Turning Data Into Furniture Sales: Tip #4 - 7 Easy Steps to a Successful Marketing Campaign

Furniture World News Desk on 8/19/2015

The key to effective marketing campaigns is testing, testing…then testing again.

That’s a big secret of success to every marketer. But according to business thought leader Mark Jeffrey in his best-selling book, Data-Driven Marketing, more than two thirds of businesses did not conduct test marketing before launching campaigns.

If you don’t test, how do you know you’re reaching the right customers with the right message? And with shrinking marketing budgets, ROI and cost justification demand measurable results.

For those who don’t test their campaigns the biggest barriers have to do with time constraints and complex testing methods.

Luckily, testing campaign effectiveness is an easy process with the seven simple steps listed below. By following this proven process, you can make adjustments during the testing phase to decrease your marketing spend and increase sales.

Step 1: Set Your Goals – Get Specific

Goal setting is the cornerstone of any objective. So first, let’s define exactly what you want to test that will be the measure of your success. Some common metrics in retail furniture may include:

• ROI
• Lead generation
• Open rates
• Newsletter sign-ups
• Click-throughs
• Coupon redemption

Step 2: Run a Test Campaign Against Existing Campaigns

Something not working in a campaign? Then it’s time to do a little diagnostic side-by-side comparison between a new campaign and the under-performing one. This will help you determine what’s working and eliminate what’s not.

Create and send a test campaign to a specific customer segment. Make sure you accurately track which elements of the campaign have been changed so you can assess their effectiveness. Then, compare and contrast your current campaign with the new test campaign.

Step 3: Analyze Your Responses – What’s HOT…What’s NOT

How did each customer segment respond to the new campaign?

Analyze their behavior in terms of emails opened, links clicked, offers redeemed, and purchases made. If you see a significant decrease in customer response, then that’s a red flag for further analysis.

Step 4: Identify Response Triggers That Drive Behavior

If your test campaign results in specific responses from your customers, such as increased response to specific finance offers, make sure you identify the specific elements that prompted those responses.

For example, it’s not enough to send a test campaign then observe an increase in sales. Instead, you must identify exactly what elements prompted the behavior resulting in increased sales.

Did your test campaign feature a new product that inspired action? Or was it something simpler, like a design change in your email or postcard or the use of an image with a specific style of furniture?

Investigate the connections between the changes you made and the changes in customer response. Doing so will allow you to modify existing campaigns and store those changes in your marketing arsenal for future use.

Step 5: Create Response Profiles on Your Customers

Create detailed, updated profiles for those customers who responded to your test campaign. Make sure to pinpoint what action they took, the marketing technique or element that caused them to take action, and all relevant demographic data like age, income, marital status, education, etc.

Step 6: Dissect Your Data and Gain Insight

What patterns do you see in the profiles of those who responded to your test campaign?
Look at the changes you made during your test, the response those changes generated, and who, specifically, responded to your campaign.

You might find that featuring a black leather sofa instead of an upholstered sofa generated an increase in sales amongst 35-45 year old college-educated women.

Or, you might find that 50+ men in a certain zip code are much more likely to open your emails when a video was included.

Once you understand what a specific customer segment wants, it’s easy to expand your market exponentially. Now you can connect with prospects having similar demographics and purchasing behaviors.

Step 7: Contact a List Broker to Maximize Marketing Reach

Armed with this information, you can contact a list broker and provide them with specific, dynamic profiles of your ideal customers. The broker will then compile a mailing list of prospects with similar characteristics who may be experiencing a lifestyle change like ‘moving’ greatly increasing the response potential to your latest marketing campaign.

How much could a 30-50% increase in response to direct mail, voice marketing and e-mail marketing campaigns yield for your furniture store or chain? Take the next step...Download Our Retail Furniture’s Case Study on the Effectiveness of Predictive Analytics.. 

This article was written by Bonnie Massa, President at Massa & Company.

Turning Data Into Furniture Sales

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