Timing, Relevance, Personalization Are Keys to Cutting Through Clutter

Marketers are facing the mounting challenge of consumers feeling they’re bombarded with messages they didn’t ask for, don’t need and find disruptive. This so-called “clutter” has led to decreasing response rates.

A new whitepaper prepared by the Winterberry Group with data supplied by Mintel Comperemedia, Responsys and Vertis Communications finds that timing, relevance and personalization are three keys to cutting through that “clutter” and driving consumer response. Here are some tips taken from the report to help catalogers and other direct marketers achieve those goals:

1. Make timing count. Coordinate offers with life events, such as marriages, births, new moves. Consumers are also more open to offers that are keyed to seasonal opportunities and holidays. Track purchases and match offers to them.

2. Relevance equals interest. Growth in consumer-generated media, such as blogs, YouTube.com and social networking sites show that the public is willing to receive and interact with promotional media. But the information must be relevant. Research shows 42 percent of all consumers say they only read messages that address their needs, interests and attributes.

3. Use Web analytics to go beyond “simple” personalization. Responsys found 89 percent of marketers say they plan to personalize and target more promotions. But it’s not enough these days just to use a name, address and basic information. Information from multiple databases should be combined to create unique offers or individualized content, the whitepaper advises.

To learn more about the whitepaper, go to www.responsys.com/documents/ResponsysWP_Impact_OnetoOne_Marketing.pdf .