A link was offered to download a "white paper" demonstrating that print has fabulous ROI.
The "good" from the PostPilot report?
- S-Tier Analysis: Conducted via mail/holdout groups. Yeah, they went there. Kudos!
- They Didn't Lie: Their results "make sense". They aligned with reality.
The "not so good" that made me #sigh?
- Results derived from highly responsive customers.
You can cover a whole bunch of sins by executing marketing against the most responsive customers. Just ask the loyalty industry for verification. Here is an example of the kind of direction they're leading you in.
There is nothing nefarious happening here - the analysis is measured properly, the organic percentage is common/reasonable, and iROAS (incremental demand / ad spend) is incremental.
Is there a flaw in the analysis?
No.
Is the analysis misleading?
Yes.
Why?
The analysis was executed against highly responsive customers ... ones about to buy or ones who just purchased. In either case, the customer is not representative of the customer base. EVERY marketing effort "is likely" to work when measured against highly responsive customers. Including print. Especially print!
The logic falls apart when you take the same conditions and apply them to, say, a customer who has not purchased in 18 months.
Everything is the same here - same incremental lift, same ad cost, same organic percentage. However, the customer is simply not responsive. As a consequence, the marketing channel is not effective, with a horrifying iROAS and a loss.
That's how you make something appear to be effective - execute it against responsive customers.
But when you try to extend the audience? Not so good.
Email and Social are the ways you speak with non-responsive audiences. Ad costs are so minimal that the numbers work.
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