Ancestry.com was looking to test new forms of direct mail for its sales letters promoting a subscription to the online family history service. They asked Rastar Digital Marketing to propose a variable-data direct mail campaign. We put together several concepts, with the winning concept being a tie to the Civil War. Using the Civil War records database, we used the last name of the prospect to look up how many of their ancestors fought on each side of the war. Then, based on the result of that search, a unique headline would populate on the letter, which would also show through the envelope window.

For example, the intro line might read:
Montgomery Soldiers in the Civil War: Yankees 221, Rebels 18

In this case, where the Yankee number was higher, the headline read:
Looks Like the Montgomery Family Helped Start the Yankee Win Streak.

If the Rebel number was higher, the headline read:
So This Explains the “Rebellious” Side of the Montgomery Family.

If the number was equal, the headline read:
So That’s Why the Montgomery Family Is Always Taking Sides.

The campaign proved to pull a higher rate than the control (offset printed direct mail). However, the results were not high enough to offset the added cost of producing a digitally printed campaign. The test was valuable in determining which forms of direct mail would continue to increase campaign ROI.

 

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