One of the common misconceptions about offline marketing is that it’s a shot in the dark, with no way to really track results and prove ROI – but this couldn’t be further from reality. As part of our partnership with brands, we like to make sure that we’re all on the same page when it comes to results. To help achieve that, we provide what we call a Benefits Validation document once a year that shows in one place how much PSE delivers for your brand.
This goes beyond typical analysis; the exact structure, methodology, and definitions are unique to each client, but we’ve outlined the general elements involved in demonstrating the value of an offline marketing partnership in this blog.
Customer impact.
For us, it’s not enough to just track website visits or code redemptions; we want to understand exactly what impact offline has on your marketing strategy. That’s why we don’t just focus on conversions but view the customer impact in 4 different categories across three measurement periods. The three measurement periods include historical data, data collected just before the campaign live, and data collected during the campaign live. By collecting data categorised by time, we can more easily identify the impact of the campaign activity.
The customer impact is categorised into four behaviours:
- Acquisition – Customers transacting with your brand for the first time during the campaign period.
- Retention – Customers who have previously transacted in the pre-campaign period and have additionally transacted in the campaign period.
- Uplift – Additional spend (above any standard price increases (e.g., due to inflation)) made by retention customers between the pre-campaign period and campaign period.
- Reactivation – Customers who have transacted in the historical data period but did not transact in the pre-campaign period and then did transact in the measurement period.
By understanding the customer impact in this detail, we can much more accurately measure the ROI of the campaign and better optimise the next campaign to get even better results.
Revenue v Spend
Ok, so this one seems simple, but the key is to review revenue and spend not just in total terms but broken down by activity. This is so you can easily identify activity that is performing well and activity that isn’t. It can help you work towards specific objectives; for example, if you are trying to prioritise retention rates, you can see how much retention contributed to the revenue of the campaign relative to other activities and build clear KPIs for future activity.
Savings.
Savings are important because this demonstrates the ROI of the agency partnership, which helps marketing managers justify their choices. We have a close relationship with the Royal Mail, and through it, we can secure incentives that unlock extra mailing volumes, credits on future mailings, and even entirely new campaign ideas that would otherwise be missed. It’s not just postage where an agency can demonstrate savings; there are also savings that can be made across areas like print too. By factoring in savings to ROI reports, we can demonstrate the value the agency partnership adds, helping Marketing Managers justify decisions and agency costs internally.
Sustainability.
With sustainability targets high on the agenda, there is increasing value in campaigns that can demonstrate sustainability efforts. Not only do we guide on the most sustainable materials and suppliers to use in campaigns, but we also offer carbon balancing. Carbon Balancing is a way of capturing the unavoidable emissions caused in the manufacturing process of paper stock. We have introduced an opt-out surcharge to our campaigns; this surcharge goes directly to the World Land Trust, an international conservation charity that projects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats. As well as a certificate, you’ll be able to use the World Land Trust logo on your mailer, demonstrating to customers that you care and are doing your bit to tackle climate change. You’ll also be eligible to use Royal Mail’s sustainability scheme giving you access to lower postage prices. These can all have a monetary value attributed to them for further agency ROI.
Time, effort, and peace of mind.
There is so much work that an agency takes off your hands, and, in pretty much every business, time is money. At PSE, we pride ourselves on our ability to make life as easy for our customers as possible. From data cleansing to creative design to print and postage, we’ll handle everything, but we’ll keep you in the loop just the right amount so that you understand and feel confident every step of the way. Having dedicated experts at your disposal may sound like a fluffy form of ROI, but it’s the one that can have the biggest impact, allowing you to not only do more in your day-to-day role but also help you sleep easier at night.
If you would like a partner dedicated to delivering ROI, and driven by a culture of test, learn, and optimise to achieve better and better results on every campaign, then you’re in luck because we know just the people…Us.
Get in touch to discuss our Benefits Validation reports and how we can work together.
