Nikki Clay

In-Pipe marketing manager Nikki Clay is enthusiastic about the improvement in response. She says, "We got a 104 percent increase in response -- from a mailing list that was one-third of the size.

"Even though we got 120 back, there was no way to know if they read the card, and we have no idea if the other cards we sent were even received," said Nikki Clay, the company's sales and marketing coordinator.
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"In other words, 245 people actually opened and read our message," Clay said. "Compared to the direct mail campaign, that's a 104% increase using a list that is a quarter of the size."

Almost 9% of people who opened the e-mail clicked through. In addition to the 245 unique opens, In-Pipe saw 491 total opens, which was really significant, Clay said. The company scanned 92 badges at the booth, an increase of 21% at a much lower cost.

"We were able to see what people were most interested in. Because we have an innovative technology, we're not always sure how the market perceives our product and what they find interesting," she said. "This gave us an idea of what points people wanted to learn more about."

The e-mail program worked so well that In-Pipe Technology has abandoned its direct mail campaigns completely. In addition, because of the undisclosed cost savings, the company now has the money to advertise in print publications.

"My CEO said this was the best ROI marketing program that we've ever done-the best marketing dollars he's ever spent," Clay said.