Know-How Exchange : Strategy

As a suggestion, I would look at an email sent with no graphic design (plain text) vs. one sent with graphic design. Then measure the number of opens for each.

The long term effects of good graphic design can be felt for centuries -- look at the Coca Cola logo -- I bet the dude that came up with that logo could never of thought he would of created an icon that would still be regarded as one of the most finely crafted logos of all time. ROI on good graphic design can not be measured in a lifetime.

From the UK Design Council comes this"

"...the performance of UK FTSE-quoted companies between 1994 and 2003, encompassing a long bull market period, from March 1995 to March 2000, the bear market period from March 2000 to March 2003, and the more recent recovery period. The key finding of that study was that a group of 63 companies identified as effective users of design outperformed the FTSE 100 index over the full period by 200 per cent, beating their peers in both bull and bear markets."

You can download the free updated report at:

https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/About-Design/Research/Design-Index/

The ROI on graphic design is pretty hard to measure. On the surface you can say that the ROI is huge. Would you rather see an advertisement with just text or one with pictures and graphics? Would you rather read a magazine or perouse a website that's all text or one with color, images, and a good flow?

The question is what design is better? Which design is more engaging?

Simply put, graphic design is very important...if it wasn't crucial to the success of businesses. People wouldn't be spending thousands of dollars on obtaining a degree in graphic design. Moreover, a company wouldn't invest the copious amounts of money that they do on ads, websites, and marketing campaigns if graphic design wasn't important.

Since his efforts mostly go towards direct marketing it's not that difficult to measure it,given it's coordinated with other stakeholders.What Frank has written is right. However you might also check same copy with different designs to see if it is the design or copy which speaks strongest.

Split testing is the key to any direct marketing campaign. Direct marketing (or direct mail) really is about the copy as much as the graphics. Good copy sells in direct mail.