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Direct Mail Tips and Tricks |
Written by charen smith
Wednesday, 09 July 2008
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Direct mail pieces have long been a weapon in many marketing campaigns. Even with the proliferation of the Internet, direct mail is still a viable marketing tactic. As technology improves and color printing costs go down, there's no reason not to send out direct mail pieces, like catalogs and brochures. But to get a good response rate from direct mail, you need to follow a few guidelines. Outlined here are some guidelines to help you get started with your successful direct mail campaign. Know your RFM. This pertains to the people on your mailing list. The "R" means their "recent purchase," "F" stands for "frequency" and "M" means your customers' "monetary profile." You need to know when each customer last bought something from you, how often that person buys your product from you (and a similar product from a competitor), and how much she generally spends for your product or your competitors' product. You need to know who you're sending your direct mail pieces to so that you don't waste your money by sending pieces to people who don't buy that often from you. Send out three direct mail pieces a month to each customer. Experts say this is the minimum number of pieces consumers need to see to notice marketing. These three pieces don't all have to be the same kind of marketing piece - you can send out a brochure one week, a letter the next week and a postcard the last week. Give consumers a great offer. You want customers to take action after reading your direct mail pieces. To encourage them to take the action you want, you'll need to entice them - with a coupon, a free trial or sample, or a special deal that's only available for a limited time. A great offer will get customers out of their houses and into your store. Test your direct mail materials. You can either test your materials by sending out only a few hundred to a segment of your target audience and tracking how many respond, or you can test more informally by presenting your materials to employees, families and friends. Ask for honest feedback (best in an anonymous form, like a comment card) and then incorporate that feedback into your materials. Keep it simple. Too many words plus one little postcard equals a direct mail piece that won't be read. The same goes for a brochure that has so many images and text on it that you can't tell which side is the front and which side is the back. You want to get a lot of information on your direct mail piece, which is fine, but don't forsake your design for content. A cluttered piece will simply not be read. One tactic to get around this is to send out three pieces to the same person with different information highlighted on each of the three pieces. Another tactic is to include a few benefits on the direct mail piece and then include a call to action that directs the customer to your Web site for more information. For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Color Printing Article Source: http://www.ArticleBlast.com |
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