Major UK advertisers are routinely including their Web site URL in all marketing campaigns to help generate traffic. Yet few have recognised the potential to use their site as a response channel, directing respondents towards specific areas or to carry out certain actions. Failure to integrate Web sites fully into the marketing programme in this way could be a wasted opportunity.
According to a new study commissioned by the Direct Mail Information Service, 77 per cent of the top UK advertisers always include their Web address in advertising, while a further 15 per cent often do so. But only 22 per cent always use the site as a call to action, with an additional 21 per cent often doing this. Just under one quarter (24 per cent) sometimes used their URL in their marketing campaigns, while 8 per cent have never done it.
This finding emerged from a major qualitative and quantitative research exercise which was carried out among 100 UK companies covering a wide range of sectors. Companies had an average advertising spend of £5.3 million and an average Web site expenditure of £915,000 (although this is skewed by the 8 per cent spending over £1 million).
Direct mail is the most commonly used medium to promote a Web site - 48 per cent of companies have included their URL in a mail shot and 32 per cent did so in their last campaign. Direct mailings are also the most likely to include the Web site as a response mechanism. This is commonly done by 28 per cent and 27 per cent used it this way in their last campaign.
All of the advertisers surveyed are committed users of direct mail. Even so, the level of traffic generation through direct mail is 2.5 times higher than for any other media. National press, new media and PR are commonly used by 19 per cent to promote their URL, outdoor by 16 per cent, magazines by 14 per cent and national TV by 13 per cent.
Where the Web site is acting as a response mechanism, direct mail is commonly used by nearly twice as many companies as are using national press (15 per cent), regional press (12 per cent), magazines or national TV (10 per cent). In the last campaign carried out, only national press was used by more than 10 per cent of companies to generate specific response to a Web site.
The results suggest that major advertisers are still using their Web sites as an extension of their advertising campaigns, rather than as genuine direct marketing tools. Greater integration of Web sites with marketing objectives could eventually lead to a change in this balance as companies use their digital assets to drive sales and service.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Ms Jo Howard-Brown
Telephone: 020 7494 0483
Email: jo@dmis.co.uk
Website: www.dmis.co.uk
