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Avoid Direct Mail Suicide with Postcard Magnet Mailers
Keep your direct mail from going directly to the trash can by sending a postcard magnet mailer. Stand out from the competition, get long term quality exposure and increase sales with one powerful, affordable product.
On their 10 year...
Direct Mail Marketing Done Correctly, Cannot Fail
So how do you do it? Direct mail marketing. When it comes to marketing your product or services there are two basic challenges: 1. How do you obtain new customers or clients? 2. How do you get your existing customers to come back for more? ...
Direct Mail Marketing Now As Easy As Email
Is the United States Postal Service (USPS) a marketing innovator? As it turns out, the kind folks in the blue shorts are in fact making it easy for even the smallest business to duke it out with their biggest competitors by using the USPS new...
Direct Mail Sales Letters Flow Better With Subheads
A subscriber to my newsletter asks: "Got any good pointers on writing great sub-heads?" Yes, I do. Here they are. Use subheads to draw attention to your copy Why do we use subheads anyway? Because you can’t just cover the important points in...
Internet Direct Mail Is Different: 14 Things To Remember
Internet Direct Mail (IDM) and Traditional Direct Mail (TDM) both have the same goals in mind. They are to generate leads or orders.
However, marketers need to respect that online media and print media present different hurdles in achieving this...
Is your direct mail missing these key features?
Welcome to the world of direct mail! Chances are you’ve seen direct mail just about every day in your mailbox. This has proven to be an effective form of marketing, and one that you should seriously consider. As with other avenues of...
Read This, Sell More: Direct Mail Marketing Is About Benefits, Not Features
Your customer wants a cleaner kitchen, not a kitchen cleaner.
Your customers are interested in benefits, not features. So sell benefits in your sales letters.
The difference between a feature and a benefit comes down to this: A feature is what...
Real Estate Marketing, Do You Use Direct Mail?
Prospecting for leads is by far the most difficult part of being a Realtor or small business professional. In fact, lead development is by far the most expensive and time consuming aspect of your job. However, you level of success in lead...
Top 10 Tips for Growing Your Business with Direct Mail Postcards
Introduction: Why Use Postcards? If you've priced out display advertising or Yellow Pages listings, you know that they can add up to big money in a hurry. Quite often, these valuable promotional tools are beyond the budgets of many small and...
Using Internet Direct Mail To Increase Your Company’s Profits
“I want to sell my company’s products on the Web, but how do I get potential clients to visit my site,” a client asked recently. The answer is a strategy that has proven extremely effective for many different businesses…Internet Direct Mail. ...
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Direct Mail Response Rate Boosters (10 of them)
1. Mail to a different list
Your list is the most important part of your direct mail campaign. Who you mail to is more important than what you mail. So if you are persuaded that your offer is attractive, your creative is compelling and your timing is spot on, mail to a different group of people and see what happens
2. Change your offer
The offer is the most important part of your direct mail package after your list. So if your response rates are lacklustre, change your offer (my thanks to fellow direct mail copywriter Bob Hacker for this counsel).
3. Improve your creative
Maybe your response rates are depressed because your package is depressing. Why not mail something else, something radically different? Instead of a letter, mail a postcard. Instead of a self-mailer, mail a dimensional mailer. Even hire a brand new direct mail copywriter, someone who will add a fresh set of eyes to your challenge. Just make sure that your new creative is different enough from your existing package that you’ll know that it made the difference when your response rates change.
4. Mail at a different time
Timing is vital in direct mail. So check yours. Are you mailing to the right people at the right time of the year and the right time of the week? Check and make sure. test your hunches by mailing during a different time slot and see what happens.
5. Offer better payment options
Offering payment by credit card boosts response. Offering a credit or “bill-me” plan will improve results by 50% or more (says Richard Benson).
6. Offer a premium
Instead of a cash discount, offer a premium (such as an Apple iPod).
7. Give something away
Free is still a powerful word in direct mail.
8. Offer a
guarantee
Remove the hesitation that some prospects have by offering a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
9. Improve your credibility on paper
Read your package cover to cover, including the cover, and ask yourself (or better yet, ask someone else), why a stranger should trust you. Then overcome that distrust with testimonials, your credentials, third-party endorsements, accreditations and other facts that build trust.
10. Make ordering easier
Is your order form too busy? Have you frustrated prospective customers by giving too few ways to order (only mail, for example, instead of mail and fax and phone). A change here can make a dramatic difference.
11. Ask for the order sooner
Read through your sales message and see how long you are in getting to the point. Experiment with putting your offer and call to action further up in the message.
12. Add to your package
The temptation when response rates are lower than expected is to reduce the size of the package. Instead, add something to the mailer, such as a brochure, buckslip or liftnote (if you don’t know what these things are, visit the Direct Mail Glossary at www.sharpecopy.com/glossary.html). You are more likely to boost response by adding to your package than you are by making it cheaper.
© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
About the Author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter who helps business owners and marketing managers attract new clients using direct mail marketing. Learn more about his services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at www.sharpecopy.com.
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