RESPONSE RATES TO DIRECT MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Typical response rates vary with the nature of the direct marketing campaign. Response rates are affected by
many factors including campaign objectives media used, industry, products, services and target audience. While
the only way to find out what your response rate will be is to test, here are some statistics .
Direct mail
House file
Prospect file
Cost per order or lead
Letter size
B-to-B
B-to-C
3.42%
4.28%
3.03%
1.38%
$96.01
Catalog
B-to-B
B-to-C
4.92%
5.44%
4.18%
0.77%
0.90%
0.77%
$47.61
Postcard
B-to-B
B-to-C
3.99%
4.57%
3.09%
1.72%
2.18%
1.32%
$75.32
Telephone
10.41%
6.16%
$309.25 ($81.81 for existing customers)
E-mail
Open rates
Click-through rates
Conversion rate
Bounce-back rate
19.47%
6.64%
1.73%
3.72%
11.17%
3,74%
0.62%
5.36%
Internet
Paid search
3.81% conversion rate
Display ad
4.43% conversion rate
$99.47
(The DMA formula for calculating response rates is:
Response rate %=# of orders/promotion quantity)
Source: The DMA 2010 Response Rate Report
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Veronis & Suhler reports that direct marketing spending dropped 11.5% to $88.52 billion in 2009. Direct mail
and catalog spending were affected by budget cuts and a shift toward online ads, social media and website
development. E-mail marketing was also adversely affected, declining 9.1%, after a four year period of doubledigit growth. However, the direct marketing industry did better than most traditional media, primarily because of
its ability to reach specific audiences with targeted media at a lower cost. Every dollar invested in DM returned
$11.65 in incremental revenue in 2009.
Marketers are increasingly turning to multichannel direct marketing campaigns as studies have shown they can
increase sales, strengthen customer relationships, increase response rates and generate stronger databases that
build more effective target lists.
According to the DMA 2010 report, direct mail and e-mail are the most commonly used media by direct
marketers, with more than half using each. Improvements in printing and database technology have contributed
to maintaining response rates for direct mail and other offline media at levels of previous years.
Telephone marketing had the highest response rate of any media, and also the highest cost. 55% of phone
campaigns were aimed at producing a direct sale. However, a recent survey showed that 80% of its respondents
indicated that telemarketing was their least preferred method of receiving marketing messages.
As e-mail marketing has increased, the response rates have fallen. The most common purpose of e-mails (38%)
was driving traffic to websites to get more information while 38% was aimed at direct sales.
The Internet was used less often for direct sales than traditional media, 49% of paid search campaigns were
aimed a driving traffic to websites to seek more information, with 30% aimed at direct sales. 47% of display ads
were aimed at driving traffic to websites while 29% were geared to direct sales.
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Following are examples of campaigns considered to have generated good response rates.
Insurance companies have found that 43% of consumers 18 to 34 prefer to receive insurance information in the
mail compared to 21% who prefer online communications, according to an Epilson report. An Experian report
shows that the second group preferring mail is 15 to 24 year olds. (Marketing leaders discuss the resurgence of
direct…Deliver magazine 1/2011)
Commerce Payment, a credit card processing firm, is planning to increase its use of postcards to 40% of its
marketing budget in order to reach potential customers in 2011; the president of the company said that out of
every 100 leads from postcards, they closed about 35% whereas online they only achieved about 25%. He found
that emphasizing a single message about accepting the credit card was more effective than highlighting all the
firm’s services. (Credit processor to increase postcard mailings…Chief Marketer 12/17/10)
Backroads, a high-end adventure travel company, tested a campaign of postcard mailings using personal URLs
and other digital features. A 30,000 piece campaign resulted in conversion and response rates exceeding 12%,
twice what they typically generate from mailing catalogs and other direct mail pieces.
(Up, up and away….Chief Marketer, October/November 2009)
The city of Anaheim, CA successfully used direct mail to promote a contest for ideas about using online and
mobile applications for a variety of city services. The mailings were bundled into local utility bills sent to about
96,000 households and received a 3.2% response rate. The contest was also promoted on Facebook and
YouTube. (They’ve got an app for that…Chief Marketer Feb/March 2010.)
Cinnabon sent a glossy flyer with pieces that could be torn off and redeemed for different offers to small
businesses within 2 miles of Cinnabon’s mall locations. The program had a 4.6% redemption rate and a 54% ROI.
(Nation’s Restaurant News, 10/30/09, Title: Cinnabon sniffs out likely customers.)
Tandberg, a video conferencing firm, used oversized direct mail drops featuring Star Trek themes to target
executives in health care, utilities, financial services and manufacturing. Immediate response rates of over 5%
were achieved. (BtoB, 7/20/09, Title: Tandberg’s four go boldly forth…)
Clearview Mall in New Orleans, in order to drive traffic to the mall, created a direct mail piece featuring coupons
for a variety of its stores to 10,000 households within 10 miles of the mall. The pieces were personalized with the
recipient’s name and aimed mainly at women. They encouraged online activation as well as store visits and entry
in a shopping spree sweepstake. Within the first two weeks the campaign had a 7% to 10% coupon redemption
rate. (DM News, 12/1/08, Title: Clearview Mall)
Foothills Mall, a regional mall with 90 stores near Tucson, typically gets a 6-7% response rate for mailers
featuring price-off coupons and a gift-with-purchase promotion. (Retail Ad World, March/April 2008, Title: Direct
delivery)
Symantec sent out a direct mail piece to potential customers discussing the benefits of its software rather than its
features. A follow-up phone call two days later resulted in 22% response rate from prospective clients asking for
an appointment. (BtoB’s Lead Generation Guide 2008. Title: Old fashioned direct effective)
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