In its most strict direction, the direct Marketing is a technique of Communication and Vente which consists in diffusing a message personalized and instantaneous towards a target of individuals or companies, with an aim of obtaining an immediate and measurable reaction.

Definition

Direct marketing rests on two principles:

  • the use of databases allowing to establish contacts personal and differentiated (personalized) between the company and its customers or prospective customers;
  • the recourse to any technique of communication which causes:
    • to cause an immediate answer or short-term means,
    • to provide to the target concerned the means of transmitting this answer to the company directly.
    • To take the step towards modernity.

Tools

Traditional direct marketing exploits name files of prospective customers or customers who will be contacted:

  • by mail (one speaks in this case about mailing or mass mailing );
  • by Telephone ( phoning , Telemarketing or Télémercatique );
  • by fax (fax mailing), still very much used when the targets are SME (BtoB target) by managing the désinscription by Ecofax association.
  • by E-mail (E-mailing) (nowadays, of the solutions of autonomous sending exists like managing Newsletters)
  • by textos (SMS or ms) diffused towards the mobile phones.
  • by WAP/WEB

But the direct Marketing (in particular for the prospection of new customers) can also use the great media to diffuse a message which is not personal with the emission, but which will make it possible to constitute a file starting from the guarantors. This technique is used in television, by the means of spots which propose to call a phone number, but especially in the press, by the insertion of inserts or advertisements comprising a coupon to be cut out and return.

Objectives

One can distinguish 2 major goals for direct marketing:

The conquest of new customers

It is the ideal tool to recruit new customer S, thanks to an adapted offer, tested on various targets of prospective customers to which one proposes to subscribe with a service, to adhere to a club, or to subscribe to an operation. The number of customers actually acquired at the end of the operation, compared with the number of messages transmitted at the beginning, makes it possible to calculate the yield of the operation, and especially the cost of acquisition of a new customer.

Development of consumer loyalty of the acquired customers

The analysis of the behavior of the recruited customers makes it possible to segment the file customer, and to propose at each frequency purchases, quantity per order, of the width of the requirements met, and especially a renewal of the subscription or subscription before its term, to increase the lifespan of the customer and the income released for the company during the lifespan of the customers.

Whereas the purpose of publicity is to make known a product or to make like a mark, direct marketing makes it possible as for him to very precisely calculate the profitability of the actions carried out, since one knows, for each diffused advertisement, or each mailing carried out, the exact number of orders finally obtained, and the released clear margin.

This precise knowledge of the profitability of the operations has explained the extraordinary rise of direct marketing for a few years, so much so that the sums invested by the French companies in direct marketing are in 2005, according to the provided figures by the AACC (association of the Agencies the Council in Communication) so important (approximately 10 billion euros) that those invested by the same companies in purchase of ad space in the great media.

In addition to the files of people to be contacted, direct marketing can imply a relatively heavy logistics when volumes are important:

Implementation

Data processing of the files

The purpose of these treatments are generally to improve quality of the data, in particular by removing the invalid phone numbers or by putting the addresses in conformity with the postal standards. It is also crucial to remove the doubled blooms which could exist (multiple occurrences of the same person). One thus basically distinguishes 5 types of operations:

  • standardization: the addresses to put them in conformity with the postal standards for the distribution of the mail

  • the dédoublonage makes it possible to restructure: consist in extracting from a file the multiple recordings corresponding to the same individual and the same address
  • the deduplication: comparison of two files to remove in the second all the elements which appear in the first. For example, when a file prospective customer is rented, it is essential to extract the individuals from them already customers before using it for a mailing of prospection.
  • enrichment: consist in enriching the data of one file using abundant data by another base, holding more detailed information on individuals common to both files.
  • cleaning (updated): in particular consist in removing file the invalid addresses (NPAI/PSA/DCD) corresponding to the folds turned over to the sender by the post office, where to correct them by update of the address by bringing together with the databases addresses of the post office.
  • the stressing and Capitalization: allows to accentuate the recordings. It is also possible to put the recordings in the format requested (capital only or Tiny-Capital letters)

Impression

In the case of the mass mailing , the impression of the documents can be complex. In addition, on some mailing a shaping can be necessary (ex: particular folding).

Personalization

The printed documents are often undifferentiated and must be personalized, at least with the name and the address of the recipient but also with an individualized message.

Personalization can also be made on the basis of criterion of segmentation, such as - but not limiting itself - the sex, the group of age, the size of the company, the frequency of the purchases.

Routing

This stage consists with the routing of the message to the recipient. In the case of a mass mailing, La Poste will deal with the delivery but the router will have already carried out a tri postal .

Legal framework

In France, direct marketing is very framed in particular in field B2C ( Business to Consumer ) in order to protect the consumers:

  • any file concerning of the natural persons and container of personal information must be declared at the CNIL (National IT commission and Freedoms) Site of the CNIL
  • any individual must be informed of his presence in a file and its right of access, modification or suppression relating to information held about it (data-processing Loi and Freedom);
  • a file “stop mailing” also called “Robinson list” is maintained by the FEVAD (Federation of the Companies of remote Sale) and gathers the coordinates of the consumers not wishing to be contacted by mass mailing;
  • the system of the Opt-in must be adopted within the framework of communications operations by electronic way (E-mailing, SMS, telemarketing, calls by vocal waiters…): the explicit assent of the consumer must be obtained before the sending of the message.

See too

Books

  • Marketing of databases of Andrea Micheaux, Eds of organization
  • direct Marketing: concepts and methods of Pierre Desmet, Eds Nathan
  • direct Marketing in actions of Chantal Desjardins, Eds of organization
  • the one to one: to develop your capital-customer of Gift Peppers & Martha Rogers, Eds of organization

Software

  • Campaign To order of Emailvision (email marketing)
  • Chordiant
  • E-piphany
  • Unica
  • Nelis Selfcare: http://www.nelis.fr
  • Nirva - http://www.nirva-systems.com
  • Message Business - http://www.messagebusiness.com

People receiving benefits

  • Diffusion more
    • Total
  • DHL Email
  • Arvato services
  • DataBase Management (DBM) - http://www.databasemanagement.be

See also: Publicity and marketing Development of consumer loyalty.

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