Delays in getting information to prospective visitors can quickly become lost sales. In fact, many skiers and snowboarders book winter vacations at the destination resorts that respond first to requests for information. According to RRC president Nolan Rosall, “We are seeing a societal trend where consumers are becoming much less tolerant of delays. With so many people now using the Internet and getting instantaneous information, they want service and they want it quickly.”
But management at Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation, Colo., found that it was not uncommon to wait weeks or months to receive reader service sales leads (“Circle numbers for more information …”) from some of the magazines in which it advertises.
“We can’t respond until we receive our leads,” says Steamboat Direct Marketing and Promotion Manager Kipp Rillos. “After waiting that long to hear back from us, most skiers or boarders will opt to spend their vacation at another mountain resort or, worse yet, on a cruise or beach vacation.”
The importance of reader service leads depends upon a resort’s media plan and the proportion of print advertising in its overall marketing mix. Even with consumers’ increased use of the Internet to gather resort information, some destination resorts still rank reader service as their top source of leads, representing more than 60 percent of total inquiries.
For Steamboat, reader service and other leads also serve as an important barometer of the volume of expected visitors, dictating what marketing strategies to deploy. Leads also provide a valuable tool to measure the following:
- Cost-per-response from ads
- The rate at which inquiries convert to bookings or actual visits
- Return-on-investment from marketing expenditures
How much are leads worth? Let’s assume that a destination resort converts 10 percent of its consumer leads to visits. Not counting lodging, a visiting family or couple may spend more than $1,000 during a week’s visit. So, at $1,000 revenue-per-visit and a 10 percent conversion rate, each lead—regardless of whether they actually visit—could be valued at $100.
Consumer ski and snowboard magazines typically rely on outside vendors to process reader service cards, a service provided to advertisers at no cost. A reader fills out the card and mails it to the magazine’s reader service vendor. The vendor enters the reader’s name and address in a database and sorts the leads by advertiser. Then the vendor outputs each advertiser’s leads as labels or an electronic file, each batch marked with the magazine’s issue date and the date that the batch of leads was keyed in by the vendor. The labels or electronic files are then delivered to the appropriate party—a resort or a resort’s ad agency or fulfillment partner.
| Publication | Issue When Ad Ran | Number of Leads | Date Input by Reader Service Vendor | Date Delivered to Resort | Days Lapsed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magazine A | 9/1/97 | 306 | 9/22/97 | 12/15/97 | 84 | |
| 10/1/97 | 160 | 10/27/97 | 12/15/97 | 49 | ||
| 11/1/97 | 88 | 11/9/97 | 12/15/97 | 36 | ||
| 7 | 12/13/97 | 12/24/97 | 11 | |||
| TOTALS: | 561 | 180 | ||||
| Magazine B | 9/1/97 | 852 | 9/27/97 | 12/15/97 | 79 | |
| 10/1/97 | 24 | 11/21/97 | 12/8/97 | 17 | ||
| 502 | 10/28/97 | 12/15/97 | 50 | |||
| 25 | 12/2/97 | 12/17/97 | 15 | |||
| 15 | 12/14/97 | 12/29/97 | 15 | |||
| 15 | 12/17/97 | 12/31/97 | 14 | |||
| 11/1/97 | 226 | 12/1/97 | 12/15/97 | 14 | ||
| 33 | 12/15/97 | 12/29/97 | 14 | |||
| 12/1/97 | 146 | 12/22/97 | 12/29/97 | 7 | ||
| TOTALS: | 1,848 | 225 |
© Eagle Direct. Actual numbers compiled from Steamboat marketing data. Magazines disguised to protect proprietary client data.
Magazine A took 84 days to deliver 306 leads from the September issue. Magazine B took 79 days to deliver 862 leads from the September issue. This total of 1,168 leads took more than 2.5 months to be delivered, representing $116,800 in potential revenue lost due to delays.
The later in the season a lead arrives, the more time-sensitive it is. Any delay reduces the likelihood of converting it to a booking or visit—if a December lead is not fulfilled until late February, the season is almost over.
Steamboat’s reader service leads are generally delivered within one to three weeks, but in some cases they have arrived much later; in one case, more than two and a half months later. The source of these reader service vendors’ delays are unclear. They may be inherent to the vendor’s data-entry or handling process. They may be a result of U.S. Postal Service delivery delays, or the vendor may be attempting to send leads to the wrong contact at the resort advertiser or its agency. There are, however, ways to counteract these impediments.
Confirm contacts at set-up time. One way to prevent lead delivery delays is by clearly defining the receipt contacts with each magazine and their reader service vendor prior to each season.
“At the time we issue our ad insertion order, we provide each magazine and their reader service vendor, in writing, the name of a contact to send their leads to and whether to send leads on disk or printed labels,” said Kerry Cooper, associate media director for Steamboat’s ad agency, Karsh & Hagan Communications. “And we have them sign to acknowledge they have received this information.”
Track inquiry data. Steamboat uses an automated inquiry tracking and fulfillment system set up by Denver-based Eagle Direct, which tracks all leads and reports how many of them arrive weekly from each source. The fulfillment system sends customized response packages and connects with Steamboat’s customer database to identify future direct marketing opportunities.
Steamboat shares tracking data with its ad agency media buyer, who monitors each magazine’s performance and makes follow-up calls when reader service leads are delayed. A magazine’s lead delivery record also plays a role in Steamboat’s future advertising decisions.
“By tracking inquiries, we attempt to assist the publications in making their reader service vendors more accountable,” says Rillos. “One publication where we advertise brought their reader service in-house and we have seen improvements in lead delivery.”
Take advantage of electronic data transfer. According to Eagle Direct database marketing manager Ross Dyer, there is a correlation between delays and those leads that are provided as mailing labels that are delivered via the U.S. Postal Service.
“Some of the reader service vendors offer e-mail and BBS downloads,” says Dyer. “It may cost a bit more, but it really speeds delivery. Electronic leads are also easier and quicker to capture in the marketing database.”
Cleanse the data. A related problem that can be addressed simultaneously is that leads from reader service and other handwritten sources can arrive containing up to seven percent undeliverable addresses and eight percent duplicates. The former contributes to lost sales; the latter increases fulfillment costs.
The fulfillment system used by Steamboat standardizes addresses to correct data-entry errors and take advantage of U.S.P.S. Automation Rate postage discounts. It also eliminates duplicate entries, counteracting the human tendency for a consumer to simultaneously inquire via a resort’s 800 number, reader service, BRC and Website in hopes of getting information as soon as possible.
According to Dyer, any ski resort receiving more than 20,000 consumer inquiries per year from advertising or other sources can offset the costs of an automated lead tracking and fulfillment system in postage savings alone.
While resorts differ widely with respect to numbers of inquiries and revenues per guest, most agree that timely lead response provides an important advantage. And for those resorts dependent upon reader service leads, lead tracking can capture sales that would otherwise be lost to delays. A)
Jim Fox is a vice president of Eagle Direct, a Denver-based company that provides database marketing analytical, strategic, implementation and fulfillment services.
