You've just invested thousands of dollars in a new web site. Now your manager wants to splash the web address everywhere, including your direct mail. No problem, right? Well maybe, maybe not. Remember: the value of direct marketing isn't in simply generating a response, it's in generating a measurable response. In most cases, this means establishing a dialogue between the prospect and a member of your sales force, so the salesperson can answer questions, handle objections, probe for needs and later on, close the deal. If the prospect goes to your web site, explores a little, downloads a brochure and then you never hear from them again, you may never have that opportunity.

If you insist on including a web address as part of the "call to action" in your direct mail campaigns, do one of the following two things: either 1) create a separate site and domain name, or 2) create a distinct page and URL that's specific to the campaign (for example: www.companyname.com/promo). In either case, don't provide a link back to your home page until after the person has filled in his or her name, address, phone number, etc. Though far from foolproof, either of these solutions will help minimize the number of otherwise qualified leads that show up as nothing more than anonymous "hits" on your web site.