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I finally received a marketing piece with a PURL on it! Have you?Thursday, August 13. 2009 It was last year when I first wrote about PURL marketing. Just in case you need a refresher, the acronym refers to a Personalized URL, a unique web address that is generated for each recipient. PURLs are used either in direct mail or email marketing and points users to an individual landing page that is personalized with their own data (such as name, address, or other information) that resides in that marketer’s database. These microsites typically have a 4 page structure, a landing page, an information page, a survey page (to collect even more data), and a thank-you page. Better pay attention to PURL marketing because marketing personalization is where it’s at! Why? According to print industry expert Heidi Tolliver-Nigro and author of a recent report Personalized URLs: Beyond the Hype, “It started as a trickle and now it’s a flood—the promotion and use of personalized URLs is the latest way to grab attention and market products.” MindFireInc, just one company that specializes in integrated marketing solutions also agrees that personalized URLs are the hottest thing in 1:1 marketing. The benefits of such an approach is that it improves marketing responses rates, identifies more qualified prospects and converts high quality leads into revenue – all while results are monitored in real-time. Last year when I wrote my article I said that I was early awaiting a marketing piece with a PURL on it. Well, I finally got one…  It came as a 1 page polybag insertion in the latest issue of Graphic Arts Magazine. Sina Printing, a trade printer based out of Toronto was promoting Sina Lite, an online self-serve printing portal where print orders can be submitted online. I was enticed with an offer: “Hi Anita, Now pay up to 50% less on all your printing needs with SinaLite.com. Anita, sign up and get your 1000 business cards free. “ I was provided with a PURL, and given a password to access my site. After I logged in, I was directed to a landing page that was personalized with my name and address on it already pre-populated, along with information about the offer for the printing of the free business cards. The functionality worked, and I’d say the execution was great. Well done Sina! But, I wonder why I haven’t seen more examples of PURL marketing. Well, according to an unscientific poll of marketers conducted by Ms. Tolliver-Nigro, the top 3 reasons are: - 24% Don’t fully understand the benefits - 25% Do understand the benefits, but don’t think they outweigh the costs - 21% Don’t have the databases necessary to deploy the campaign This is indeed a sorry state of affairs. Clearly, marketers have a long way to go before this marketing technique is more widely adopted. All I can do is hope that I receive another PURL campaign in the mail or email. But, I’m not holding my breath! 
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Most of the PURL pieces I get are from software companies trying to sell me their PURL-generating software. I have yet to receive a well put-together campaign by anyone other than the USPS, amazingly enough.
Yes Ryan, good point!! I totally agree with you. This kind of marketing is not quite in the mainstream, yet!
Thanks for your comment! Anita
Hi. I would encourage your readers that are interested in a simple and affordable personal url solution to check out purlem.com
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About the author
Anita Windisman As Founder and President of One of a Kind Publishing Inc., Anita Windisman has over 18 years of experience in the area of sales and marketing, with the last 13 being Internet related. While she started her online career in advertising, she has extensive expertise in eBusiness strategy development, web marketing and content delivery, having worked with many large corporations such as Levi Strauss, Toronto Hydro, and Royal LePage and Worldcolor (formerly known as Quebecor World). About this blogI write on the topics of mass customization, personalization, and personalized marketing in the form of print, video and other applications.
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