Use these four simple rules and you could see a dramatic increase in sales!
How to increase your direct mail sales by using four great simple rules. Keeping them in mind while planning out your direct mail campaign could significantly increase your return.
If not properly thought out, it can be like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. This is definitely not the best way to measure your ROI (return on investment). If direct mail is going to be a part of your direct marketing campaign, there are certain components that must be in place.
A lot of people think, “I’ll do a postcard mailing and the customers will come running through the doors.”. Not so. There are 4 major characteristics of direct mail one needs to incorporate into the direct mail process from the get-go. Below, I list 4 key factors.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
– Peter Drucker
#1 The Design.
The overall design of the direct mail piece will catch the eye of the customer first. The design must be attractive. Use colors that identify with your brand so that the customer receiving it immediately thinks of your product or service.
#2 The Format.
Will it be a postcard, a flyer or a brochure? Bigger is not necessarily better. Use a format that fits with your offer. If you have more than one offer or a sale on a few items, for example, a back-to-school sale, a four-fold type of flyer might be better than a postcard. The format is also crucial to getting the best price from USPS. Take a look at Charts on my website. Here I give you the right and wrong way to fold a piece so that the USPS doesn’t reject all your hard work. Yes, that does happen.
#3 The List.
Are you using a list of customer addresses that you have acquired over the years? Or did you buy a list from a list company? The type of list you use is very important in targeting your best customer. The average person moves every few years and your customer may not live at that address anymore. Either way, make sure your list is processed through NCOA (the National Change of Address). Not only does it correct the address, but it can drop certain addresses if they’re not complete; this saves you money because you’d be charged for mailing the piece whether it got delivered or not.
You can visit http://pe.usps.com/MailpieceDesign/Index for more information on mailing.
#4 The Offer.
What is your offer? Is it a percentage off a product or service? Is it a BOGO offer? Whatever the offer, make sure it’s a good one and an honest one. These days we are all too aware of companies who increase the price of a product before they have a sale. Don’t assume your customers can’t think. Be honest with your customers and you’ll have loyal customers in return. I’ve seen a lot of “offers” from companies that when you do the math, you actually end up paying more than the original off-sale price. With the economy today, people are taking the time to figure out if a “sale” or an “offer” is a valuable one and worth their time and energy to take you up on it and to stay loyal to your brand. Also important is to make sure your offer is consistent with your other advertising efforts. For example, if you’re a tire store doing a direct mail piece on tires, don’t have print ads that advertise an oil change. Be consistent.
By incorporating these items into your direct mail campaign, you can ensure a more successful rate of return for your product or service. There are more things one can use when doing a direct mail campaign and I’ll talk about those in another blog post. Just remember, a well-thought-out direct mail campaign can yield excellent results giving you the edge over your competition and keeping your business top of mind.
