PURL Marketing

PURL Marketing
The do-it-yourself guide to
Personalized URL Marketing.
by Purlem
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“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the
most important sound in any language.”
- Dale Carnegie
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A note on licensing …
This book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative
Works license. That means that you’re free to make copies of this and circulate it to whomever
you want (please do!), but please provide a link to the eBook (http://www.purlem.com), and
please don’t change the book or try to make money from it. If you get something out of this book
then please pass it on to a friend or colleague.
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Index
About the Author
Forward
What is a Personalized URL?
A Little Secret…
Who should read this book
What this book is not.
How much are PURLs going to cost me?
Choosing the right software
Elements of a Successful PURL Campaign
The List
The Offer
The Creative
Creating a PURL Campaign
Options for creating your PURL Campaign
Generating PURLs for each person in your list.
Designing the Landing Page
Personalizing the Landing Page
Adding a Questionnaire or Surveys
Automated Email Responses
Follow Up
Tracking Results
Selling PURLs
The Mobile Factor
Personalized QR Codes
Variable Images
Next Steps
Direct Mail - Using a Professional Printer
Direct Mail - Printing Yourself
Email Marketing - Adding PURLs to your Email Marketing Campaign
Example Campaign
The Campaign
Implementation
Closing the Loop
Purlem Quick Start Guide
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About the Author
Martin Thomas founded Purlem in 2009. Since the company’s inception Martin has seen
hundreds of PURL campaigns. Some have been wildly successful, while some have fallen flat,
without a response.
From these experiences, Martin has been able to identify the trends that successful PURL
campaigns have in common; as well as the recurring faults that frequently plague those
campaigns that are ineffective.
This book is a compilation these experiences. Everything has been boiled down into easy-tofollow, actionable steps that anyone can take to create a massively successful PURL campaign.
The ultimate power of a compelling PURL campaign is hard to put into words, so it’s highly
suggested that you follow the steps in this book and consider implementing them.
Martin and the rest of the Purlem team wish you the very best of luck. To what works…
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Forward
The days of mass marketing are coming to an end at breakneck speed. Today, successful
marketers have to develop highly targeted and personalized content to get results. These
earnest business people are meticulously tracking their efforts to identify what works and what
doesn’t.
With this in mind, they’re finding that Personalized URLs are a great tool to execute campaigns
that are efficient, measurable and profitable.
What is a Personalized URL?
Before we indulge in the specifics, it is worth addressing exactly what a Personalized URL
is. A Personalized URL (or PURL) is a unique website address which is personalized to each
recipient of a direct mail or email marketing campaign. Put simply, A PURL literally contains the
recipient’s name in the URL itself.
PURL Examples
MikeJones.domain.com ← Mike’s PURL
SallyAnderson.domain.com ← Sally’s PURL
BillSmith.domain.com ← Bill’s PURL
Once you create PURLs for each of your prospects or customers, it is easy to use them in your
direct mail or email marketing campaigns. Instead of directing your recipients to a Generic URL
(domain.com), you can now send them to their Personalized URL (MikeJones.domain.com).
For example, when Mike goes to the Internet and types in his PURL, he will be taken to a web
page that is personalized and relevant to him. At the same time, Mike’s activity is tracked and
you are instantly notified of his visit.
PURL marketing is perfectly positioned to deliver the targeted message and tracking that is
required for today’s successful marketing campaigns.
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A Little Secret…
Here is a secret about PURL Marketing. It's something that the ‘other guys’ don't want you to
know - Something that will save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. Are you ready....?
PURL marketing is not complicated! The ‘other guys’ want you to believe that you cannot
execute your own successful PURL campaigns. They are brain-washing you into spending a
ridiculous amount of money for what is, in reality, a very simple technology.
In this book I'm going to show you how to quickly and easily execute a PURL marketing
campaign. With a little patience and understanding you, yes, YOU can create an enormously
successful PURL campaign. You don't need to spend thousands of hard-earned bucks to
do it!
This book is primarily about execution. We are not going to beat around the bush with case
studies and statistics. Instead we are going to help you work on actually getting things done!
Our goal is to help you create a fully functional PURL campaign in just a few hours. You will be
able to impress your boss, your clients and yourself. In short - you'll become a PURL master
before you know it!
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Who should read this book
This book was not written for tech geeks or marketing gurus. It was written for people
with average marketing knowledge, who want to make their efforts more effective through
personalization. It's your no BS, step-by-step guide to creating a successful Personalized URL
(PURL) marketing campaign that will generate new business, engage existing clients and open
the door to a unique and cutting-edge approach to marketing your product or service.
What this book is not.
his book was not created to recite the reasons for using PURLs. We have all seen the case
studies, statistics and benefits of them. In fact, most people will agree that the reasons for using
PURLS have already been beaten into the heads of most, to an exhaustive level. Therefore,
there is no need to keep pointing out that they increase response rates, drive conversions, and
allow you to closely track results.
If you’re looking for case studies or research on PURLs, I can suggest Purlem's Delicious
bookmark page - delicious.com/purlem, or simply do a Google search for "Personalized URLs”.
How much are PURLs going to cost me?
Traditionally, PURLS have not been an option for smaller companies due to their expense.
However, the recent rise of web-based software has substantially driven down the costs.
There are many factors that can affect the cost of any marketing strategy. This book will focus
solely on the costs associated with the creation of a PURL campaign, which includes:
● Creating the PURLs
● Designing the Landing Page
● Pulling in personalized data into the Landing Page
● Adding a questionnaire or survey to the Landing Page
● Creating email alerts for the sales team
● Creating response emails to be sent to the visitor
● Tracking and reporting the data
Choosing the right software
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The software that you choose to create your PURL campaign will directly affect a myriad of
other costs. The below table gives an honest and factual overview of a number of different
services. Sadly, many of the ‘other guys’ hide their prices, so I will only be able to give an
approximation based on research.
Licensing Fee
Monthly Fee
Per PURL
Purlem1
$0
$129
100,000 included
Mindfire2
$9,500
$166
2 cents3
EasyPurl4
$2,500
$295
4-12 cents
interlinkOne5
$0
$2,500
2-12 cents6
Dukky7
$0
$999
2-6 cents
OnDialog8
$0
$198
100,000 included
Each of the above companies offers slightly different features. Therefore, only you will know
how they fit into the workings and strategies of your own business.
Other costs you should be aware of
Other than the software, a domain name and hosting account will likely be required. Domain
name’s typically run at around $10/year and basic hosting accounts start at just $5/month.
Many of the above PURL providers include landing page templates within their pricing.
However, you should expect some extra expense if a custom landing page design is required.
It is difficult to guess what other services charge, but here at Purlem a custom landing page
design will cost around $1000.
Many of the above PURL providers provided landing page templates that are included with
their pricing. However, if you have a specific design in mind, there could be time and costs
associated with creating the Landing Page. I can’t speak for the other guys, but at Purlem a
good ball-park for the design of a custom Landing Page is $1,000.
Elements of a Successful PURL Campaign
There is more to a successful PURL campaign than simply creating a Personalized Landing
1
2
http://purlem.com/packages
http://www.printweek.com/news/800691/MindFire-LookWhosClicking
3
http://www.printweek.com/Digital/article/1119897/printers-bridging-gap-cross-media/
http://easypurl.info/?p=179
5 http://www.seyboldpublications.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables/TSR0912.pdf
6 It appears that interlinkeOne does charge per PURL. This is an assumption based on Industry
standards.
4
7
8
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/207184
http://www.seyboldpublications.com/v/vspfiles/downloadables/TSR0912.pdf
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Page. In fact, that is the easy part. Before we will jump into actually creating a PURL Campaign,
we first need to lay a solid foundation to build our campaign on.
There are three crucial of every successful marketing campaign:
1. The List
2. The Offer
3. The Creative
You may be surprised that I did not include the software used to create PURL campaigns, the
format of the PURL or even the domain name used in the PURL. That is because a PURL is
only a tactic used to boost the results of a campaign.
It is vital to understand this. PURLS are not magic wands, and placing one on top of a poorly
executed campaign will not fix any underlying problems. The campaign will still fail.
The list, the offer and the creative are three crucial elements of every successful marketing
campaign. Placing a PURL on top will take the campaign to the next level and produce
astonishing results.
Therefore, it is important that we take a deeper look at each of these 3 elements and the
influence that adding a PURL will bring.
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The List
The basic requirement of a successful marketing strategy is having a deep knowledge
of the firm's customers - Patricia Source "Personalization Data Driven Print and Internet
Communications"
Your marketing list (or database of prospects/customers) is the single-most important part of
a successful PURL campaign. From experience, this list is the only thing that can bring in the
crazy 30-40% response rates everyone craves.
Before you can create a PURL campaign, you will require a list of prospects or customers. A list
can be gathered in one of two ways:
1. Create it yourself
2. Buy it or rent it
To create a list yourself, prospects or customers will need to opt in to wanting to learn more
about your product or service. This is known as "Permission Marketing”, and is the preferred
approach to list creation.
These lists are typically created in-house and take months or even years to gather. Although
time consuming, the effort will be directly correlated to the success of your PURL Campaign. If
you want huge response rates, you have to invest time into creating a solid list.
Here are some ideas you can use:
●
Collect the contact information of customers at the time of purchase.
●
Create a contest that entices customers to enter their information for a chance to win.
●
Request feedback from customers and invite them to leave their contact information.
●
Give your online visitors something of value in exchange for their contact information.
●
Collect contact information from trade show attendees.
●
User Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to encourage visitors to opt-in to receiving
mailings.
●
Attend industry related meet-ups and network the old-fashioned way.
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Purchasing a List
If you don't have time to create an in-house mailing list, options exist to purchase or rent one.
Although purchased lists are unlikely to pull in huge response rates, they can still result in a
successful campaign.
You can identify your target market by taking what you already know about existing customers.
Since not much is known about a prospect, simple forms of personalization are required. At
the most basic level, the geographic location of a prospect can be used. Of course, the more
targeted your mailing list, the more personalized it can be – yielding better results.
When using a purchased or rented list, your goal should simply be getting prospects to show
their interest in your product or service. Directly asking for a sale is a big mistake. Instead, you
need to take the time to get to know each other before making such a bold request.
A little secret to increase response rates from purchased lists
The first time you market to a purchased lists your response rates will likely be lower than you
expect. However, don’t give up. This is only the first step in gathering information. The trick
is to leverage the data gathered from this first campaign and create more sophisticated and
personalized future offers.
When using PURLs you have the ability to see exactly who responds to your message. These
results will generate a more targeted list of prospects that have shown an interest in your
product or service.
Depending on how you gather information, some may have told you more about themselves
or opted in to receiving more information. This is powerful! Take this targeted list and use it for
future campaigns. This approach will transform your purchased data into a valuable list of warm
prospects.
TIP: Purchasing a List
I have used and recommend Salesgenie.com to many people wanting to purchase a list. They
make it easy to target your list by demographic, geography and more. Data quality has been
good and prices are competitive. (NOTE: I am not affiliated with Salesgenie in any way)
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The Offer
The offer is the second most important part of any PURL campaign. With the increasing
popularity of sites like Groupon and Living Social, society has become receptive to deals often requiring them on a daily basis. However, you need to pay attention to three things when
crafting your campaign:
1. The message must be clear and simple.
2. There must be a compelling reason to respond.
3. The right buzzwords must be used
Let’s expand on these three points.
A clear and simple message
It is easy to create a clear and simple message. Keep it short and sweet, using no more than
twenty words.
Compelling reason to respond
This requires a little more thought. Try brainstorming offers that are both attention grabbing and
relevant to your audience. Perhaps add urgency to the offer with an expiration date, purchase
limit, quantity limit or a ‘last chance’ notice.
You want to make it a no-brainer for the recipient to take action. However, do not risk asking
for too much information or the campaign may fail. Your offer should also be relevant to your
product/service.
The right buzzwords
Take advantage of buzzwords in your offer. The word “Free” has the potential to dramatically
increase response rates, if used correctly. Most people would prefer a free item over one
offered at a reduced price. Other powerful buzzwords are steal, bargain, or a first chance at
something.
TIP: Test the Emotion of Your Offer
The advanced Marketing Institute has a slick little tool that will analyze your headline for
emotional value. You can check it out here: http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/
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The Creative
What do you think brings in higher response rates:
●
HTML email vs. Plain-Text email?
●
A red button vs. a green button?
●
A full-color dimensional mailer vs. a black and white postcard?
The answer - it depends. The only way to find out which creative works best for each audience
is through testing. Sorry, I wish I had a better answer for you. There is no science to creating
an engaging creative. Therefore, we are not going to get into discussion about the best colors,
fonts, dimensions or layouts. It is important you carry out the testing yourself, to identify what
your market responds to.
Don’t be afraid to take a look at other successful websites and landing pages for inspiration. Do
a Google search on “Landing Page Designs” or “Postcard Designs” and see what is already out
there. Pay attention to details such as the buttons used, colors, gradients, images, and layouts.
Despite the seemingly endless creative directions available, there are three universal properties
in which every design can be judged - Coherence, Aesthetics, and Focal Point.
TIP: Use genuine photos
Try to stay away from stock photography, and please… don't use clipart! If possible, use
images of people it helps to add a "human" element to a page.
Coherence
Coherency is how the design of every campaign component fit together. It is crucial in
establishing visitor confidence. If your Landing Page design is different from that of your direct
mail or email template, there will be a disconnect in the visitors’ mind. Avoid disconnects, as
visitors may think that they are in the wrong place or even lose confidence in your brand.
Aesthetics
You don’t have to go overboard when creating an aesthetically pleasing design, but do make
sure that all the elements of a page are where they should be. Check for unexpected line
breaks, jumbled items or broken images. It is also advised that you test the page in different
web browsers for consistency. Like a misspelled word - the professionalism instantly vanishes
and visitors click the Back button.
Focal Point
The focal point is the first thing users notice when visiting a web page. Without reading, the
visitor should be able to know the exact action requested of them. Creating a focal point can
be simple - using big bold colors or lines to draw the eye to a particular place. However, avoid
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tacky little animated images. In essence, you don’t want your visitors to have to think about
what action they should perform next.
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Creating a PURL Campaign
Options for creating your PURL Campaign
Firstly, decide which software you are going to use. We have already covered some of the
different options, so it is up to you to do the research and determine which application best
matches your needs.
Action Steps
For the remainder of this book I will provide you with specific action steps to take when creating
your campaign. These will be highlighted a grey box for easy identification. All actions steps are
specific to using Purlem's platform. Here is one to get you started.
ACTION STEP: Creating your first campaign
Follow these steps to create an instant PURL campaign using a domain name provided by
Purlem:
1. Create a Purlem account: http://purlem.com/packages
2. Sign into your account
3. Give your campaign a name in the text area provided
4. Pat yourself on your back - your first PURL campaign is created.
TIP: Choosing a Campaign Domain
With Purlem you can also use your own domain name for a campaign. Try to use a
memorable name that your web audience can remember. Short names are better. A name
that is associated with the campaign, rather than your company, is often a good idea.
Do not use:
http://mygreatofferyouneedtocheckout.com
Instead, use a shorter domain such as:
http://yourgreatoffer.com
You can use a service like GoDaddy.com to explore and purchase domain names.
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Generating PURLs for each person in your list.
Now that you have created a campaign, you need to create a PURL for each of your contacts.
If you don’t have a list of contacts, see “The List” in the previous section of this book.
Once you have your list of prospects or customers, the goal is to create a Personalized URL for
each:
Mike Jones = mysite.com/Mike.Jones
Sally Anderson = mysite.com/Sally.Anderson
Tim Reynolds - mysite.com/Tim.Reynolds
When each person types their PURL into their browser, they will be greeted with a landing page
that is personalized and relevant to just them.
The actual steps involved with creating PURLs will vary depending on the software you are
using. Generally speaking, you will need to place your list into a spreadsheet (using a program
like Microsoft’s Excel) and upload that spreadsheet into your PURL software.
ACTION STEP: Uploading Multiple PURLs into Purlem
1. Click on the "Contacts" tab
2. Select "Upload Contacts"
3. Upload your mailing list
4. Match Columns with Fields as prompted
After your list is uploaded into Purlem, PURLs for each contact will be created automatically.
You can view each contact's PURL by clicking the link next to their name.
TIP: Use Sub-Domain PURLs to Increase Response
Sub-domain PURLs place the recipients’ name before the URL (in the sub-domain).
For example, instead of using mysite.com/Mike.Jones you would use
MikeJones.mysite.com. You can see that Mike’s name now comes before the domain.
Studies have generally concluded that campaigns using sub-domain PURLs sometimes
receive a higher response rate.
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Designing the Landing Page
As with the offline world, first impressions also count online. In terms of online business, a
landing page is often the arena where first impressions are formed.
The design of your Landing Page is vital to its success. In fact, the design is more important
than the words you choose or even offer you make to your visitors. If you get the design wrong,
visitors won't even bother to read the page and find out what you are all about.
Use the tips below to create a Landing Page design that encourages your visitors to stick
around and take action:
●
Keep an engaging and consistent design theme. The main headline, offer and overall
look should match the promotional piece that drove them to the Landing Page in the first
place.
●
Make the page aesthetically pleasant – with no unusual line breaks or broken images.
●
Simple is always better.
●
Personalize the page to each visitor by using their name and other relevant information.
●
Make sure the offer stands out and sits above the fold. Whether it is to take a survey, fill
out a contest entry, download a white paper, schedule a free consultation, etc.
●
Limit the number of pages. If you have more than one page, your microsite should be no
more than five pages in total.
●
Remove all navigation and links that can take the visitors away from the offer at stake.
●
Only ask for information you need and will use. - The less information you ask from the
visitor, the better.
●
Remove anything that is not necessary. Only show parts of the site that encourage the
visitor to take action.
TIP: The Five Second Test
The visitor should know exactly what you are offering within five seconds of landing on your
site. You can test this yourself. Have somebody, preferably in your industry, take a look at
your Landing Page for 5 seconds then close their browser. Ask them what the website was all
about. If they can't tell you, your message is not clear enough. Try to portray your message
in fewer than 7 words. Make those words big and bold so they are the first thing people see
when they visit the site. You want to make the point of your site as obvious as possible.
There's also a great tool to assist with your five second test: http://fivesecondtest.com/
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ACTION STEP: Designing your Landing Page
The Purlem Template Editor allows you to choose from a myriad of design layouts, change
the colors and upload images. You can even create a survey/questionnaire and add
personalized content directly through the editor. Advanced users wanting full control of the
design can create their own templates, or work directly with the HTML source code to modify
the design of the Landing Page.
Using the Template Editor
1. Select and download a design template from http://purlem.com/templates.
2. Create a new campaign with the chosen design template.
3. Select the ‘Landing Page’ tab to enter the editor.
4. From there you can change the colors, upload images and create your survey/
questionnaire.
5. When done, click the ‘Save’ button and your changes will be published to the live
Landing Page
Need a custom design but don't know HTML?
If you don't know HTML, then you might consider using the available Wordpress or Joomla
plugins. By using these plugins you can take advantage of the design themes that are
available on these platforms.
If you need a custom design, you can hire a freelance designer on sites like:
● http://crowdspring.com
● http://99designs.com
● http://elance.com
Alternatively, you can hire Purlem to handle the design for you. Contact design@purlem.com
for more information on this service.
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Personalizing the Landing Page
When your Landing Page design is complete, what is the one word you can use that will get
visitors to take notice? Their name!
Examples:
Jim, we are so glad you stopped by!
Sally, check out this information we gathered for you…
Tom, would you like to win a laptop?
You get the idea. A name increases affinity, sky-rockets engagement and will directly improve
your campaign's overall results.
You already know a lot about your visitors thanks to the hard work you put into generating your
mailing list. Now it’s time to put this information to good use in the Landing Page. The more you
know about your prospects, the more relevant your Landing Page can be and thus, the higher
the potential conversion rate.
Keep in mind that there is a fine line between being relevant and being creepy! Just because
you know something about your visitor doesn't mean you need to share it. In every case, use
your best judgement.
ACTION STEP: Adding Variable Content
1. Select the ‘Landing Page’ tab.
2. Click in the text editor where you would like the variable content to appear.
3. Select the desired content from the ‘Gear’ drop-down.
4. Select the ‘Save’ button to save your changes.
Tip: Use Handwritten Fonts
A nice attention-grabbing technique is to use a handwritten font on the Landing Page for the
visitor's name. Google Fonts is a good place to start.
Learn More: http://www.google.com/webfonts
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Personalize the Offer
For extra credit you should consider personalizing your offer to each visitor. One approach to
this is to segment visitors into groups and match the unique offers to each group. This is a great
way to make your offer even more compelling and ratchet up those conversions a little more.
ACTION STEP: To personalize the offer with Microsoft Excel, open your contact spreadsheet.
Create a new column called ‘Offer’. Create rules using Excel's nested IF statements. For
example, paste the code below into each row under the "Offer" column.
=IF(C2="Chicago","Free dinner at the Chicago Chop
House ",IF(C2="Phoenix","Free dinner at Donovan's
Steakhouse",IF(C2="Austin","Free dinner at Perry's Steakhouse &
Grill","")))
This code will look at column ‘C’ to see if the value equals Chicago, Austin, or Phoenix. If the
value matches, then it will print the appropriate value as seen in the example below.
Offer
First Name
Last Name
City
Free dinner at Perry's
Steakhouse & Grill
Free dinner
at Donovan's
Steakhouse
Free dinner at Perry's
Steakhouse & Grill
Free dinner
at Donovan's
Steakhouse
Free dinner at the
Chicago Chop House
Jane
Anderson
Phoenix
White
Austin
Jones
Phoenix
Snyder
Chicago
Smith
Chicago
Alex
Billy
Sally
Joe
You can now take this spreadsheet, upload it into your PURL platform and dynamically
display the appropriate offer for each visitor.
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Adding a Questionnaire or Surveys
Questionnaires and surveys are used to collect information from your visitors. A simple
questionnaire can collect first names and email addresses, whereas a multi-page survey can go
into more depth. Depending on your goals, both can be good options for your PURL campaign.
Below are some things to keep in mind when creating your questionnaire or survey for use on
your PURL Landing Page:
●
Remove all unnecessary fields - The more information you request from the visitor, the
more intimidating the form becomes. If you ask too much of your visitors, you risk losing
them.
●
If you absolutely need to ask more than 5 questions, spread the questions across
multiple pages of your PURL microsite.
●
Make the form stand out from the rest of the page - You want it to be one of the first
things that the visitor sees. Use directional cues to draw the eye and make sure there is
plenty of white space around the form. Using a bold contrast is also a good tactic.
●
Use oversized buttons - Big, shiny buttons that stand out will be obvious to your visitors.
●
Remind the person what's in it for them - The benefits and rewards of filling out the form
should be clearly stated.
●
Pre-populate the form. PURLs allow you to pre-populate the form fields with information
you already know about the visitor. This makes it easier for them to complete the form
and increased the likelihood that they will take action.
Creating the Form
1. In the Template Editor, select the ‘Form’ tab.
2. Add fields from the options on the left.
3. Click on the field to adjust settings.
4. Click and drag the field to re-order.
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Use Submission Rules
Submission Rules allow you to redirect your visitors to specific pages based on how they
answer questions.
For example – if your Landing Page asks your visitors what their favorite Football team is, you
could send everybody that answers "Bears" to a special Bears Fan Page! Everybody else will
be sent to the default submission page.
To use Submission Rules
1. Select ‘Edit’ in the Form box.
2. Under Submission Rules, use the ‘Advanced Rules’ dialog to define how you would
like to handle a redirect, based on the answer to a specific question.
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Automated Email Responses
Automated email responses are your 24/7 marketing and sales team. These emails are a very
powerful way to provide instant and relevant follow up information to your visitors. They are
triggered to automatically send, based on PURL Landing Page activity.
Automated Email Responses are commonly used to:
●
Notify that information has been received successfully.
●
Provide relevant information based on microsite answers.
●
Send a coupon.
●
Provide a link to download file.
●
Allow forwarding to a friend.
In fact, response emails can be as personalized as your Landing Page. Take advantage of
variable text, images and rules to provide the recipient with information that is relevant to them.
A word of caution - only use automated email responses when it is warranted. If the response
email is not of any value to your visitor, or if it could be perceived as spam and hurt your
reputation – forget it. It is a mistake to send a response email just because the feature is
available. If it doesn't provide any value to your visitor, don't send it.
Creating Automated Email Responses
1. Under the ‘Settings’ tab, select ‘Create’ in the Response Email box.
2. Compose the Response Email.
3. Select ‘Save Email’.
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Follow Up
A study conducted by InsideSales.com indicates that you are then times more likely to get a
hold of a prospect over the phone if you contact them within the first hour of receiving the lead Ten times, that’s amazing!
With PURLs you can be instantly notified when a person has visited their personalized Landing
Page. This notification can be emailed to the appropriate sales person for immediate follow up
on the lead, while it's still hot.
You can use email alerts to:
●
Provide warm leads to sales, call centers and marketing teams.
●
Generate immediate fulfillment requests for ecommerce items.
●
Instantly send out marketing collaterals and other materials.
Creating Alerts
1. Under the ‘Settings’ tab, find the ‘Alerts’ section.
2. Enter the email that you would like to receive alerts.
3. Select the page that you would like to trigger the alert.
4. Create the Alert.
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Tracking Results
It is important to track your campaign's results. PURLs provide an efficient, immediate and
accurate way of measuring not just responses, but overall performance of each campaign.
With PURLs you have access to real-time tracking of who visited their PURL, when they
responded, what they viewed and what they have shown an interest in.
Information collected from the PURL Landing Page is stored in a central database. This data
helps the marketer make future campaigns even more relevant to each user. The more you
know about your visitors, the more likely they are to act.
The process of continuously learning more about your visitors from one campaign to the next
is known as the Feedback Loop. By receiving immediate feedback on your campaign, you can
tailor future campaigns to be even more relevant and effective.
A very practical application of the feedback loop is to use campaign results to partition your
mailing list. For example, if you send out 1,000 postcards (with PURLs) and 50 people visit the
PURL, you know that these 50 are somewhat intrigued by your product or service.
You may want to move these 50 contacts into a separate list, call it the ‘A’ list. You can then
market to them a little harder and provide even more relevant content, based on their past visit.
All of this is possible with PURLs and should be leveraged in your campaigns.
Create a New Campaign for the A List
1. Create a New Purlem Campaign.
2. Visit the ‘Contacts’ tab from the previous campaign.
3. From the ‘Showing’ drop down, select the ‘Previously visited’ page. This will show all
visitors who visited the selected page.
4. You can select all contacts and transfer them to your new campaign. This campaign
should now provide even more relevant information, gathered on these visitors from
past campaigns.
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Selling PURLs
If you are trying to convince your clients to try using PURLs, it is vital to demonstrate that
personalization will deliver more profits over time when compared to a larger quantity of massproduced offers.
PURLs, however, might not be right for every client. It is important to have a discussion with
each to completely understand the objectives of any given campaign. You’ll also want to
understand exactly how the PURLs will be used to hit the objectives in a cost-effective way.
The next logical step is to demonstrate the ROI of integrating PURLs into a campaign. The
below chart is used for this purpose and compares the ROI of a Standard campaign verses one
utilizing PURLs.
As you can see, PURLs will need at least a 3% response rate to achieve a greater ROI when
compared with a static campaign.
The campaign used for the above chart had a mailing list of 10,000 prospects, a standard
response rate of 2% and a conversion goal value of $60. The cost of completing the standard
campaign was $5000, compared with $7000 for the PURL campaign.
If PURLs fit into the overall campaign strategy and the ROI makes financial sense, PURLs will
sell themselves.
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To create a chart like this for your campaign visit:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?
key=0AtTdGzRGb02DdEZMbFRYM015TWtQVVNFeHVaTnZxMFE
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The Mobile Factor
Visiting a PURL on a mobile phone delivers an entirely different experience.
Mobile phone users are more likely to be looking to accomplish something specific and then
leave quickly. As the expert PURL marketer, it is important for you to give them exactly what
they want. This must be done quickly and in a format that is easily read on any mobile device.
Sound complicated? It isn’t. All you have to do is simplify the mobile version of your Landing
Page.
Your mobile-friendly Landing Page should include and ONLY include:
● Your logo or other graphic element that ties the look of the offline piece to their mobile
page.
●
One or two sentences describing what you would like the visitor to do, as well as a
description of the offer.
●
A form with no more than 3 fields to fill out.
●
A link to the full HTML version.
●
That's it. Don't include anything else! Seriously...
TIP: Use Click to Call
Most smartphones have a handy ‘click to call’ feature which automatically converts phone
numbers into speed dial links. Use the format below to take advantage of this nice little
feature.
<a href="tel:+1800555933">1800555933</a>
Creating a Mobile Friendly Landing Page
If you are using a Purlem Design Template, Mobile-Friendly versions are built right in! You
don’t have to do a thing.
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Personalized QR Codes
A QR Code is square barcode that can be scanned by a smart phone's camera. You can find
them everywhere these days – on the side of drink cans, on sales flyers and even in real estate
agent windows.
When the QR Code is scanned, users are taken directly to their PURL Landing Page. The
QR Code bypasses the need for the user to actually type in the PURL itself. QR codes are
increasingly generating more buzz, which can help to increase your campaign response rates.
You can use Personalized QR Codes on your printed collateral or in your email marketing
campaigns. It can add a certain level of excitement to your campaign with a "what's behind door
number one" mentality.
It might sound crazy to have a QR Code in an email, but if your recipients are going to be
printing out the email to save for later (like with a coupon or directions), the QR Code could be
very useful to them.
So, do the QR Codes actually increase response rates? That’s a tough call.
You need to determine if QR Codes are a good fit for your business as well as your audience.
If you determine that it could potentially be a good fit, the only way to find out is to test it. The
good news is that if you’re already using PURLs, it is not that big of a stretch to introduce
Personailzed QR Codes into the campaign as well.
TIP: QR Codes should direct to Mobile-Friendly Landing Pages
Since QR Codes will always be scanned from a mobile device, direct the QR Codes scanned
to a landing page that is optimized for these devices.
Creating Personalized QR Codes
You have two options when using Purlem to create Personalized QR Codes:
1. Have your Printer create the QR Codes from a link you provide.
2. Download the QR Codes from Purlem.
Option #1: Have your Printer create the QR Codes from a link you provide
Many printers have the capability to create Personalized QR Codes as each piece is printing.
With exporting PURLS with Purlem there is a column named ‘QR Code URL’ - This is the
column your printer will use to dynamically create the QR Codes.
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Option #2: Download the QR Codes from Purlem
For this option you'll download the actual QR Code images and export the PURL spreadsheet
directly from Purlem's dashboard.
● The PURLs will be in a spreadsheet (csv) format.
● The QR Codes will be delivered as individual images in a zipped file.
There is a column in the PURL spreadsheet named ‘QR Code’. This column is correlated
directly with the name of the QR Code images you downloaded in the zipped file.
If you are using a printer, you simply have to send them both files. They will know what to do
with each.
If you are using Microsoft Word, the software has a nifty feature called ‘IncludePicture’ which
allows you to pull in the correct image (in this case QR Code) for each contact.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/field-codes-includepicture-fieldHP005186164.aspx
Email marketing is also a great to bring in the correct QR Code for each recipient. To do so,
you only need to upload the QR Code column (from the PURL download) as a custom field
to your email marketing provider. Then, in the HTML section of your email, you can pull in the
image with something like:
<img src="http://www.yourwebsite.com/images/[qrcodeimage.jpg]">
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Variable Images
Variable images allow you to display different images depending on who is visiting the
landing page. They are a great way to increase the engagement and novelty your visitors will
experience.
Imagine visiting a Landing Page for an auto dealership that displayed an image of the exact car
you previously purchased from them. Would this spark your interests a little?
It is important to understand the effect that Variable Images have on campaign conversion
rates.
Does the extra work pay off?
Will it actually increase conversion rates?
I wish I had a simple answer for you. They work for some but not for everyone. As with
everything, testing will help you understand how it works for your particular application.
Using Variable Images
1. From within any contact's profile page, select ‘View’ in the ‘Variable Images’ box.
2. Select the ‘New Image Group’ button and give the group a name. In our case, we are
going to upload images of dogs, so we will name it... "Dog."
3. Add Image(s) to the group. Click Upload and browse to the image file on your
computer. You can select multiple images for upload.
4. Continue adding images until all variable images are uploaded. In our case we have
three images. Click the image that you would like associated with this contact.
5. Select the Image you want to assign to this contact and return to the contact's profile
page.
6. You can see that the selected image is now associated with this contact. You'll need
to repeat this step for everyone else. You can also assign variable images when you
upload multiple contacts.
7. From the ‘Insert’ dropdown, select the Image Group you just created. You will see
that the image code has been placed into the text area. This code will call in the
appropriate image for each visitor.
a. Alternatively, you can select the Variable Image from the Gear dropdown. In
this case, the image will display with the variable image placeholder, as seen
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below.
8. Now Preview the Landing Page and see the Variable Image appear. Remember, the
landing page will only show the variable image if you associated one with the contact
in Step 5.
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Next Steps
Direct Mail - Using a Professional Printer
Most modern printers have the capability to print PURLs. The process of printing a unique
PURL on each piece is referred to as Variable Data Printing (VDP). You will need to send the
printer the spreadsheet that you export out of your PURL application. This spreadsheet will
contain a column for each contact's PURL.
To export the PURL spreadsheet
1. Login to your Purlem dashboard.
2. Select the Contacts tab.
3. Select the Export PURLs link.
If you looking for a good resource to find a Variable Data printer check out http://printvdp.com
Direct Mail - Printing Yourself
You can also print the PURLs yourself without having to use a professional printer. We will walk
through printing PURLs using both Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop. However, you can
use any application that has a “Data Merge” feature.
Microsoft Word
With Microsoft Word's Data Merge feature you can easily add PURLs to your direct mail letters.
The following directions may differ slightly depending on the version of Word that you are using.
Adding PURLs to Microsoft Word Documents
1. Export the PURLs from your Purlem dashboard.
2. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
3. Open the ‘Data Merge Manager’ tool box (Tools > Data Merge Manager).
4. In the ‘Main Document’ drop down, select Create > Form Letters.
5. In the ‘Data Source’ drop down, select Get Data > Open Data Source. Select the
spreadsheet you downloaded in Step 1.
6. Select the Entire Workbook, and click ‘OK’.
7. The column titles in your mailing list are now visible in the ‘Merge Field’ drop down.
8. Drag the PURL from the ‘Merge Field’ drop down into your document.
9. To preview each letter, simply click on the ‘Preview’ drop down and click the arrows to
navigate through each mailing list recipient.
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Photoshop
To use Photoshop's Variable feature to add both PURLs and QR Codes to your promotional
pieces:
Adding PURLs to Photoshop Documents
1. Download PURLs and QR Codes from Purlem.
Login to your Purlem dashboard. Select Contacts > "Download PURLs", and Contacts
> "Download QR Codes"
a. Downloading PURLs will give you a spreadsheet file of all your contacts and
their PURL
b. Download QR Codes will provide you with a zip file containing the QR Code
image for each contact.
2. Add Spreadsheet and QR Codes into a New Folder
Create a new folder (name it anything you want). Then move the downloaded PURL
Spreadsheet and QR Codes into the new folder.
3. Remove Unnecessary Columns in the PURL Spreadsheet
In my case, I will be using the PURL, QRCode and FirstName as variable fields in my
promotional piece. So I want to delete all columns but these from my spreadsheet.
4. Add Layers to your Photoshop File for Each Column
Open your file in Photoshop. Create layers for each of the columns created in Step 3.
In my case I will create a new layer for PURL, QR Code, and First Name.
5. Add default text and/or images to each layer.
For each layer created in Step 4, add the default text or images that you will later set
to be variable.
6. Open the Variables Window in Photoshop
Images > Variable > Define
7. Define Each Layer
For each layer created in Step 4, Select either "Text Replacement" or "Pixel
Replacement" checkbox, and give them a name.
Important: Each layer's name needs to match the headers in the spreadsheet file
from Step 3.
8. Import the Spreadsheet file as a Data Set
a. Select Data Sets from the drop down on the top of the Variable Window.
b. Select Import...
c. Select File... and Browse the the PURL spreadsheet file saved from Step 3
d. Click OK
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9. Preview Changes
Select the Apply button and your layers will magically pull from the data in your
spreadsheet file. Select the the arrows next to the Data Set text box to preview
multiple versions.
10. Export Data Sets as Files
a. Select File > Export > Data Sets as Files...
b. Select the Location to save the files to.
c. Leave the rest of the options the same (unless you know better).
TIP: Make the PURL stand out.
Place it on the front and back of the postcard or promotional piece. This should be the call-toaction, so don’t hide it.
Email Marketing - Adding PURLs to your Email Marketing campaign
It’s easy to add PURLs to your email marketing campaigns. All you have to do is include the
PURL as a custom field in your favorite email marketing platform.
Nearly all email marketing platforms allow you to upload a spreadsheet of contacts. To add
the PURL column as a custom field, simply include a column called ‘PURL’ in the original
document. Now that your email platform knows each contact's PURLs, you can pull them into
the Landing Page, just as you would their first name.
Using Constant Contact to send PURL emails
1. Under the "Contacts" tab, select the "Export Contacts" link in the right column.
2. Use the link(s) provided to download your contacts.
If you open the downloaded file, you will see that the first column has the PURL for
each contact.
3. Login to your Constant Contact account and click on 'Add/Import Contacts'
4. Select an existing list to add the contacts to, or create a new list, and click 'Next.'
5. Choose 'Import my list from a file on my computer' and click 'Next'.
6. Browse to the file that you just downloaded from Purlem, and click 'Submit Data'.
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7. Under 'Please select a label for the "PURL" column, select 'Custom field 1.'
8. Once you have finished defining the other fields click 'Start Import.'
9. Once all of the contacts have been uploaded you will see the total number under 'My
Contacts.'
10. Return to the Constant Contact home screen and click on 'Create an Email.'
11. Follow the directions to create a new email. When you arrive at the screen where you
can modify the content, click on the edit icon for the section you want to edit.
12. Place the cursor in the edit area where you would like the PURL to appear.
Select 'Contact Custom Text 1' from the 'Insert Contact Details' dropdown in the right
column. Notice how 'Contacts Custom Text 1' is inserted into the email content.
13. When you're finished editing click the 'Save' button.
14. Finally click the 'Save and Continue' button and follow the directions to send out the
email.
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Example Campaign
Now that you have learned the process on a step-by-step basis, let’s take a look an entire
campaign.
Here is a fictitious company – My Puppy Pad – and their entire first PURLs campaign.
My Puppy Pad is a dog-sitting service in the Chicagoland area. They have a database of every
person that has recently moved into the neighborhood. Their prospect database includes the
fields as presented in the table below.
Customer #
Gender
First Name
Last Name
Address
101
M
Alex
Smith
123 Main St. Evanston, IL
102
F
Sally
Anderson
533 Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL
103
M
Mike
Jones
8422 New Ct, Orland Park, IL
For the last 7 years My Puppy Pad has been sending postcards to their new neighbors in
order to encourage visits. The postcard typically includes a promotion or coupon, sent to
approximately 500 customers on a bi-monthly basis. Today, about 0.5% of the postcard
recipients end up redeeming the coupon.
Mike, My Puppy Pad's marketing manager, isn't happy with the 0.5% response rate they are
currently getting.
Rising mail costs have also made executing campaigns harder to justify to the boss.
Mike would like to increase the response rates and decrease mailing costs. He does some
research and quickly discovers Personalized URLs. After reading how PURLs are a proven
way to increase response rates and track the results, Mike decides the benefits could easily be
demonstrated to his boss.
Even better, Mike can use PURLs to collect email addresses in exchange for their coupon or
offer. With these email addresses in hand, he can continue to market to his customers via email,
thus saving on printing costs.
With all of this in mind, Mike jumps into executing his PURL campaign...
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The Campaign
To begin with, My Puppy Pad's marketing department uploads their database of prospects into
Purlem. The PURLs are automatically created for each contact.
MyPuppyPad.com/Alex.Smith
MyPuppyPad.com/Sally.Anderson
MyPuppyPad.com/Tim.Johnson
etc…
Next, the graphic design team designs the postcard with programs such as Adobe InDesign,
Photoshop, or Illustrator. In our example below, the front of the postcard has two variable
fields: the customer's name and the PURL. Once the postcards are designed and contacts are
uploaded into the company’s PURL application, My Puppy Pad sends both the creative and the
database with PURLs to their printer. The printer will pull the variable data into the postcard as it
is being printed.
The last step is designing the Personalized Landing Page (PURL).
The design team at My Puppy Pad creates a Landing Page with a similar look and feel to the
postcard by using Purlem's Landing Page Editor. After picking a template, My Puppy Pad was
able to edit text, upload graphics and add survey questions (in this case we ask the visitor for
their email, phone number and dog's name).
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When the postcard recipient visits the Landing Page, the system knows exactly who the person
is and is able to greet them with personalized and relevant information.
The Landing Page is connected to the customer database and is generated on demand, as and
when the contact visits their Landing Page. When a visitor completes the survey questions, they
are taken to a thank you page where they can download the coupon or promotional offer.
Implementation
Once PURLs have been created, the postcards have been printed and the Landing Page
designed - their first campaign is ready to go live.
My Puppy Pad mails the postcards on the targeted date. Real-time results are then available
through Purlem's dashboard. My Puppy Pad can log onto the dashboard at any time to
determine how effective the Postcard mailing has been.
They can even see exactly who has responded and what they said. The figure below shows the
results from this campaign. Out of the 500 prospects that were sent a postcard, 12% opened
the PURL and 4% filled out the survey form.
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In addition, once each recipient responds to the survey form, an email is created and sent to the
My Puppy Pad sales team.
The email notifies the sales rep of who responded, which campaign they responded to and
displays the information they filled out. The sales rep is then able to take immediate action by
reaching out to the customer with the information they requested.
Closing the Loop
When the campaign is complete, Purlem's system can create a report of all of the response
activities for each person in the database. My Puppy Pad can use that information to update
their database with the latest information, based on customer responses. They can also use
this information in future campaigns to make them even more personalized and relevant.
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Purlem Quick Start Guide
So, you just want to get up and running quickly with a PURL Campaign?
Okay. Give me 5 minutes, and I'll give you a fully functional PURL campaign. Let's get
started…
1. Create a Purlem account
Visit http://purlem.com/packages and select the package that bests suits your needs.
2. Create a new instantPURL Campaign
With InstantPURL your campaign will be hosted on our domain. Alternatively you can
choose to use your domain.
3. Upload mailing list into Purlem
Take your list of people you want to create PURLs for and place them into a
spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel)
Upload that list into Purlem: Contacts tab > Upload Multiple Contacts
4. Export the PURLs
Contacts tab > Export PURLs
5. Send the PURLs to your Printer or upload into your Email Marketing platform.
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