Article

Personalized URLs can cut through mass-marketing clutter

Smart use of PURLS can turn outbound marketing messages into customized, personal experiences.

May 24, 2010

By John Larkin, president and CEO, Centiv

Marketers in all industries have been forced by a lackluster economy to do more with less. With support staff dramatically reduced, the burden to spend a vast majority of focus on the basic requirements of product development, product positioning and interfaced manufacturing tends to take priority. In spite of this, there is still a push for business marketers to look for new ways of engaging with customers and prospects, because the time when interested parties responded to generic pitches or offers is gone.

Because it is a challenge for marketers to put the time needed into implementing the more personalized approach, corporate marketing organizations are increasingly interested in providing geographically dispersed end-users the ability to create localized on-demand marketing campaigns in the face of restricted resources.  What’s resulted is the emergence of marketing tools— like personalized URLs (PURLs) and microsites—that fill the gap.

The power of personalization
PURLs are designed to address the individual recipient by name, immediately creating a personal environment unavailable in traditional direct mail techniques. Using PURLs, a mailing of 100,000 pieces can go out, but now each becomes a personal experience that draws the recipient in and makes them want to engage.

Marketers have recognized the impact personalization can have on any campaign and are rapidly embracing the practice. Of course, direct mail initiatives are nothing new, but recently marketers have begun to experiment with the addition of PURLs to these pieces.  PURLs provide the ability to create messaging that’s most relevant to the target audience, cutting through the clutter of generic mass-marketing.  Additionally, the online interaction that characterizes a PURL is easily tracked, and therefore easier to measure in terms of campaign ROI.

Taking advantage of closed-loop marketing
The practice of using PURLs presents the ability to drive an individual to a microsite via the PURL, creating a dialogue with the target audience and providing a closed-loop marketing environment.  PURLs can be used successfully in any type of retail environment, but let’s take the auto industry as an example.

If a dealer has a database on buyers and knows the date they bought their last car, and the average miles that each customer puts on the car on an annualized basis, the dealer can segment the database and target those who are most likely to be in the market to buy a new car in the near future. It is the perfect time to introduce the latest model to these buyers.

The dealer can then send a direct mail piece to the prospects with a PURL. The PURL leads the recipient to a microsite that has a flash demo imbedded that gives them an overview of the key features of the new car. A questionnaire, that is triggered by corporate or triggered locally, is on the microsite capturing their interest in learning more. Either way, feedback is gained to follow-up directly with a call or a brochure.  The ability to engage in that type of dialogue between consumer and marketer didn’t exist before the emergence of these technologies and capabilities. Using PURLs and microsites in this way supports a reduced sales force and provides a level of direct, unfiltered feedback that is extremely valuable for future interactions.

Predict and forecast volume
Another area in which PURLs are proving beneficial is for companies that create and produce value-added packaging. Over the holidays, retail stores are stocked with these materials—a bottle of liquor that comes with two branded glasses, or a champagne bottle with two miniature champagne flutes included. A major problem for manufacturers is predicting and forecasting volume. More often than not, when the holidays conclude there remain enormous inventories worth millions of dollars in the marketplace. So what does the distributor do? Break out part of the packaging, pull out the bottle, and sell it straight up.

For obvious reasons, this is not an efficient or profitable way to conduct business. A better solution is to send out direct mail pieces with PURLs included to your largest accounts prior to the holidays. The PURL can take the recipient to a microsite where you can then receive feedback on the interest in value-added packaging as well as the amount of volume each location would like to purchase. This drives forecasting as well as brings perspective as to whether a retail store or distributor is enthusiastic and receptive to the offer.

Making it happen
These types of direct mail campaigns can be very customized, very localized, very targeted, and at the same time, very efficient from a production standpoint, displacing any argument that used to exist that personalized campaigns were too costly or timely to implement. The emergence of both digital print and high-speed Web connectivity has made fulfillment simply part of the closed-loop environment. Across any marketing automation model, web-based technology enables the distributed user to create localized materials on-demand while ensuring those at corporate that brand integrity is maintained.  And today, the quality of digital print is virtually at parity with traditional offset and the technology is developing at such a rapid rate that the cost to implement these programs is plummeting rapidly.

There is no doubt that PURLs and microsites are helping to build brands and drive sales. Embracing customer-centric marketing techniques and taking advantage of the capabilities available is worth the time it takes to explore how to make them fit in your marketing plan.

John Larkin is the president and CEO of Centiv, a provider of marketing automation.