Many marketers are scared away from creating 1:1 marketing campaigns because they don’t have “enough” data. But how much data is enough? It goes against conventional wisdom, but you don’t need to have dozens of columns of demographics, past purchase patterns and other data points in order to have success with personalized print marketing.
In fact, a single data point is often enough to create great ROI from a direct mail program... if you have the right data point.
This is because success with 1:1 printing is about creating relevance, not the number of variables you have. You can set your entire direct mail program apart with one piece of data—if you use that information to make the offer compelling and relevant to the person receiving it.
Here are a few examples.
You might think, “How much of a difference can a single data point really make?” Marketers using 1:1 printing consistently report that not only do these campaigns increase response rates, but people who respond also tend to spend more. Thus, the “punch” is not just in the response rates. It is in the dollars spent. Even if you receive only a 5% response rate to your “simple” 1:1 mailing, if your respondents spend 25% more than respondents to generic campaigns, your ROI just went through the roof.
Data is a powerful tool, but too many marketers evaluate their chance of success by the amount of data they have. This has not born out to be true. It’s about relevance, and you can create relevance, even with a surprisingly limited amount of data.
