Today I am going
to share with you a few quick tips and tricks for getting your direct mail
message read and increasing the overall effectiveness of your campaign. This is
a message you will want to archive and pull out when it’s time to plan your
next project.
Direct Mail Tips & Tricks
In direct mail
marketing, the response rate is the
percentage of recipients who respond to the mailing. Response rates can vary
widely by industry, though the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in a study of
1,122 industry-specific campaigns determined that the average response rate for
direct mail is 2.61%. The response rate is often used as a measure of the
success of a direct mail marketing campaign.
Before beginning
any direct mail marketing campaign, it is a good practice to determine the break-even response rate – the number of
respondents to the campaign that must buy to yield enough profit to cover the
cost of the direct mail campaign. If the break-even response rate is very high,
then the campaign can be restructured to lower the cost and therefore lower the
break-even response rate to a more achievable level.
In general, the
overall response rate is higher when a smaller target audience is contacted
multiple times versus a larger target audience contacted once.
Communicating with your customers
If your
organization is a nonprofit that needs to communicate with alumni, members or donors, you’ll be interested in the results of a survey
commissioned by Pitney Bowes in 2009. Conducted by International Communications
Research, the survey included approximately 1100 U.S. college graduates who
were asked about their preferences for receiving information from the school
they attended.
The survey found
that 54% of respondents have a strong preference for direct mail. Less than
half that number – only 23% – chose e-mail as their preferred method of
communication. Respondents also indicated that they are less likely to discard
or ignore direct mail that includes messages about fundraising and donations
for their college or university. The alumni also prefer print mail for
correspondence and news from their alma mater – 57% indicated a preference for
mail versus 31% for e-mail.
Q&A
Q. Is direct mail bad for the environment?
A. Contrary to what you may have heard from proponents of various “Do
Not Mail” coalitions, direct mail is an environmentally responsible way to
advertise. Yes, trees are harvested to create the pulp from which paper is
made. But the harvested trees are grown specifically for that purpose on tree
farms known as managed timberlands. The
trees are an agricultural crop, like vegetables on a farm; the trees are not
cut down from neighborhood parks or wilderness areas. America’s forestry and
paper industries plant more than 4 million new trees each day (or 1.4 billion
per year) – that’s three new trees for every one harvested.
Recycling is another reason not to fear direct mail. Paper is one
consumer product that is fairly easy and inexpensive to recycle. After first
use, paper products can be made into corrugated boxes, packaging, newsprint,
tissue and event writing paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, annual recycling rates for advertising mail have increased seven-fold
since 1990. In 2008, 57.4% of all the paper consumed in the United States was
recovered for recycling. This is the equivalent of nearly 340 pounds of paper
for each man, woman and child in America. The paper industry has set a goal of
60% recovery by 2012.
At PaperGraphics we can teach you how to
make more money through our ManagedMarketing™ program where we can handle all
of your printing needs but also teach your staff how to prepare, invite and
close the sale with your prospects. In fact, we are the only printer in this market
that is certified to do so.
If your
organization or business needs to increase sales we can help. Call us at 254-773-7391
or reply to this message to set up a no obligation consultation where we assess
your current situation and offer a plan of attack that works for your budget.
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