Creative Audit Essential to Best-In-Class Results

“To maximize your effectiveness with direct mail, you’ve got to look beyond response rates and audit your creative,” recommends Harte Hanks Executive Creative Director, David Nichols. 

Nichols joined Harte Hanks Channel Optimization Strategist, David Funsten, for a December 20, 2007 Webcast entitled, Optimizing Incremental Results for Deposit/Loan Acquisition and Cross-Sell Programs, hosted by OnsiteConference, Inc. a privately held research marketing firm located in Tampa, Florida.

“There are four keys to developing best-in-class creative campaigns,” offered Nichols.  “To begin with, you’ve got to understand your customer.  Have you made the most of your customer intelligence data to profile and segment?  Can you create one-to-one communications?”

“Second,” continued Nichols, “Develop customer strategies that appropriately reflect your business and marketing objectives. Third, implement those customer strategies so that you’re able to position your product properly and at the right time.”
“Finally, your creative must clearly communicate the benefits for the consumer,” he added.  

To determine whether your creative measures up to the four keys, a creative audit is essential.  “The creative audit is a process of questioning,” stated Nichols.  “You are looking for weaknesses that can keep a creative piece from reaching its full potential.”
Nichols recommends starting by reviewing past successes and failures.  Next, review for appropriate channel integration.  Ask, “Is the communication appropriate for direct mail, e-mail, and your landing pages?”

When considering particular content, design and layout, your audit goals certainly involve how to increase response.  “You also need to consider whether you can validate your direct mail strategies, and ensure legal and best practice compliance,” offered Nichols. 
 
Nichols listed several examples of questions to ask during a creative audit, including:
·     Is the message relevant to the targeted segment?
·     Does it deliver the message clearly? Does the design lead the eye to the priority elements?
·     Communicate quickly?
·     Project credibility?
·     Is it personal?
·     Strike an emotional chord?
·     Motivate the respondent?
·     Is there a clear call to action?
·     Create a strong “user” loyalty?
·    Is the piece appropriate for the audience?
·    Does the content reinforce the call to action?

For auditing email create, the questions are similar:
·     Is the message clean and direct / above fold?
·     Does it give the customer high value?
·     Is there a compelling subject line?
·     Do we make immediate offers?
·     Do we ensure it’s very easy to act?
·     How many URLs?
·     Is there a clear opt-out option?

“Bottom line,” added Nichols, “Your creative piece has got be answer in the consumer’s mind, ‘What’s in it for me?’”
He concluded by saying, “the audit is all about evaluating how you tell your story, and how you present your value proposition.”

Posted by Mark Rodrigues at 12/24/2007 1:14 PM
Categories: Direct Mail
 

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