The Value of a Web Response Form

In the old days (for the decade ending last year) a toll free number was the most effective way to get a response to your mass market or direct mail ad. You got a better response rate (at a reasonable cost) than asking people to send in a letter, or visit a retailer. Today, the economics favors the web response form. If you ask people to respond by going to mysite.com, in addition to calling your toll free number, or sending in a check, you will find that you get a better response rate (at a lower cost) from the web than from the phone or mail. Why is that? There are several reasons:

* More people are on the web today, and the number grows every month. We have reached a critical mass that makes web response viable.

* The cost of web response is very, very low. When a phone call comes in the operator has to take the call, and enter the information in her computer. This usually costs you at least $4 per call. The same operator opening the mail and entering data will cost you at least $2 per letter. A web response form will cost you less than $0.20 each, since the customers do their data entry by themselves without help.

* The most important reason is that people hate being put on hold. "All our agents are currently busy handling other customers..." We all hate that. By using the web, you avoid that annoying message and wasting your time. Sears Canada did a head to head test with their big catalog. They put a toll free number and a web response URL on the bottom of each page. A large number opted for the web. You can test this yourself.

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