By Jeanmarie Peachey, contributing writer at MarketingProfs.com

To optimize the performance of your direct marketing campaign, you should first understand some basic factors: which media are driving the response, which creative is most responsive, and whether new offers increase the response rates over your previous efforts. You can draw conclusive results only if you and your clients are willing to adopt tracking and measurement strategies and tactics before you launch your campaign.

Optimize your campaign by using tracking

Tracking and buy-managing campaigns are core competencies in direct marketing. Without these campaigns, marketers would be unable to generate invaluable performance learnings. Tracking helps you optimize campaigns to increase response volume, reduce cost per response, and generate a more positive return on investment (ROI).

To ensure a flawless execution of tracking, agencies as well as clients stake these three critical steps:

• Establish and prioritize test elements, evaluation criteria, and metrics
• Construct appropriate tracking mechanisms to deliver the learnings
• Continually optimize campaigns based on learnings

Step 1: Establish and prioritize test elements, evaluation criteria, and metrics

Acting as a team, clients and agencies need to identify and agree on the key levers that are driving responses and sales, such as creative, offer, and media selection. You may need to prioritize one or two key learnings that you want to test to ensure that proper tracking and measurement is obtainable.

Tracking and measuring   Tracking and measurement needs are established based on the objectives, including front-end information (for example, calls and clicks) as well as back-end information (for example, sales and revenue).

Sample results report   Creating a sample results report before you launch your campaign can help preempt any technical difficulties that may arise after a campaign is already in progress. It can also assist in the automation of reporting and analysis.

Keep in mind that the test variables need to be isolated, or else you may lose or dilute the results.

Step 2: Construct appropriate tracking mechanisms to deliver the learnings

Establishing appropriate tracking is critical. Ensuring that all parties discuss and agree on a tracking system and metrics before launching a campaign allows you to optimize the campaign based on your learnings.

Overcome limitations   Teams should discuss limitations in advance and consider several options to ensure that tracking does not negatively affect overall call volume. For example, for clients with call center restrictions, agencies can provide recommendations to help reduce call volume outside of call center hours or minimize the number of lost calls.

Generate consumer response   You can generate consumer response in a campaign by using several methods. Traditional direct response campaigns typically drive responders to an 800 telephone number (mnemonic or unique) or a unique Web address, both of which provide front-end response information on an immediate basis.

• Individual 800 numbers or unique URLs   These toll-free phone numbers or URLs are often used because they can track the exact number of calls or clicks by channel. For example, you can track results by a specific network or station and by creative or offer. If individual numbers are used, changes can be made quickly (daily for some media vehicles), which result in improvements in volume and efficiency while a campaign is still in market.
• Mnemonic phone number   The use of a memorable mnemonic number results in greater overall response. However, it is difficult to track learning by specific channels. It's important to evaluate whether the improvements generated from buy-management would outweigh the likely increased response from the use of the mnemonic number.

In many cases, clients establish testing periods throughout the year by using unique 800 numbers, and then they roll out campaigns using learnings with a mnemonic phone number.

You can use response-modeling techniques to determine how much each vehicle, creative, or offer likely contributed to the overall call volume to a mnemonic number. Modeling techniques can also provide learnings for other types of campaigns, such as drive to retail. Results are not as immediate as they are with unique phone numbers or unique URLs; however, findings can be drawn within a few weeks.

Incorporate other metrics   Other important metrics should also be considered when evaluating a campaign's overall success. These metrics include awareness tracking and lift to nonadvertising channels and other products.

Step 3: Continually optimize campaigns based on learnings

Together, clients and agencies can discuss options for future campaign rollouts based on the tracking results, both positive and negative, for the key levers being measured. You can also address the appropriate timing for the proper evaluation of campaign and test variables performance.

Benefits of tracking

Ultimately, tracking provides critical learnings, which can be used to optimize campaigns and maximize results for you and your clients. By establishing evaluation criteria and setting up effective tracking mechanisms before launching your direct marketing campaign, you can directly track the impact of the campaign. The valuable information you obtain can guide you in improving your present campaign and making your next campaign an even greater success.

About the author   MarketingProfs.com is an online publishing company that specializes in providing strategic and tactical marketing know-how to Internet and offline marketing professionals. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.marketingprofs.com.