15 ways to get more out of your DRTV campaigns

Imagine you have spent the whole day listening to horrendous long-term weather forecasts and during your relaxing postprandial telly time you see an ad for fantastic offers on Mediterranean holidays; chances are you will give it a second glance. The couch consumer is relaxed and contented, so providing you target him well and pay heed to your resources, your brand profile and revenues could be in for a treat. Here are 15 of our top recommendations on how to get the most out of your DRTV campaigns.

1. Consider what time you intend to run the ad; if there is a major sports fixture or a double episode of X Factor on another channel you might risk a negative impact on your campaign.

2. Think carefully about your customer demographic.  We have noticed considerable successes for pitching to over 50s during mid-afternoon programmes like Countdown. In addition, some of our most successful campaigns are run during the breaks of Coronation Street; however, if the call length is likely to be longer and the desired response is a sale, the ad might be better placed at the end of the programme. 

3. Consider repetition; you need to tread the fine line between engaging your audience to the point of sale and boring them to tears. Consider quality and quantity, though for some campaigns repeat viewing can deliver better results.

4. A structurally memorable phone number works wonders. 

5. Audit your resources and response strategy with a fine tooth comb. Do you have ample operators to take the calls? Is your website optimised for the campaign? Until you have historical data it is difficult to tell how many call centre operators you will need on stand-by. Once you are up and running you must learn from each TV hit and continually refine staffing levels. 

6. Ensure back-end processes can cope with 50 percent more than expected response and facilitate multiple agency overflow where appropriate.  Virgin Money set the precedent with the ethos, “see it on TV today, get the brochure tomorrow”.  Audiences have short memories and if your product takes longer than a week to reach them the initial interest may have waned.

7. You might need call cover outside the expected response times and dates; many programmes are recorded and watched weeks after. From our experience, the shopping channels tend to see a more extended spread on calls, depending on the length of the advertorial.

8. The name on the ad reminds the audience of all interactions with that company so be prepared for orders, customer service calls and new enquiries as well as the desired call-to-action response.

9.Be memorable. Sounds obvious, but with more than 25 percent of UK commercials featuring DRTV campaigns you need to be the one that engages consumers and moves them from awareness to sale. Make sure the phone number, website and other communication channels are clearly featured and ensure accessibility for all demographics.

10. Constantly appraise times of day and channels and ensure that you can back out of channels not producing the desired response.

11. If the call handlers are processing, validating and verifying credit-card details then your service provider should be PCI DSS compliant.  If your product or service is for the financial services market check if your provider requires FSA accreditation.

12. Concise call scripting and comprehensive product training are integral to your campaign and will have a dramatic effect on your campaign costs and success. Queries should be answered swiftly and any caller doubts eliminated through good quality information. 

13. Once you have finalised your script/storyboard and considered the nature of the campaign—for example, will it provoke a number of questions? How complex is the transaction?—you should have a fair idea of expected call lengths. You can use this information to plan human and physical resources and also to set up a queue message. There are a number of contexts to consider when managing the caller’s expectations: if you tell the caller his queue number is 36 this may put him off, though he’ll be unaware that you have 2,000 call handlers working on the campaign so a wait should be brief. The same potential disengagement applies in the misinterpretation of expected wait time. Perhaps a message reassuring the caller that his call is important and that you are endeavouring to answer it as soon as humanly possible might be preferable?

14. Your provider should facilitate viewing of real-time stats which, particularly during your campaigns infancy will help you revaluate your resources and strategy. End-of-day reports detailing call lengths, volumes, ROI and such will compound and augment this knowledge

15. Always track the results of the DRTV campaign after three weeks, by then all transactions should be completed.

With the right planning and execution, DRTV campaigns can add richness and integrity to your marketing mix and, if you catch your audience at the right moment, the rewards can be significant.

Kirsty Matthewson is marketing manager, Expolink Europe, a provider of inbound and outbound call handling services.