The Value of Measurement

A few weeks ago, I was talking with a small business owner I work with on a volunteer project for a non-profit organization. I asked him about a direct marketing effort he undertook about a year ago that was targeted at a specific market. I wanted to know if it was a financially successful campaign. Did he receive any new leads or business? I was not looking for the actual numbers, just some idea of the results.

"Maybe a couple of leads. I guess I could have measured it".

What information do you need gather to measure the value?

1. Keep track of the costs of your direct mail piece (design work, printing, postage, handling, number of pieces, etc.).

2. Labor. If you outsource the work then use those costs. If you are doing the work yourself apply an hourly rate to your time and keep track of the hours you spend on creating the direct mail campaign.

3. Once the piece is mailed, measure how your leads found you by asking them the simple question of "how did you here about us?" If an existing customer contacts you, ask them if they saw the direct mail piece. Keep a record of the answers.

4. Keep track of the sales dollars from the people you asked or if they volunteered the information or if you had some kind of feedback option, such as a coupon.

At the end of the campaign, total your costs and evaluate against it your sales generated, your new leads, your increased business or whatever your objectives were for the direct mail campaign. Measure against those objectives.

The value or not of your campaign is ultimately your decision. Measuring doesn't have to be as difficult as measuring ice thickness on a frozen lake in Alaska.

If you have run a campaign how or did you measure the results?

Image by Ra64 via Flickr, by Creative Commons license