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1. Assignment 1 – Direct Marketing Elements
By: Elizabeth Kulin
May 2009
www.kulinmarketing.com

2. Introduction to Direct Marketing:
A direct marketing campaign is carried out through communication channels such
as mail, email, telemarketing, catalog and/or mobile. The design and execution decisions
throughout the campaign are based on the specific marketing objective(s) which the
campaign is trying to accomplish. The objectives are integrated into each of the 5 direct
marketing elements. The first 3, and most critical, elements are the list, the offer and the
copy. The additional 2 elements, of secondary importance, are layout and timing.
The direct Marketing Elements:
• The List - A list of names and contact information of current and/or potential
customers that the direct marketing piece is directed towards. A list is collected
through natural business interactions, or can also be obtained by renting from list
owners. When rented, it is important to know where the list information originated.
Once compiled, the in-house list is stored in a database. Depending on its
sophistication, a database manager can segment the list into categories of target
markets such as demographics, geographic and psychographics. A database manager
could also segment the list using modeling tactics, which can target a direct marketing
piece to recipients who will (assumingly) most likely respond, based on their past
actions.
• The offer – The offer is designed by the marketer to entice the recipient/consumer to
respond. The desired response of the consumer is based on the marketing objective to
acquire membership, activate new activity sales, or retain their loyalty. The offer is
also based on the marketer’s financial objective of increasing regency, frequency or

3. monetary sales.
• The Copy – The copy is all of the text, written by the marketer, in the direct
marketing piece. Copy can explain an offer, inform the recipient about the
product/service, and can also include incentives, guarantees, and response
instructions. These components, along with the tone of the copy writing (for example
the language, dialect, length, font, grammar, and use of punctuation), are important
for a direct marketer to decided and manage.
• Layout/format – The layout and format are the artistic design, and ascetic
arrangement, of a direct marketing piece. Layout and format are carefully designed
to ensure that the recipient can easily understand the offer, read the copy, and
understand how to respond.
• Timing – Timing is the execution schedule of the direct marketing campaign. Timing
can be aligned with an event, holiday, and/or membership renewal, and can increase
interest and response rates from the recipient. This strategy can also be used to
reinforce the marketing objective. For example, if the marketing objective is to
activate new active sales, a limited time offer could persuade the recent to respond
quicker than their past normal rate of response.
Analysis and Critique of Direct Marketing Elements in Wine.com Email:
The use of a list is apparent in this email because it is addressed to Jan personally and
is also emailed to her personal email address. Therefore, wine.com must have Jan’s
name and email address in their in-house database, or have rented a prospect list from a
list owner or broker that her name and email address were on. From the use of Jan’s
name and email address alone we can not tell if she is a current or prospective customer

4. of wine.com. It is possible that Jan’s name and email address are on a segmented list. If
so, the marketing manager would be attempting to alight the email’s content, or offer, in a
targeted manor in effort to increase response rates.
The second direct marketing element implemented in this email is the offer. There
are multiple offers in this email piece. Each one attempts to speak to the recipient, spark
an interest and encourage a response. One offer is: $5 off the purchase of at least $50
worth of wine. This offer is aligned with the holiday Cinco De Mayo, and more
importantly the word, Cinco (meaning 5 in Spanish). The correlation, and use of
semiotics, brings validity to the offer’s discount amount ($5) and the required purchase
amount ($50) in a fun and supportive way for the marketer. The additional offers in this
email are 3 different categories of $20 and below priced products for the consumer to
research and choose from.
The use of multiple offers in one email could increase the chances that the recipient
will be interested in at least one offer, take action, and respond with a purchase. The
combination of these offers is encouraging that the consumer to purchase at least 3-4
bottles of wine (at least $50 worth of $20 bottles). Thus, the marketer’s objective is to
encourage activity of new sales and also to increase monetary spending volumes. Since
this email is directed towards Jan, it may be that she has a past behavior of purchasing
$20 wine bottles, and it is this behavior that the marketer is attempting to activate with
the additional offers. It may also be that Jan’s typically purchases are less than $50 per
order, and it is this behavior that the marketer is attempting to change with the offer of $5
off of at least $50 purchases. These offers are descried to the email recipient in the copy
writing of the email.

5. The copy is the creative element that displays the text of this email. In this email it
begins with the subject line that includes text describing the email purpose, and also the
multiple offers. The inclusion of the offers encourages the recipient to feel that opening
this email will be beneficial to them. The text in the body of the email not only explains
the multiple offers, but also includes descriptive copy, links to consumer ratings (top
most popular and top rated) and supportive copy of expert Robert Parker’s wine.com
product ratings. This element reinforces the validity of the offerings, their product value,
and reputation. Furthermore, it speaks to the reader who might simplify their wine
purchasing decision by trusting consumer ratings, popularity, and/or industry experts. By
doing so, it also simplifies the consumer’s ability to respond.
The email’s layout design is built on the copy and includes imagery and text that is
spaced out evenly into category sections of information, product description, response
instructions, and terms & conditions. This format creates a clean, simple to read and
astatically pleasing letter that is easy for the reader’s eye to follow. The placement of the
sections, beginning with the colorful imagery and large headline, create a path that
encourages the reader to continue down the page. Each section is generally short in
length, which could be a design tactic used to avoid losing the recipients attention and
interest. Finally, once at the product description/check out section, the reader’s eyes are
drawn to the colorful and bold automatic shopping cart button. An automatic shopping
cart makes responding easy for the consumer, while also enabling wine.com to record
consumer purchasing history in their database to increase their “market basket” list
building.
All of these elements are strategically designed in an attempt to speak to Jan’s

6. consumer behavior. However, as the book “Successful Direct marketing Methods” by
Bob Stone and Ron Jacobs states, “Consumer behavior is not easy to change” (Stone and
Jacobs. (2008). Successful Direct Marketing Methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Page 8). Reinforcing the direct marketing elements with a timed execution can be an
additional strategic measure, which a marketer can take, to increase the chances of
consumer response. The timing of this email is aligned with the holiday Cinco De Mayo.
This correlation could be based from a modeling tactic, if wine.com has historic data
showing that Jan’s past purchasing behavior categorizers her as a holiday shopper.
Additionally, this email uses a second timing strategy. It tells the recipient that there is a
24 hour expiration time limit. This expiration time limit strategy creates a feeling of
urgency to take action and respond. It is possible that this tactic is being direct towards
Jan because her past behavior shows a gap in time between purchases. The marketer is
carrying out the goal, of encouraging the activity of new sales, though the tactic of timing
in conjunction with the other 4 direct marketing elements.