When customers come back to us again and again to repeat campaigns, it’s usually for one simple reason – they know it’s working. More importantly, they’re actually tracking the responses.
Every now and then though, we hear this:
“I haven’t had any responses” or “I’m not sure direct mail works for our company”
And while that’s not impossible, in our experience it often isn’t the full story.
More often than not, the marketing has done exactly what it was meant to do.
The problem is what happens after the campaign lands.
We Don’t Guess – We Check
When someone tells us their campaign hasn’t generated any enquiries, we don’t just shrug and move on.
We test it! Yes – we mystery shop our own clients.
That usually means:
- Calling the phone number used on the campaign
- Making a genuine enquiry
- Listening to how the call is answered
- Seeing whether anyone asks how we heard about them
- Checking if the phone is answered at all
What we find is often… eye-opening.
The Most Common Issue: Missed Calls
This happens far more often than people realise.
We regularly call businesses during normal working hours and get:
- No answer
- An engaged tone
- A phone that rings out
- No voicemail option
Which is wild, when you think about it.
The same business has:
- Paid for marketing data
- Paid for print, email, or telemarketing
- Paid for postage or platforms
- Approved and sent a campaign to drive enquiries
Someone responds… and nobody picks up.
At that point, the campaign hasn’t failed – the response has just gone uncaptured.
No Voicemail Means No Second Chance
Even when calls are missed, many businesses don’t have voicemail set up properly – or at all.
That means:
- No way for prospects to leave details
- No opportunity to follow up
- No record that anyone even tried to make contact
From the business side, it looks like no response.
From the prospect’s side, it looks like a business that isn’t interested.
Worst case, use a call answering service and divert your calls!
If You Don’t Track It, You Can’t Measure It
Even when calls are answered, there’s another common issue.
Very few businesses ask one simple question:
“How did you hear about us?”
Without tracking enquiry sources:
- Marketing looks ineffective
- Working campaigns get blamed
- Budgets get cut in the wrong places
- Decisions are made on guesswork
If you’re not tracking responses, you can’t accurately judge marketing performance.
Why Good Marketing Ends Up Taking the Blame
Here’s the pattern we see time and time again:
- A campaign goes out
- Interest is generated
- Calls are missed, rushed, or not logged
- There’s no clear visibility internally
- The conclusion becomes “the marketing didn’t work”
In reality, the breakdown happens after the campaign lands.
Why This Is Happening More Often
There are a few reasons this is becoming more common:
- Teams are stretched thin
- Calls are routed to mobiles
- Remote working reduces call handling
- Businesses rely too heavily on email enquiries
- No one owns inbound leads end-to-end
Marketing creates interest.
Your systems still have to catch it.
How to Stop Thinking Your Marketing Has Failed
Before writing off your last campaign, ask yourself:
- Are we answering calls consistently?
- Is voicemail switched on and professional?
- Are missed calls returned?
- Are enquiries being logged?
- Do staff know how to handle inbound leads?
- Are we tracking where enquiries come from?
Fixing these basics often unlocks results from campaigns that were already working.
Final Thought
Marketing doesn’t stop when a letter lands and is opened.
That’s when it actually starts to matter.
If enquiries aren’t answered, tracked, and handled properly, even the best campaign will look like it failed.
Sometimes the issue isn’t the message.
It’s simply that nobody picked up the phone – try it for yourself, mystery shop your own business at random times and check!
If you’d like support planning your next direct mail, email, or telemarketing campaign – or want us to sense-check what you’re already doing – email [email protected] for a free, no-obligation consultation.
You can also call 01304 383838 to speak to one of our experienced team.
