Promotional Items Articles

Customers who receive promotional products, on average, return sooner and more frequently, and spend more money than customers who receive coupons. In two separate studies, SMU researchers tested whether promotional products would outperform coupons in the area of repeat business and sales.

F I N D I N G S

Study One - Food Delivery Service

· Customers who received promotional products reordered up to 18% sooner than those who received coupons and up to 13% sooner than those who received no promotion.

·Customers who received promotional products also averaged up to 18% more orders than those receiving coupons and up to 13% more than those who received nothing.

·In summary, customers who received promotional products reordered more quickly and ordered more often that those who received no promotional products.

Study Two - Dry Cleaner

·Over an eight-month period, new customers that received promotional products spent 27% more than those who received coupons, and 139% more than those who received only a welcome letter.

·Promotional products recipients were also 49% more likely than coupon recipients and 75% more likely than letter recipients to patronize the dry cleaner in each of the eight months studied.

·In summary, new customers who received promotional products spent more and were more regular customers than those who did not receive promotional products.

Consisted of approximately 900 people that were divided equally into nine groups. These nine groups were broken down by type of customer (existing Study details: Study one was conducted in 1993 by Southern Methodist University, and residential, new residential, and business customer) and what they received (promotional product, coupon, or nothing). Products and coupons were valued at $2. Study two, also by SMU, was conducted in 1994, and tracked the activity of 300 new customers at two locations of a dry cleaner. These customers were randomly assigned to one of three groups, all of whom received a welcome letter. Two of these groups received, in addition to the letter, a promotional product or a coupon (each valued at $5).

Promotional Products Work as Employee Awards and Incentives

Awards and incentive programs can improve performance and motivate employees to increase sales, reduce accidents, boost productivity and give customers better service. In 1994 Baylor University randomly surveyed 1,500 people, asking their opinions regarding employee awards and incentives.

Improve Direct Mail Response Rates with Promotional Products

Promotional products, when used in conjunction with a sales letter or as incentive to respond, can make a significant difference in direct mail response rates. The use of promotional products can also significantly improve a business' effectiveness in converting leads to sales appointments. The following are findings from a 1992 direct mail study by Silver Marketing Group.

Dimensional Mailings Improve Direct Mail Response Rates

The packaging of promotional products can evoke curiosity as well as increase direct mail response rates. A 1993 study by Baylor University found that the use of dimensional mailers can significantly improve response rates over direct mail alone.

For this study, 3,000 school administrators were divided into three groups, and received either: 1) an envelope with a sales letter, sales collateral and postage-paid business reply card, 2) an envelope with similar contents plus a promotional product, or 3) all of the contents listed above, delivered in a box with a die cut slot, instead of an envelope.

Improve Trade Show Traffic with Promotional Products

Promotional products can increase traffic to an exhibitor's trade show booth. A 1991 study by Exhibit Survey Inc., found that using promotional products can give you an advantage over other exhibitors for buyer attention.

To promote traffic at its booth, an exhibitor sent invitations to 4,900 trade show registrants. These registrants were further broken down into smaller groups, each of which received from zero to three gifts (before, at, and/or after the show). See the table for group descriptions.

To learn what gift combinations had the best results, researchers measured booth traffic, post-show memory of having received the invitation, and registrant goodwill toward the company after the show. Results are presented in the table and described below

Improve Response Rates to an Advertising Campaign with Promotional Product Mailings

Promotional product mailings can dramatically improve response rates for campaigns involving other media, such as print advertising. The following study demonstrates this effect.

For this 1996 study, Dallas Marketing Group and Promotional Products Association helped a national tile distributor integrate the use of direct mail and promotional products into an existing print advertising campaign. Response rates were then tracked for a known group of subscribers. Some subscribers received only the trade ad, while others also received a sales letter, a promotional product, or a promotional product incentive. Presented below are the results of this study, followed by a more detailed description of the direct mail campaign.

Generate Customer Referrals Using Promotional Products

Promotional products help encourage to provide you with the names of friends and associates whom you can contact in the future. A 1993 study by Baylor University found that customers who receive promotional products are more willing to provide these leads than customers who don't receive promotional products.

This study was conducted with 20 Mary Kay beauty consultants, half of whom distributed promotional gifts (imprinted lint removers) to customers; the other ten offered no promotional gifts. Both groups then asked customers (200 in all) to refer the names of acquaintances. Findings are presented below.

Build Customer Goodwill with Promotional Products

Promotional products foster customer goodwill (positive attitudes and feelings) toward a company and its salespeople. This study, completed by Baylor University in 1992, involved a textbook publisher sending 4,000 educators either: (1) pocket calculator plus a letter, (2) a lower-priced highlighter pen plus a letter, or (3) a letter only.