One, two, three simple steps to running a direct mail campaign

15/02/2012

Running an effective direct mail campaign is more about perspiration than inspiration. The success of your campaign will depend on continually testing and refining all the components of your mailing, rather than having a sudden spark of creative genius – although that’s certainly important.

Any small business in almost any sector can use a simple direct mail campaign to boost sales. But there are three basic rules you must always follow.

First, identify your target market. Second, send your best prospects an offer they can’t refuse. (Make sure you can handle the responses and fulfil the orders that you generate!) Third, measure and evaluate the response. This will tell you two things: who is most likely to respond and which creative approach works best. Then you can use this information to send even better mailshots in the future. Do this and your response levels and return on investment should rise.

1. Who are you going to mail?

With direct mail, there are two key variables - who you target and what you send them. These are your mailing list and your mailshot. These are equally important in achieving a successful mailing.

A beautifully produced, skilfully written mailer with a great offer won’t work if it’s sent to the wrong people. By the same token, a poorly produced mailshot with low quality images and amateurish copy won’t stand a chance even if it goes out to a list of the hottest prospects. And it won’t do a great deal for your brand.

To avoid waste and increase response rates, you must target those people most likely to respond. In fact, your best prospects are your existing customers. Then to drum up business from new customers, you need to find people who are similar to your existing ones.

You should also decide on the best delivery method for your direct mailing. If you want to personalise the mailing, you can post it in the normal way. If you want to cover a certain postcode with no need for names and addresses, try a low cost doordrop.

2. How are you going to maximise response?

Direct mail can produce a response of between 1% and 5%, but the most common response rate is between 1% and 3%. The higher the response level, the more business you bring in. The aim of your direct mail strategy is to maximise response.

A good mailshot should include a clear message and a strong call to action. Make sure you give recipients a variety of ways to respond to ensure there's a reply mechanism that suits everyone, including mail, telephone, email and web address. Pre-paid reply envelopes or cards can really boost responses.

Incentives such as prizes, offers or discounts will also help to increase response levels and money-off coupons and samples can be very attractive incentives.

You can also test a range of creative approaches and offers very cost-effectively. Simply send different mailshots to small groups and then roll out the mailing that got the highest response rate to a larger audience.

Measure the response to your mailing

Measuring response after you’ve sent out your mailing is one of the most important parts of your DM campaign. To track responses you need to use codes or offers so you can link the response to each specific mailing. That way you can compare different approaches and different target markets.

By analysing the costs of the campaign and the rate of response you can then produce a cost per response and find out if the mailing has been profitable. All in all, direct mail is all about learning as you go along. By collecting information from each mailing and analysing your results, you can find out more about your customers and prospects and how to sell to them. Then you can refine your next campaign and make each mailing more effective than the last.

Perspektiv can handle it all for you, from a simple DM campaign to a full, multi-channel marketing communications strategy. To start the ball rolling, speak to David Thacker at Perspektiv on 0115 950 0510.

In summary

There are going to be big changes in data, creative, mobile commerce and social media this year. From new rules on recycling and consumer opt-outs to the rise and rise of m-commerce and virtual shops... from the re-emergence of print catalogues to targeted, segmented texting... from a greater emphasis on cause-related marketing to a clampdown on cookies – all of these developments should be on your radar in 2012.

If you’d like to discuss how we can help you can meet these challenges head on, contact David Thacker at Perspektiv on 0115 950 0510.

For more information on any of the above, call Perspektiv on 0115 950 0510