricing if you really want people to use the 1-800 phone service....Just do the "cost-per-transaction" analysis first. An e-commerce order is a lot cheaper than a phone-in order.
 
Posted by: maureen.szlemp Author Response
8/31/2006 1:40 PM (CST)
Thanks everyone for your responses. They were quite helpful. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and expertise.
 


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