Creating a Conversion Funnel for Visits from Print Mailings

In this article I am using 2 fictitious domains for the purpose of this post.

• Vanity URL: www.hbp.com
• Destination URL:  www. hotbutteredpopcorn.com

A Call to Action is all it Takes

If you opt in on a landing page (you should), you will want to co-ordinate the look and style with the mail piece. Make your landing page a “Visitor to Action” Design. Here are the steps to take when you want to measure the effectiveness of print mailings using Google Analytics.

Step 1- Create Vanity URL

A vanity URL is inexpensive and easy to set up. It will serve the purpose of tracking your print mailings from a unique domain.

Step 2- The Coupon Mailer

Take note of the URL I am promoting, www.hbp.com. That means that the visitor is redirected to HotButteredPopcorn.com and counted as a visitor in Google Analytics. If you have the code fully integrated on HotButteredPopcorn.com then you will be able to see what your visitors from your mail campaign are doing. You got that? It’s the key to this whole tracking concept.

Step 3- A Good Landing Page

This is where our visitor lands after entering the URL into the browser.

In other words, the mailer must speak to the conversion (goal)…LOUD AND CLEAR. Also notice, I am only asking for one thing, the email address. In my experience the more you ask, the less you convert.

Step 4- Say Thanks

Now our visitors have completed the goal and Google Analytics has logged one conversion when they landed on your thank you page.

Instead of  Thank You Why not  Up Sell?

Don’t stop at the first conversion, why not up sell? Your new customer may be more than happy to download more coupons or even make a purchase. Let’s allow them navigation to other similar offers.

There you have it, the basic steps required to track the ROI you are getting from your printed mailings. Not only are we tracking the visit, but we can also see the actions they take (or don’t take) on HotButteredPopcorn.com. This allows you to improve your success of each mailer you send out. Learn what works good (converts) and apply in areas that don’t work well.

“Using the vanity was smart, for tracking purposes (hurray!), keeping it easy to remember was even smarter.” Google evangelist Avinash Kaushik