PURLs are the tried-and-true workhorse of the marketing campaign. The PURL, or personalized URL, is a unique web address that is included in email and direct mail communications. It directs prospects to a personalized landing page where they receive a 1:1 experience which appears to have been created specifically for them. When marketers can precisely target prospects and provide a personalized experience, their messages are more likely to motivate the desired result. Tools in the modern-day marketing kit include integrated marketing strategies, omnichannel communications, customer insights and marketing automation.
Driving the effectiveness of direct marketing today is the increased reliance on data. In a survey of nearly 3000 industry participants, the Winterberry Group found that 81.3 percent said data was important to their efforts, with a significant 59.3 percent calling it “critical.” This data is used to power digital and direct mail marketing campaigns, which have become increasingly focused on building personalized relationships with prospects and customers. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), “Personalizing the customer experience is the most important objective of a data-driven marketing strategy.”
Personalization appears to be a crucial factor in the success of these efforts. Consumers like it when communications are personalized to them and are highly motivated to click-through on a personalized email. Despite the apparent benefits of 1:1 engagement, the downside of this equation is that 53% of marketers don’t have the data to personalize content at all. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this problem – PURLs. Easypurl has identified at least six ways PURLs can help your next direct marketing campaign:
1. Mass personalization:
Enhance your direct marketing campaign with a personalized web address and landing page for every recipient. Create personalized URLs for every name on your mailing list and insert them into your mail file.
2. Individual appeal:
PURLs personalize communications on a 1:1 basis. Each direct mail or email is personalized to a specific recipient.
3. Enhance email effectiveness:
Combining an individual PURL with a targeted email message provides an effective response channel for email campaigns.
4. More tracking:
The Easypurl reporting and analytics tool can help track every recipient action such as clicks, opens, and replies.
5. Better follow-up:
Better tracking automates follow-ups and nurtures a communication stream with the target demographic.
6. Better response:
Client results from Easypurl have shown that incorporating PURLs in a direct marketing campaign can boost response and conversion rates up 350% or more, compared to campaigns without PURLs.
Once the personalized direct mail or email piece has done its job of motivating a click-through response, the PURL directs the individual prospect to a customized landing page which mirrors and enhances the direct mail piece. They are greeted by name and provided with information that is specific to their visit. Easypurl provides software and solutions that enable these unique conversations with individual targets through feature-rich, personalized landing pages.
Incorporate the advantages of PURLs into your next email marketing or direct mail marketing campaign, and you will see how the advantages of utilizing data-driven marketing strategies can make a major difference in results.
