Brick and paving company uses direct mail to target potential customers with call tracking and finds it’s the gift that keeps on giving
Case study objective
To measure how Valpak mailing frequency increases YOY call tracking investment as customers grow with more Blue Envelope mailings (+ shared postcard mailers).
Marketing strategy
Distribution
- Blue Envelope: Mails (600 thousand+ homes) spring, summer and fall months
- Postcards: Added PlusOne postcard mailers in select zones to measure performance versus and with envelope mail pieces
Targeting
The brick and paving business team supplied a list of serviceable areas to match back to Valpak zones and target the ZIP codes where a direct mail campaign would most likely generate a response.
Products
- Blue Envelope inserts with unique phone number, URL and QR code
- PlusOne postcard design with unique phone number, URL and QR code
- Digital marketing: valpak.com business listings for local SEO
Results of the case study
- Received 1081 lead generation calls in 2022 for 60+ zones
- Received 1395 lead generation calls in 2023 for 60+ zones
- Call tracking shows numbers still being used even after years
- Postcards added to the two best zones outperformed the other zones by 30-70% in sales
The brick and paving company added postcards to their two best zones after analyzing call tracking response rates and data in 2022 and 2023. The PlusOne zones outperformed the other zones, accounting for 37 of the 229 jobs sold in 2023 (15% of business sold in 2023 came from these two zones from Valpak).
Direct mail’s staying power
In 2022, the company received 91% of calls from call tracking numbers; however, the client continued receiving as much as 8% of calls from 2020-2021. In 2023, 85% of calls were received from 2023 call tracking numbers, while the company received 14% of call tracking calls from 2022 tracking numbers and still a small percentage from 2020-2021.
Conclusion
Valpak increased PlusOne distribution in the brick and paving company’s three best zones after two top zones significantly outperformed their YOY dollars to see if the third zone would also follow with an increase in 2024. Per this change, the brick and paving company continues to watch the third zone’s performance in the PlusOne trial, hoping to add more PlusOne zones to increase their customer base. Valpak also integrated the client’s current SEO campaign with QR codes for 2024 to drive more traffic to the website and boost brand awareness. The company changed its methodology with the call tracking success across the board (a positive customer experience). Eventually, it stopped separating brick and pavement numbers on mail pieces because customers called both numbers for all products / home services requested.
