In recent years, marketers involved in direct response campaigns have asked if the industry was dead or no longer viable. At times, these somewhat dramatic statements have elicited a concerned response. In reality, the direct response industry is not dead. The evolving marketplace has required marketers rethink traditional marketing techniques to be successful in a technologically connected world.
Direct response marketing is a technique that allows businesses to advertise directly to potential customers with a call to action. The call to action can include a limited-time option to buy, website link or a phone number for a direct response call center. Pieces of direct response marketing are also varied and can include television/radio ads, mailers and online advertising. The campaigns that businesses run produce measurable responses.
Traditionally, customers would see an ad and call a number for more information or an out direct response call center would call potential customers. In today’s marketplace, customers conduct more research on a potential purchase, often reading 8-10 pieces of product information before deciding to purchase.
Additionally, today’s direct response campaigns, while they generate calls into a busy inbound direct response call center to purchase, they also generate calls from individuals who are interested in learning more about the company itself and its brand. There is also a greater delay in the consumer’s decision to purchase today.
A Canadian study several years ago reported that on 15% of consumers will make a decision to purchase in the first 90 days of researching a product or service. An additional 52% will take 18 months to make a decision to purchase. Traditional “buy it now” campaigns, therefore are actually only targeting 15% of their potential customer base.
These marketplace shifts and changes in consumer behavior have required direct marketers to change how they promote their products and services. As consumers have begun to spend more time researching purchases they are considering, it has become more important for businesses engage a direct response call center to be seen as customer centric.
The combined approaches of marketing directly to customers with an immediate call to action and following with the opportunity for the consumer to get more information allows businesses to reach a much broader base of potential customers and increase their opportunity for success.
So, no, the direct response industry is not dead. In fact outsourced direct response call center service providers such as Grupo Noa International have made it even easier for business to sell thru direct response methods.