Getting the Most from Response Mechanisms

If you ask the customer to buy, including a response mechanism that makes it easy to buy is good for the customer and good for your business. Even if your communication is intended only to give the customer information, it's a courtesy to include a response mechanism in case the customer has questions. The response mechanism gives you the opportunity to collect information about the customer, which will help you build relationships, and about the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, which will help you do better in the future.

Yes, a Web site is convenient. Customers can visit around the clock, download information, and sometimes place orders. However, if they do not register their contact information or any details about their buying preferences, you have no opportunity to contact them or develop a relationship. If the customer wants to ask questions or discuss a product in more detail, telephone contact gives you the opportunity to get to know the person.

Third-party call center employees should be trained to act as personal representatives of your company, with detailed knowledge about your product or service and the way your company does business. If call center employees are properly trained, customers should notice no difference when they are linked to a call center.

When you place print ads, include a coupon with a special offer that will entice people to respond with their name and contact information and some details about their buying interests. You can also ask people to contact you by phone (offer a toll-free number), regular mail, Web site, or e-mail, although these channels may not give you the same level of data capture as the customer returning a coupon. Capturing e-mail addresses can be an important first stage in building customer relationships.

Include a toll-free telephone number or Web site address in television or radio commercials if you want prospects to ask for further information. Make sure the ad gives the address twice with some time in between so viewers/listeners have time to take it down. Television ads have been known to generate high response for a short period immediately after the commercial. If you are encouraging a telephone response, make sure that you have the resources to handle a high volume of calls, internally or using a call center.

There are five basic types of response mechanism:

• mail
• telephone
• e-mail
• Web site address.
• fax

When choosing a mechanism, remember that its purpose is to encourage your particular audience to response to your offer—and to provide them with an easy means of response. Industry research indicates that customers feel differently about different response mechanisms. E-mail and the Internet are seen as fast and convenient, involving little effort and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Telephone-based services are viewed as more immediate and more personal. Pay-per-minute information service numbers provide useful customer information and generate revenue—and may be suitable for your prospects. Business Reply Mail is regarded as suitable for business and financial advertisements.

• With a toll-free number, prospects and customers call your company from anywhere in the country, free of charge. You obtain a toll-free number from your telephone service provider, and you pay for the calls you receive at a set rate.
• You can offer customers local numbers, which you obtain from your telephone service provider. Prospects and customers call from anywhere in the country, and the call is charged to them at local rates. You pay the balance of the charge.
• With a pay-per-minute number, prospects and customers call from anywhere in the country and pay a premium rate for prerecorded information. Revenue from each call is divided between your company and the telephone service provider. You can obtain pay-per-minute numbers from your service provider and charges for each call are at an agreed rate. You must publish the charge per minute to the customer, and any offers to children should include a warning that an adult must place the call.

E-mail is a quick, convenient, and cheap response mechanism. Prospects can either write their own e-mail and send it to your e-mail address, or complete a form on your Web site. If you want prospects to complete an online form, be sure that your Web site address appears prominently in your customer communications.

Customers can obtain detailed information direct from your Web site, reducing your information distribution costs. However, you may prefer to take greater control of the customer relationship. You can ask customers to register on your Web site, which gives you the opportunity to collect some information about them and to follow up with them directly.

Although now less popular, fax-back is a convenient way to distribute standard printed information. Prospects and customers call a fax number; when the call is answered, the caller presses the START button and a fax containing information is sent to the caller's machine within seconds. The service can be offered free to customers, using a toll-free number. You can obtain a toll-free number from your telephone service provider; you pay for the incoming calls and the return fax transmission at the standard rate.

Companies that have to handle large volumes of responses and distribute additional material may not have the resources to handle fulfillment internally. Fulfillment agencies specialize in high-volume response programs, and it is the agency's contact information that appears on the response mechanism. If you are selecting a fulfillment house, ask about:

• quality and reliability of service
• capacity to handle the volume of responses
• after-sale service for customers
• management reporting systems.

Asking for the minimum of information is a courtesy to customers and increases response. Long, complex forms or requests for large amounts of detail could put off potential respondents. In addition to name and position, the most important information to request is telephone number or e-mail address, either of which gives you an avenue for contacting the person and starting a relationship.

A response mechanism is simply a starting point for a customer relationship program. A customer may just ask for a leaflet, but that request gives you the opportunity to open a dialog, gather further information, and build a detailed customer profile as a basis for future campaigns. You must have a system in place to ensure that the customer's request is developed into a relationship.

Your advertising is wasted if you capture customer details but fail to follow up effectively. Customers will feel frustrated if they have to wait a long time for a response. You will also lose the opportunity to develop a relationship while the customer is in a buying mood. You should set time limits for responding to requests and, if you cannot respond within those limits, consider using external resources to handle fulfillment.

People now expect to see e-mail and Web sites as well as telephone and mail response mechanisms. Offering a choice of response mechanisms demonstrates good customer service.

Hitchcock, Stephen. Open Immediately: Straight Talk on Direct Mail Fundraising. Emerson & Church, 2004.

Hughes, Arthur Middleton. Strategic Database Marketing: The Masterplan for Starting and Managing a Profitable, Customer-based Marketing Program. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.

The Direct Marketing Association: www.the-dma.org

Direct Mail News: www.topix.net/business/direct-mail

InsideDirectMail: www.insidedirectmail.com