Calling all Direct Response marketers. Or maybe you call yourself below the line, direct engagement, loyalty or customer relationship marketers. Anyway you know who you are.

Are you still A/B testing or moving customers through a lifecycle?

Are response rates stagnating?

Are you looking for the next big angle to lift response rates and deliver a better ROI?

If so, then it’s time to think a little differently.

Start thinking about customer access NOT customer marketing

Instead of testing engagement and pushing the typical offers at customers (even if they are highly targeted), try testing a new approach.

If you think about the digital world today, customers can do as much research as they want prior to purchasing (either online or in your bricks and mortar store). They can find your information, independent reviews, peer reviews and ratings, community comments, etc etc.

In short, they have ACCESS to a world of knowledge. However most direct marketers I come across today still don’t let the customer into their brand world.

Offer VIP access to all areas of your business to create more valuable customer experiences

Try treating your more valuable customers with an ‘ACCESS ALL AREAS’ approach. Let your customers see ‘backstage’ into your company & how your product is made.

Let them meet the ‘faces’ and ‘places’ behind your product. In today’s social internet world we trust people, not faceless organisations.

The 146,947th customer to join the Foursquare community

I received a great email from Foursquare last week, that took me into their world. They now have over 10M people worldwide, and I was one of the first 1M. In fact the variable field in the email confirmed I was #146,947 to join. A lovely piece of personalisation along with 2 other key content areas, all in the context of their ‘backstage’ improvements.

You too can offer your customers all sorts of unique, money can’t buy ‘access’ to your business. It’s all about thinking a little differently and opening up your brand world. You’ll be amazed what new offers you can bring to the direct marketing table. Many will be at no additional cost which means your ROI will start to access new heights too!

Stuck for ideas? Then let me show you what can be unearthed for your business. I guarantee we can develop 3 ideas in the first 10 minutes.