Senior Marketing Manager
Marketing
A healthcare company that provides comprehensive, primary, urgent, and behavioral services understands that high-quality healthcare shouldn’t be exclusive or expensive. This company partnered with Lob to expand its capabilities in direct mail marketing to ensure customers were getting everything out of their plans and services.
The healthcare company needed a surefire way to reach prospective members and make them aware of their available services and healthcare providers. Unfortunately, about 20% of its members don’t have email addresses.
But, they do have physical addresses.
The organization looked for a partner in the direct mail space so it could reach its members and prospective members at home. The healthcare company also needed a solution to automate its mailings and scale based on member data and triggers for particular services or healthcare campaigns without recreating the wheel each time. The company’s pain points could be addressed with a prescription for Lob.
It started with an initial check-up of the business’s marketing workflows and technology stack. Then, direct mail campaigns were automated, using Lob, based on triggers in the CRM system, like a member starting a new job, moving, or a follow-up after a clinic visit.
The results got the company’s heart pumping. The average activation rate was nearly 3% (2.87%) across multiple direct mail campaigns compared to 2% for email. This result is especially notable due to the fact that customers only get one letter in the program but multiple emails. Another bonus of direct mail? High engagement! The company saw an average engagement rate of 6.5% with letters.
“Direct mail has a higher engagement rate as we can reach people at home,” says the Senior Marketing Manager. “Direct mail is a high-performing channel within our Targeted Outreach Program – with 45% of account activations attributed to these mailings.”
Using specific triggers allows the company to send highly-personalized and HIPAA-compliant mailings to their members.
“Our goal is to ensure that we’re reaching the right people with the right message at the right time, and intelligent direct mail does just that,” says the Senior Marketing Manager.
Direct mail isn’t the only marketing channel the organization utilizes for member acquisition. The Senior Marketing Manager tells us, “Direct mail and email are the bread and butter of our targeted outreach program.” Thanks to its efforts to A/B test email, they’ve found what works for copy and personalization and translated that to their direct mailpieces, specifically letters which have outperformed postcards in prior direct mail A/B testing.
45% of consumers surveyed in the State of Direct Mail Consumer Insights report preferring letters in the healthcare industry, compared to 30% preferring postcards, it’s no surprise that the organization sees similar results with an increase in activations through letters compared to postcards.
Beyond tracking activation and engagement rates, it closely tracks its Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). With a CPA of $22 per letter, it has a healthy ROI on its direct mail marketing. Recent research by Wordstream found that in the healthcare industry, the average CPA for paid search in the healthcare industry is $78. Not only can direct mail be more cost-effective, but it’s also more relevant and personalized to the recipient.
The Senior Marketing Manager tells us, "We assign a unique identifier to every individual in our database regarding direct mail attribution and tracking. When we look at the reports and see that a person received a letter and if they do something within the three-week attribution window, it's attributed to the letter because that's the only marketing piece they received.”
Measuring ROI on direct mail is easy for the company due to fixed costs. Lob’s upfront and transparent pricing was another reason it chose Lob for its direct mail marketing.
The organization has plenty of skills in sending high-performing acquisition and awareness direct mail campaigns but wants to laser-focus on personalization and testing. Some upcoming A/B tests could include different mailpiece form factors, adding QR codes, or even more envelope personalization to increase opens and activations.
The healthcare company is excellent at holistic healthcare, and it's also looking at more opportunities to have a holistic marketing approach by using digital marketing triggers for its direct mail efforts.
But for now, the Senior Marketing Manager tell us,
“This targeted program is something that we’re continuing to build around and invest in. The automation aspect of Lob is huge. It’s easy to manage our evergreen direct mail campaigns and know that they’re always on. And we’re happy with what we’re seeing and trying to continue to scale and grow it.”
This healthcare company found a healthy balance for its marketing efforts by including direct mail. See what a healthy dose of direct mail could do for you and your business.
Learn how to drive better patient and provider outcomes via direct mail on our healthcare solutions page.
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