Top marketing tips for Direct Mail success

Some say it’s an old fashioned way of trying to drum up business. Others believe it’s a waste of cash and the returns are too low to make it a viable marketing method.

But whatever you may think about direct mail, there’s no ignoring the fact that done properly, it can be a predictable and cost effective way to generate sales leads for your new business.

Sending a letter or other item to potential customers has something that emails are lacking: impact.

Even if a busy decision maker gets 10 letters a day, they’re still likely to open them all. Which means you have a much better chance of getting through, compared to sending one of hundreds of unwanted emails!

Here are Bytestart’s top tips for direct mail success:

Always write a letter

It’s tempting to just send a sample of what you sell, but you will get a better response if you enclose a letter explaining why you are sending it, and what you want them to do next.

Write to a real person

Invest in good quality data no matter how much it costs. You lose all credibility if you write to someone who left three years ago.

Don’t give it away on the envelope

A plain envelope is more likely to be opened as it holds no clue to the contents. Have you ever thrown away a letter that screams “get a loan from us” without opening it?

Say “you” not “we”

The person you’re writing to doesn’t care about you, your business or what you do. So talk to them in their terms, using the word “you” a lot. Think about the benefits of what you do rather than the features of the product or service.

Use testimonials

Nothing is more powerful than being “recommended” by someone else in the form of a testimonial. Use real names and business names where possible – don’t worry, your existing clients won’t be “buzzed” by loads of potential clients wanting to see if they really meant what they said.

Make sure you include a call to action

Don’t assume people will know what to do after their have received your direct mail. Spell it out for them – “call 01234 567890 now to order yours”.

Add some urgency to it, perhaps with a special offer that will expire on Friday. You want the busy decision maker to pick up the phone or go online and order now, not put the letter down with the intention of “doing it later”... because they’ll probably not get round to it.

Who you mail is more important than what you mail

With direct mail, there are two key components to your mailing; who you are sending the mail to and what you are sending, or in other words, the 'list' and the 'creative'. By far the most important of the two elements is the list.

What to look for in a direct mail list

The first thing you should do is to build up your own database. It can be an incredibly valuable marketing resource. Start by collecting the data of customers and people that enquire about your services. You could also run competitions and prize draws to build up your database of prospects.

If you are renting or buying in a list, as a general rule the best list to rent is one of people that have bought a similar product or service to the one you are offering.

Make a follow-up phone call

Your direct mail campaign will give you a better return on investment if you make a follow-up phone call. If you hate cold calling, then pay a temp to do it, or hire a telesales company. Be careful not to call people or companies registered with the Telephone Preference Service, as that’s illegal.

Find a way to track responses

You need to know how your direct mail campaign did. So find a simple way to track it. This can be a code that people must quote to get a certain offer, or better still, an offer in your letter that’s not repeated anywhere else. Tracking in this way will help you test different types of campaigns to find those that work the best. Use a simple spreadsheet to work out your return rate.

Repeat the best performing campaigns and cut the poor performers. Over time you will build up a good understanding of what works for your product or service and will be able to improve your overall return on investment (ROI).

Scale it up

Direct mail returns are often measured in single figures. But generally speaking, if you get a 2% return from sending 100 letters (2 sales), you will normally get the same percentage from larger mail outs if you use the same letter and the same quality data. And 2% of 1,000 letters is 20 sales. That predictability is what makes direct mail attractive.