What's the response rate?

I hear that question a lot in lead generation marketing, planned giving marketing, sponsorship marketing and just about any other kind of marketing you can name.

Sorry folks.  But usually if you ask that question it means you don’t have any business doing marketing at all.

The response rate really doesn’t matter.

I don’t care about response rates.  Rather, I care about a return on your investment.

Suppose every time you and I work on a marketing campaign together our efforts only garner one response.  And suppose that reflects a miserable response rate of .0001%.  But every single time we run the campaign you generate $100,000 in profit from that single response.

Would you care that the response rate is just .0001%?  I doubt it.

So don’t get all caught up in response rates unless they mean something to you.  Otherwise, concentrate on your return on investment and your profits.  That’s where it counts.