Tracking Direct Mail ROI: Expert Guidance from Industry Leaders
In an era where marketing budgets are scrutinized and every dollar must be justified, understanding the true return on investment (ROI) of direct mail campaigns is more critical than ever. This was the focus of a recent virtual session, “Show Me the Money: How to Track the ROI of Your Direct Mail Campaigns,” hosted by Kristina Gray, PFL Marketing Events Manager, and featuring insights from Brent Alexander, PFL VP of MarTech Sales, and Jordan Haugan, PFL VP of Customer Success. Drawing on more than thirty years of combined expertise, the presenters offered a roadmap for marketers eager to prove—and improve—the value of their direct mail efforts.
Why Direct Mail Still Matters
Kristina Gray opened the session by emphasizing the speakers’ deep experience in commercial printing, mailing, and customer success. “This group has a deep knowledge of all aspects of commercial printing and mailing. What’s more, our customer success team really does work as an extension of your marketing team to ensure that you are meeting the goals that you want to hit.”
Jordan Haugan observed that direct mail is often still siloed as a traditional or offline channel, even though it remains one of the most strategic tools for brands. She suggested a more integrated approach: “By putting the customer at the center of marketing efforts, we can view direct mail through the same lens used to manage other paid media channels. This allows you to allocate dollars across those channels appropriately.” This shift, she explained, enables marketers to make smarter, more holistic budget decisions—especially when faced with cuts.
Building a Data-Driven ROI Framework
Stressing the importance of learning from past campaigns, Brent Alexander outlined the foundational steps for measuring direct mail ROI. “You want to make sure you are comparing and utilizing data from the past,” he explained. “What worked previously? What kind of calls to action did you see the most success with? You really want to pull any of that data that you have to help inform the strategy and the direction that you're going to take when you're building out direct mail with ROI in mind.”
He further cautioned that, while the basic ROI formula—net profit divided by investment cost—seems simple, the real challenge lies in accounting for all campaign inputs, from creative and postage to list acquisition and omnichannel integration. He encouraged marketers to define clear campaign objectives, whether focused on acquisition, reactivation, cross-sell, or retention, noting that “ROI can look a little bit different depending on the objective of the particular campaign.”
The Key to Accurate Measurement
Haugan took the discussion deeper, explaining that attribution models are at the heart of understanding direct mail’s true impact. “Attribution can make or break your understanding of your direct mail performance,” she told the group, “and it's critical to assign the value to the right touchpoint.” She described several models—including matchback, holdout, and multitouch—and recommended combining them for a more nuanced view: “A strong approach, honestly, would combine a combination of these,” she said. “So, you're using matchback for directional data, holdout for incrementality, and multitouch to understand the multichannel context.”
To support robust attribution, Haugan further suggested also using some practical tactics, such as personalized URLs, QR codes, unique promo codes, dedicated call tracking numbers, and CRM tagging. These tools, she explained, enable marketers to connect direct mail touches to actual outcomes, even in complex, multichannel journeys.
Customer Value and Long-Term Impact
Alexander emphasized that a true understanding of ROI requires looking past immediate revenue. “You should look to incorporate conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, and lifetime value of that customer,” he noted. “Each is going to play a critical role in painting a complete and accurate picture of direct mail ROI, especially when you're justifying long-term investments comparing direct mail to any other channel that you're using.”
The importance of every campaign beginning with clear performance benchmarks and KPIs was also discussed. “When standing up a campaign,” said Haugan, “it's critical that you set performance goals and KPIs for a few reasons. One, it justifies budget based on educated guesses and/or past performance. Two, you benchmark to measure campaign performance against something to determine if a campaign was successful or not. And then, three, it provides clarity for tactics and primary objectives that will be deployed and or measured.”
She encouraged marketers to work backward from revenue goals, consider factors such as audience type and campaign format, and continuously evaluate results. “Evaluate early and evaluate often,” she advised. “The goal should be to keep what is working as your baseline; continue to optimize through continuous testing of format types, messaging, segmentation of the audience and the cadence; and sunset what isn't efficient or effective.”
“Show that you have a plan for measuring performance,” concluded Haugan, “including what attribution model you will use, what the leading indicators will be, key milestones, and the duration you'll measure the campaign.”
By following these expert strategies, marketers can confidently measure, defend, and optimize their direct mail investments—ensuring this venerable channel remains a vital part of the modern marketing mix.
Overcoming Common Challenges
In the Q&A session at the end of the event, the participants , where the speakers addressed practical concerns:
- On justifying direct mail’s higher cost: “You must prove that direct mail justifies cost using ROI calculations, that's going to be the best way to do that,” said Alexander. “Leadership wants results, and the cost associated with that just have to be proven.”
- On tracking calls from direct mail: Both experts recommended using unique codes or phone numbers tied to each campaign or segment, allowing for precise attribution.
- On personalization versus broad reach: “If you're trying to build product awareness or brand, then you want to send to the masses and have less personalization, explained Alexander. “But if you're trying to do lifecycle or retention marketing, or just trying to get a meeting, then you want to focus in on hyper personalization and not volume.”
