Sources for Response Rate Statistics

Written By Ted Grigg
DMCG Results

After numerous requests from clients and prospects, I finally broke down and shared generic response rates in a past post entitled  "What Kind Of Response Rate Can We Expect?"

In this new post, I will give you the best sources for published response rate information. 

Direct marketing consultants are loth to provide response information on specific campaigns because they are simply inaccurate and rarely useful. Inexperienced clients tend to interpret such estimates and accompanying caveats as a response prediction or commitment.

Accurate response rate estimates without the statistics from previous, specific client testing are impossible.

The offer, the product, the channel, seasonality, list selection criteria and political environment (among other things) can make or break a direct marketing campaign. 

Nevertheless, clients need to understand that their direct mail promotion for new customers will not get a 10% response rate. Better to think in terms of .5 to .75% when selling off the page and 2-3% for lead generation. Other channels such as print, DRTV and online are unlikely to make a loosing product win.

Better yet, let me perform a pre-response analysis indicating what response rate you need for breakeven within the selected channel(s). This will allow both the client and consultant to confirm if the campaign idea has any chance of succeeding before committing to the test campaign.

If you are looking for response statistics to give you a better feel for response rates from multiple industries, two studies are available from the National Mail Order Association, NMOA. They are, the DMA Statistical Fact Book, and the Response Rate Trends Report.

Please share your thoughts on this timely subject. How do you respond to corporate executives who insist on a response prediction before launching a new campaign that was not tested?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
Previous

Relevant Content Is No Longer Enough
Next

Does Donor Wealth Rating Really Work for Fundraisers?