Many things can go wrong in a direct mailing. Here are some tips for making sure yours goes smoothly.
-
Avoid Holidays — Don’t launch your program on a big holiday weekend. People have so much more to think about. We launched a test for a collectibles client in Parade magazine in San Francisco on a Super Bowl Sunday when the Forty Niners were playing and response was abysmal!
-
Double Check the Numbers — Check the Web site address and 800 number in copy before it goes to the printer.
-
Always Include an Offer — The offer represents 40% of the success of a program. Include a premium, discount, terms or service offer available only to responders to this particular effort.
The first time we sat down with Ford back in the ‘80s to talk about a Lincoln direct mail program, we asked about an offer. The Ford people looked puzzled, then one of them said: “Why, buy a Lincoln, of course.” The offer has to be concrete and doable. And it should not be offered to the general public, just to the people who receive your mailing.
-
Obtain Quality Lists — Make sure your lists are good and test them. List planning is often an afterthought when it should be first in line. On a mailing for a brokerage company (investments), the lists we rented did better than the company’s house file, which isn’t supposed to happen. That one was their mistake for not updating their file and my mistake for not asking them about it.
-
Uncomplicate Order Forms — Make the order form easy to use. You’d be amazed what otherwise brilliant creative people can do to make it hard for prospects to order. I once saw an ad for a sailing magazine set completely in reverse — white-on-black type, including the coupon. Who has a white-ink pen handy?
-
Don’t Love the Creative Over Functionality — Don’t fall in love with the creative and forget a proper order form. While we’re on the topic of creative, never use general advertising art directors to do your work. Direct marketing is not advertising.
-
Beware the Beautiful Brochure — Another of our brokerage clients asked for a letter and a brochure. We did a brochure about lovely partnerships and friendships. It was charming, and the art directors were doing a happy dance. It depressed response by almost 20% because it was so lovely people were looking at it and didn’t act on the offer. Test the mailing without the fancy brochure. If you don’t need it, you’ll save a bundle.
-
Keep an Eye on the Competition — A word to the wise: We once went out with a telephone company offer with a certain per-minute rate, and by the time the mail was dropped we were twice as expensive as other companies’ offers. Needless to say, our offer didn’t work.
-
Include a Letter — Direct mail without a letter is doomed to under-perform and testing is imperative. We had one letter outpull another by 1,300%!
-
Get the Mail There on Time — If it is a time-sensitive mailing (respond by April 3, 2007), and you’re mailing at the Standard (formerly Third Class) rate, make sure your mail will arrive in time for your prospects and customers to respond. We did a huge mailing for a department store chain, asking people to bring their coupon certificates in for a 15% discount. Quite a huge number didn’t get their mailings in time and the president — and I — received many complaints.
Lois K. Geller is president of Mason and Geller Direct Marketing, a Hollywood, FL-based consultancy. She is an adjunct professor at New York University, and the author of Sold! Direct Marketing for Real Estate Pros.
Network
