With people and businesses emailing and flocking to social media every day, some might believe that direct mail has already become a thing of the past—an ancient relic that can’t lead a business to success. However, unlike emails, statuses, or posts that users can easily ignore, direct mails stands a better chance at being read and responded to. The only problem is this: how do you track a solar direct mail? 
3 Quick Steps to Track Solar Direct Mail
Tracking email links is easy since analytics are provided by virtually all auto-responding email and newsletter systems. However, for direct mails, a little more effort is needed. Here’s what can be done to easily track a solar direct mail:
Step One: Create a Unique Landing Page URL and Phone Number for Every Mail Piece
This makes it a lot easier to track a prospective customer’s actions. By adding a new and specific parameter to the landing page URL, which identifies the visitor as a solar direct mail recipient, you can easily do closed-loop marketing and analytics. Closed-loop marketing is highly regarded since it offers numerous benefits such as the following:
- A deeper understanding of a customer’s wants and needs
- Better content, ad and sales targeting
- Higher conversion rate and lower marketing costs
- Improved lead and sales management
- Higher customer retention
Step Two: Track the Said URL Link for Clicks and Conversion
Once your prospective customers use and open the URL provided in the solar direct mail, you can then start tracking their activities using an analytics program. Google Analytics is generally the go-to tool for this task, but you can use any analytics program. Aside from the analytics tool, marketers often use cookies to follow the users’ activities and have a clear idea of the types of marketing campaigns that appeal most to a specific target audience.
When analyzing the data your receive from your preferred analytics program, you should specifically focus on the following:
- What your visitors used to access your website (e.g., browser or mobile app)
- What pages do they look at aside from the landing page
- How long do they stay on your website
- What actions have they taken (e.g., click on an ad, requested a quote, or subscribe to your newsletter)
- Which ad campaigns are getting the most leads and sales
- What your bounce rate is and what specific pages generally drive visitors away
Step Three: Produce More Targeted Content and Ads
Based on the information you acquired from your analytics tool, you can then do the following to improve your bottom line and further push your solar business toward success:
- Produce content and ads that more thoroughly answer your customers’ needs and preferences.
- Study and improve the pages that largely contribute to your bounce rate.
- Capitalize on the pages and campaigns that visitors frequent and favor.
Creating and tracking solar direct mail indeed requires more effort than email marketing. However, if used properly, it can get you a lot closer to your prospective and existing customers and help your business reach greater heights.
For more insights on how to track and measure your advertising campaigns, download our Tracking eBook:
