Lead-Gen Mailing Clears the Bases

Marketing communications company Tukaiz LLC got an 11% response to a recent baseball-themed lead-generation mailing.

Managing partner Frank Defino Jr. says the Franklin Park, IL firm sent out 4,179 pieces in April, 67% to its customer base of small and large businesses and the rest to prospects drawn from Hoover's and Experian lists.

The drop drew 519 people to a personalized landing page augmented by flash animation, voice-overs and background sound. “Of this number,” Defino says, “58 wanted to be contacted and we were able to get 21 appointments. [Eventually] we landed 11 new customer projects.

“When you market to marketers you have to show them the different techniques that can be done. We've had a lot of success with response and retention rates using picture personalization.”

The 6-inch by 9-inch mailer displayed a picture of an outfielder's glove, inscribed with the recipient's name, holding a Tukaiz-logoed baseball. Copy invited the reader to visit a personalized Web address (generically, http://john.smith.mytukaiz.com/april) for a chance to win a baseball jersey from a team of his or her choice.

At the custom Web site, the screen showed a flashing baseball-stadium scoreboard alternately blinking the recipient's name and the words “home run.” This was surrounded by the Tukaiz URL on three sides and sound-enabled exploding fireworks. Visitors who filled out a contact form were entered into a drawing for the jersey.

Defino says the mailing was more expensive than previous efforts because Tukaiz had to pay software-licensing fees. “But with the response rates we got, it's a wash,” he says.

The company plans to keep using this personalization technology for its mailings, though the theme likely will change with each campaign.