Guest post: Why is there so much dunderhead DM?
Commonwealth Bank’s Mark Buckman used the ADMA forum to tell marketers they were getting their DM wrong. In this guest post, The Hub Agency’s Nigel Smith argues that he was right.
I recently read an article where Mark Buckman, Chief Marketing Officer at the Commonwealth Bank, had a pretty big dig at bad DM and the lack of love for data.
A man after my own heart. When will people realise the immense power of applying data driven marketing in a brand consistent way?
Just imagine business to business DM that teams up pre-qualified data with imaginative creative applied in a totally brand consistent manner to get over 50% success rate. And I’m not talking response, I am talking foot in the door, face to face conversations resulting from the mailing. It can be done.
As marketers we’re all smart, switched on and results driven, right? Well then, why don’t more of us intelligent bunch identify our databases as another part of the media mix just waiting for its potential to be unlocked? Whether you are prospecting or talking to existing customers, be it consumer or B2B, direct gives you a chance to build a brand and produce….a response. And you can measure it. And manage it. And improve it.
It’s not rocket science but what is a bloody mystery to me is why even more marketing budget isn’t piled into it.
Perhaps, like me, the decision makers who sit at the helm of budget allocation are sick and tired of seeing poorly thought out, sloppily executed DM that is way off target and very far from on brand.
I can feel a rant coming on, but here is my list of “dunderhead DM” that gets to me the most:
Dissers of Data
How hard is it to put some resources into making sure your data is accurate, targeted and, especially for high value business sales, pre-qualified? Whether you are using those nice folks at Aussie Post, emailing or SMS (and I know the list of options keeps on growing), get this bit right or, all else is wasted. Sure, you’re probably sitting there thinking you know all this, but why then do I keep seeing examples of data being completely ignored?
Offer, schmoffer!
Right, so you’ve created a super schmick piece of DM but under the pump, the best offer you could pull together is a trip to Bermuda in cyclone season. Please, please, put more effort into making the offer appealing for your target market. Even if the offer is as simple as really, really relevant information or gossip. People are turning into information junkies – it has value. Of course, you can still go with your favourite BOGOF if it works for you but stop with the irrelevant, yawnworthy offers!
No time put into timing
It frustrates me so much to think how easy it is to get your timing right and yet so often marketers get it so wrong. Work out what time, day, month works well for you and avoid the equivalent of trying to sell ice to the Eskimos. Nothing groundbreaking there, but the age old adage of time being of the essence seems to get lost in a lot of DM executions.
Creative has got to be spot on
Too much focus is put on generating the ideal response and not enough on being on brand. In digital days we are surrounded by messages both solicited and unsolicited. Every touch-point needs to support the brand or we are going to really piss people off…. like me who will then feel the need to rant and rave about it.
I could continue down my list but I don’t want you to think I’m a cranky old man who hates the DM industry. Really, I’m not. Far from it, and this is all basic stuff I’m covering. Any marketer or agency professional should know how to avoid falling under the banner of producing “dunderhead DM”. I’m pretty sure you do, but do you always apply it? Do we get too caught up in the heat of the moment, the brilliant creative, the left-field idea to stop and test? Or are you just “too busy”? But this is what we are all here for – it’s our job.
In his article, Mark Buckman was bemoaning poor response rates. And rightly so. Being direct and doing it properly is about never being 100% satisfied with the result because you have a burning curiosity about what it might take to make things work just that little bit better.
And think of the good we can do for the environment by cutting out all that poorly targeted, ineffective DM (my random greenie rant).
I’d like to think that the big-end of town has this stuff sorted, but if one of the big direct communicators in the country (Comm Bank) ain’t there yet, then I guess not. But that’s good news – we have so much opportunity to improve.
Just imagine how positive a recipient’s response will be when they get communications that stand out from the crowd, that recognise them as an individual, that do not insult their intelligence and actually make a relevant offer. Where the look, feel, sound (well, digital can be direct too as we know) are how they would expect that brand to express itself.
It’s really not that hard to start thinking this way, and then use the beauty of direct communications (measurability, testability) to try things out and see what flies. Then go big and reap the rewards.
Let others spend away whilst you think, test, improve.
Nigel Smith is a partner at Sydney’s The Hub Agency
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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Hmmm, even though I agree with much of what Nigel has said in regards to the principles of DM, I can still probably write an essay in response to this. I’ll try to keep it brief though.
I think it’s a little naive to focus the fault on the agencies here, because the good one’s do know what they’re doing. The problem often lies in data access, especially with multinational clients, who have everything housed on the other side of the world. It takes the client far too long to access the data as it is, so heaven’s above if we want to try something different – they’ll miss their lodgement dates!
And if I put a dollar in a jar every time I’d recommended testing to a client, and took one out when they’d agreed, I’d still have a pretty full jar.
I think where agencies, especially “fully-integrated” agencies, haven’t helped themselves is by stripping back on specialist resources in favour of generalists. In times such as these, when being able to measure ROI should be so important, these agencies should be pushing DM approaches as much as possible. But unfortunately, they just don’t have the skills to do so.
And don’t get me started on the challenges brought about by clients cutting agencies out of the loop when it comes to print production supplier contracts …
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From the B2B side of the fence – I’ve always had a soft spot for lovely rich data though difficulties with data silos, multiple versions of the same info (so which is correct?) and general slap-happy-no-foresight-just-get-it-out-the-door approaches means you often miss out on the richness.
Working with tech companies it is amazing what insights advanced analytics gives you about your data – before the campaign – like who you’ll make leave because you sent a DM, who will buy anyway so don’t waste your budget and that wonderful subset that will only buy because of your DM. One company saved nearly have their budget and added $8m pa because they didn’t DM half their customers (turns out the DM was making them defect).
The tech client has setup a website that will let you try this kind of analytics on your last campaign for free. It emails you a report on potential cost savings, ROI improvements and response gains.
If OK with Tim I’ll post another comment with the link.
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Sorry – ‘have’ was meant to be ‘half’
One company saved nearly –half — their budget and added $8m pa because they didn’t DM half their customers (turns out the DM was making them defect).
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Please do, Annette!
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Thanks Tim. The website is http://www.campaigncheckup.com
Click on the checkup now button to add campaign details to get a report on campaign ROI and potential opportunity for improvement – or http://www.campaigncheckup.com/checkup-now to go directly to the form
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I hate to say it, but I believe the issue is with the clients.
So many times working with the senior marketing team, it would turn out that the senior management of the companies have NFI about how to run a company let alone market it and therefore would hinder or obstruct the progress.
I am constantly amazed at how some very large companies manage to stay afloat actually.
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Buckman is right. But knowing his skillset this is what he has been told over any great passion.
Simon is the closest to the money as CBA are held back by their EDS-managed DB.
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