Direct marketing – without detours to the customer

Direct marketing addresses your customers directly and is one of the marketing strategies that have attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Direct marketing in the online shop is an effective tool for acquiring new customers, but also for retaining existing customers. In this article, we tell you how to win the hearts and minds of your target group with direct marketing without detours.

What is direct marketing?

Direct marketing is also referred to synonymously as direct communication or dialogue marketing and is assigned to the marketing strategies. It includes all measures that involve targeted and personalised interaction with existing and new customers.

Direct marketing is characterised in particular by the individualised approach. In other words, you establish direct contact with people in your target group. This can be done in many different ways, which we will discuss in the course of this article.

What are the goals of direct marketing?

With direct marketing you can push several goals at once. The central focus should be first-class customer care. From this core idea, you can use direct marketing to drive the acquisition of new customers, increase customer loyalty, increase customer satisfaction, collect data, evaluate it and use it to optimise your measures. In the long term, this means one thing for you above all: increasing conversion rates!

Above all, the potential of collecting data and developing a database of customer information should not be underestimated in direct marketing. You not only analyse the success of your campaign with the key figures, but also learn a lot about the shopping behaviour of your target group, which in turn allows you to make the approach even more personalised and individualised. For this purpose, you should work with a customer relationship management (CRM) system in direct marketing, for example.

There are different methods you can use for your direct marketing. These include the personal phone call, the e-mail, the letter or even the on-site visit. With these methods you always want to trigger a reaction. In the best case, of course, this is the one you want, such as buying a product, downloading an e-book or signing up for a newsletter list. Therefore, a call-to-action is an inseparable part of direct marketing. Furthermore, surveys are also part of direct marketing.

What are the different types of direct marketing?

There are three types of direct marketing that you can take advantage of.

Passive direct marketing

With passive direct marketing you make your customers aware of an offer but do not enter into a dialogue with them yourself. Examples of passive direct marketing are flyers or mailings.

Reaction-oriented direct marketing

If you leave a contact option in an advertising measure, which could be an advertisement, an advertising banner or a landing page, this is reaction-oriented direct marketing. You give the prospect the option to contact you – in other words, to react.

Interaction-oriented direct marketing

In interaction-oriented direct marketing, you enter into direct communication with your customers. For this purpose, you use the personal and direct approach by means of a telephone call, an online consultation or a live chat.

What are the advantages of direct marketing?

Direct marketing brings with it a number of noteworthy advantages that have come to bear particularly strongly in recent years. Global digital networking, the daily flood of information and the mass of advertising formats have made users sensitive and hardened at the same time. The keyword “personalisation in e-commerce” is personalised content, genuine communication and authentic dialogue. This is exactly where direct marketing comes in. Important here: it should never seem intrusive. You can avoid this with sound planning and the right tools.

Further advantages of direct marketing:

• cost-effective alternative
• less wastage
• Targeted approach
• tailored product selection
• more attention
• higher perception
• measurable
• Data acquisition

What are the sub-areas of direct marketing?

Direct marketing is again divided into three separate sub-forms:

• Direct advertising
• Dialogue marketing
• Database marketing

Direct advertising

Direct advertising includes personalised mailings or advertising letters, which distinguishes it from mass advertising. Through individualisation, the advertising material has a greater effect, as the recipient feels personally addressed.

Dialogue marketing

Dialogue marketing works by directly addressing potential new customers and existing customers. By means of a target group analysis, perfectly fitting campaigns are planned, products and services are coordinated and advertising material is created. The focus is on personal calls, promotions, a guerrilla campaign or a pop-up store. The direct communication between company and customer is always in focus.

Database marketing

Here you use collected customer information to create even more customer-specific direct marketing measures. Through the conclusions you can draw from the analysis of the data, a deeper segmentation and customer approach is possible almost entirely without wastage.

How does direct marketing succeed in the online shop?

With direct marketing, you have a wealth of measures to choose from that you can use for your online shop. Just make sure that they fit your company, your brand, your products or services and, of course, your target group. Ultimately, it is your goals that determine the instruments of direct marketing.
You can choose between classic and creative marketing tools, which you can of course combine at any time for direct marketing. Both print and digital media are part of direct marketing.
The following overview shows you the most important media in direct marketing.

Letters and direct mail

The undisputed classics of direct marketing are flyers, brochures, letters, catalogues and direct mail. These land directly in your customers’ households and gain increased attention through the personalised address. However, pay attention to quality and costs on the one hand and to the guidelines of competition law on the other.

Telephone

The telephone and the phone call are also predestined measures for direct marketing. By talking directly to your customer, you enter into an immediate dialogue.

For direct marketing in the online shop, you can also make use of online live consultation or live chat. Here, too, you should always keep an eye on the legal situation so as not to violate the DSGVO.

E-mail

Since the digital age, direct marketing in the form of emails or the so-called mailing is probably one of the most effective measures. You as an online retailer in particular should not miss out on the advantages of the direct marketing format. The advantage is that you have numerous design options, can create the path for an immediate response by incorporating interactive elements, and can use smart software to create customised content that goes far beyond addressing the recipient by name. You can also use a smart email tool to automatically generate GDPR-compliant shopping cart abandonment emails to still convert would-be abandoned purchases into valuable leads.

Exit intent pop-ups and newsletter pop-ups

A direct customer approach can be achieved directly on your website or afterwards with personalised pop-ups or e-mails. The intelligent uptain® ALGORITHM makes this happen completely automatically. It selects the right form of address, tonality and content and pops up or sends drop-out e-mails, exit intent pop-ups and newsletter pop-ups at the perfect time. With uptain’s intelligent software solution, you can take direct marketing to a new level and sustainably support your customers’ buying process without appearing intrusive.

Online marketing

Direct marketing can also be implemented via search engine marketing and social media marketing. By displaying personalised advertisements and banners, you can directly address interested parties and stimulate a response with a call-to-action. Targeting allows you to send your offers to your target group, segmented down to the last detail, and at a good price-performance ratio.

Messenger and apps

While SMS used to be the trump card, mobile communication now takes place via messenger services. You can also use these for direct marketing by entering into a direct dialogue with a customer via the tool. Messenger marketing is classified as “conversational marketing”, which in turn also includes interactions via chat platforms or apps. A popular measure for direct marketing here are the so-called push messages.

Also worth mentioning in direct marketing are public advertising, in which people are approached directly on the street, and door-to-door advertising, in which sales representatives pay a visit to the customer’s home.

Direct marketing for more individuality in e-commerce

Direct marketing creates the basis for addressing potential customers and existing customers individually, personally and directly. The result is much more effective, as you target interested parties with relevant content. Direct marketing supports you in achieving your goals and provides you with a colourful bouquet of instruments.

At the same time, direct marketing can be measured and continuously optimised. Furthermore, don’t forget that you can use the data gained in the long term to improve the customer journey, which in turn increases conversion and thus your turnover.