An enthusiastic response to a highly personalized mailing from Hewlett-Packard led to a 66% conversion rate.
Last November HP sent out a direct mailing promoting a switch to its Integrity brand servers. The campaign, which targeted 15,000 information technology managers at companies of more than 500 employees, got a 6% to 9% response, says Lianne Wade, vice president and management supervisor at HP’s agency Wilde Direct.
Prospects were identified on subscriber lists and compiled databases, supplemented by names from HP’s house file. HP spent about $500,000 on the effort, which included the initial mailing, follow-up qualification telemarketing and the personalized fulfillment package, Wade adds.
The package included a customized letter offering an incentive of $3,000 to $300,000 in server-migration services, a print-on-demand brochure and a compact disc. HP tailored the messages based on data it gathered during the qualification process.
The variable-data technology works by taking text and graphics from Wilde Direct’s system and digitally printing them on letters and CDs.