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Study looks at effectiveness of direct mail

A recent study by an Ohio-based data analytics firm recently looked into how people responded to direct mail marketing by studying the movement of their eyes.

The experiment, conducted by Cleveland-based Metrics Marketing Group, took place at the group's MetricsLabSM. Researchers showed participants 35 different pieces of direct mail and tracked their eye movements. The method, Recipient Experience Testing, was able to show marketing professionals concrete evidence of how effective their efforts were.

Cathleen Zapata, vice president of research and customer experience at Metrics Marketing, said that the study was important in terms of telling marketing professionals the best strategies to use for wider engagement.

"For today's direct mail marketers there is little opportunity to grab customer attention and stand out from the crowd. The print cycle is long, and competition is fierce, thus optimizing your creative prior to launch is imperative," Zapata said. "This type of research provides marketers with real data to optimize their direct mail campaigns and ultimately improve conversions."

In addition to delivering the right message, it's also vital to have the right tools to send it out. Using web-to-print software will allow professionals to streamline their approaches and get more bang for their buck.