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Blend Business’s Campaign product was first reviewed last spring and saw relatively average results. Now updated and more streamlined, the marketing automation service is ready for prime time.
Campaign automates non-digital marketing by overlapping direct mail with voicemails to all existing database records.
So what’s new this time around? An enhanced scheduler and a process for completing your database via backend integrations with Experian and HouseCanary to find and add missing information to your contacts.
You can pull in lists from Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Outlook and LinkedIn; if there’s a missing phone number, birth date or home address, there’s a good chance Campaign will find it.
It doesn’t promise to complete every record, but the sample I witnessed filled in 93 percent of database fields. It also tracks the veracity of your database with color-coded “accuracy” meters.
This is a very smart feature to add to a service that lives and dies by its promise to keep you in front of your contacts.
Setting up the service and launching a campaign is fairly intuitive.
Users will need to understand when it’s best to get started and also manage the messaging features, such as your custom voicemail.
Postcard creative can be left to the company but I feel there’s value in adding your own language.
Other than that, this is as automated as it gets.
Campaign promises to contact (via voicemail or postcard) everyone in your list six times a year. Voicemails can be delivered multiple times a day until your database is exhausted. (The company recommends no more than 10 for the sake of keeping up with returned calls.
Voicemails follow a mailed card in seven days.
Scheduled campaigns are easy to follow via an integration with Google Calendar; it lists every call and mailing.
The company acknowledged that some voicemails can resemble robocalls (technically, they are robocalls) but told me that out of 25,000 calls made to date, only three asked to be “removed from the list.” Pretty good numbers.
One of my initial concerns was how easy it is for most people to recognize an ink-jet font meant to look like authentic handwriting, a common tactic on direct mail campaigns.
Campaign solves that problem with a custom-built robot printer that emulates human handwriting. It even holds a pen.
From an upgraded user interface to the database improvement features, Campaign by Blend Business is as good a solution to staying in front of past clients as I’ve seen on the market.
And just in case you were wondering … yes, direct mail is still effective — especially when combined with multiple forms of outreach, like voicemail and supplemental digital efforts.
Have a technology product you would like to discuss? Email Craig Rowe.
