Back to Basics - Direct Marketing - MORE!

Ok - next set of tips for staying on the straight and narrow track in your direct marketing programs -  

• Establish donors' Long Term Value (LTV). Short term profitability is a thing of the past -- add LTV to your arsenal of metrics.
• Optimize your creative. Include your production specialist in the review of new test creative. They can advise and make recommendations to cut costs on expensive test packages and provide tips for rollout efficiencies.
• Tailor your content. Develop creative and messaging that is personalized to your prospect segments.
• Design a meaningful test plan. Make sure your test cells' sizes are statistically significant based on your core (control) cells for optimal readability of your results. Query your tests prior to activating your mailing.
• Test methodically. For accurate results, make sure you are only testing one element per test cell, i.e., product, message, audience. Make sure that you are testing to determine a very specific outcome, such as targeting the right message to the right audience at the right time.