Whether you’re marketing through a custom magazine, direct mail, or other type of print piece, it’s essential to track your effectiveness.

Although it’s relatively simple to see increases in sales, leads, and new customers after launching a print piece, your investment’s soft returns—like increased awareness or improved perceptions—are more difficult to track. But as long as you quantify what results you’re seeking, measurements can be made.

Based on your company’s communication goals, you can work at measuring a variety of results—like changes in sales from existing or former customers, customer retention, leads, brand awareness, or purchase intent.

Unsure how to measure these results? Try a few of these methods.

Business Reply Card (BRC)
A postcard-size BRC is bound into each issue of a magazine.
Pros: Simple and cost-effective
Cons: Readers can easily overlook a BRC.
Tip: Keep questions brief, so readers won’t feel it’s too time-consuming.

Mailed Survey
Surveys and response envelopes are mailed to audience.
Pros: Questions can cover multiple print pieces’ effectiveness, and mailing appeals to older demographics that aren’t Web-savvy.
Cons: Can be disregarded as junk mail
Tip: Have an employee or calling service follow up with a personal phone call to encourage responses.

Bind-In Survey
A survey is bound into each issue of a magazine.
Pros: Questions can be more extensive than on a BRC.
Cons: Response rates can be low.
Tip: Include a postage-paid envelope and an incentive for participating.

Online Survey
An online survey is sent via e-mail or is linked to a company’s site.
Pros: Sites like Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com), Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), and Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com) simplify survey creation and online distribution.
Cons: E-mails can go in spam folders.
Tip: Start the survey with quick, easy questions, keeping the more in-depth queries at the end.

Phone Survey
Participants press a phone’s keypad to respond to an automated voice response (AVR) system. Pro: Simple and cost-effective
Con: Without a good incentive, readers may be unlikely to call.
Tip: Include a house ad in your print piece or on your site, asking readers to call a toll-free number.

Site Visits
Tracking unique visitors shows how numbers rise after implementing a marketing campaign.
Pro: It’s inexpensive (or free) and doesn’t require readers to respond.
Con: Doesn’t measure audience’s brand perceptions or buying intent; site visit increases can be coincidental.
Tip: Be sure to chart visits before launching a print campaign to determine differences.

Database Comparison
Comparing the marketing mailing list to a company’s customer/client database within 60 to 90 days of the print piece’s ship date shows which clients received the marketing material. Then comparing those results to a database of all customers prior to the marketing launch shows which recipients became customers.
Pro: Good for determining increase in new customers
Con: Doesn’t measure audience’s brand perceptions or buying intent
Tip: Compare databases after each mailing.

Focus Groups
Reader focus groups reveal audience’s changes in perception of your company, brand, and publication or print piece.
Pro: Provides thorough responses and qualitative feedback
Con: Typically expensive
Tip: Take advantage of the discussions to see what readers would change about your content marketing.

Coupons
Coupons included with a print piece show direct sales from the marketing.
Pro: Reveals direct increase in sales while making customers more likely to buy
Con: Doesn’t show increase in brand awareness or changes in perception
Tip: Include a tracking number or use a coupon not distributed elsewhere to know which sales were a direct result of the magazine or print piece.

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