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Sales Growth

Direct Marketing simulates Sales: Survey

With majority of recipients making a purchase, Direct Marketing remains one of the best ways of generating sales as figures suggest.

Almost three-quarters of people who received direct mail advertising from a business responded while the success rate for television was ten per cent lower according to ExactTarget’s 2009 Channel Preference Study.
Print media channels such as direct mail is more popular among younger people.

Robert Keitch, chief of membership and brand at the Direct Marketing Association, told the website: “Direct mail has long been the most effective of all direct marketing channels, which explains why the medium still accounts for 25 per cent of all direct marketing spend.”

Also the consumers are more likely to respond to direct mail promotions.

PMDG Marketing Communications is launching a direct mailing campaign to encourage more Mexicans to cross the border to shop in Texas, according to Business Wire.

I still think that direct marketing is the most effective of all marketing channels and is still popular among the youth. This survey shows further proof that it still works for improving sales.

Direct mail summary

Keep it focused. Don’t try to cover too many points in your letter.  Focus on one central benefit and perhaps a secondary one. You don’t want to confuse your audience with too many things to think about. 

Think like the customer / prospect.  Forget about your company as such and think about what you can do to help people and their businesses. 

Don’t get bitter, get better.  Even following all of these rules, you can’t guarantee that everything will go right every time.  And even a great response can probably be bettered. Take time to reflect on what could be done better and how you can improve each aspect to fine tune your letters and generate a more fruitful result next time.

Other Direct Mail letter ideas that work well

Create interest by being topical.  By using a headline from a newspaper (quoting the publication and date) you can show just how up to date your product or offer is. It also makes it clear that your message is based on ‘facts’ rather than being made up by you to sell things. 

It takes seven meaningful points of contact to make the average sale, yet most people give up on direct mail after one letter.  Better to create a list of 100 companies that you REALLY want to work with and mail them regularly than to mail a hundred different companies every week.

As part of your regular mailing campaign, send cuttings (about you or relevant stories) to your contact to show that you understand the industry and how it works. Mixed in with regular direct mail letters, this can be very effective.

Timing is (almost everything). The day your letter arrives has an effect, as does the time of year you send it.  Send your letter so that it arrives on a Tuesday.  For other matters think about the time of year that people are most likely to reply.  For example, when mailing schools, September seems to be the best month.

Stamp rather than frank.  It looks less industrial and is almost always more cost effective.

Follow up with e-mail or a phone call.  This area is covered later in the series, but a good direct mail letter that is followed up by phone within a week of being sent out will generate a far higher response rate for you. 

3D Mailers and novelties can work IF they are very carefully targeted; the more personal or suited to the contact the better.  For example, a personalised calendar can work well and even if it is expensive, it can prove to be a good investment in the long term if you bear in mind the lifetime value of a customer.

Qualify your data.  It’s a pain, but worth calling people on a mailing list prior to writing to them.  Make sure that the name you have is up to date and is the right person to contact otherwise you might as well save your stamp.  Writing to somebody who isn’t there anymore or isn’t in a position to buy from you is rarely going to end well. 

Test, test and test again.  If you think you have a good product and there is a market for it, then direct mail should work for you – it’s just a question of finding the key to unlocking the door, so keep testing out different headlines, offers, lists etc.  You’ll find one that works for you in the end – it might just take a few attempts to get it right. Remember that when you are testing, check out one thing at a time.
This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

The format

There are many different ideas about how long a direct mail letter should be.  One school of thought says that the more you tell, the more you sell. Whilst I understand this point, I haven’t found it to be true. However, the most effective length and style of direct mail letter I have worked on is no longer than a single sheet of A4.

The mailer is divided into a single page letter, (on headed paper) a response form that can be posted or faxed, plus a further letter or sheet with quotes from satisfied customers.  This three part mailer generates a higher response rate than any other and has more words and certainly more substance to it than a single page.  Test it out for yourself and see which variation works best for you.

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

The copy

Which do you find easier to read – Chaucer or The Sun editorial?  My guess is that whilst we hate to admit it, The Sun will win out every time.  I’m not suggesting that you copy their writing style, but elements of it are admirable. It’s clear what they are about.  They use short, punchy sentences.  There is little ambiguity over what is meant and you don’t need to re-read any of it because it was clear the first time.  At school we are taught to expand our vocabulary and write to impress.  With direct mail copy almost the opposite is true. You want to use words that everybody will understand and that people won’t stumble over.

One good way to discover any pitfalls is to read out loud what you have written and see if any bit makes you stumble.  If they do, re-write it until the whole letter flows smoothly.  Another important aspect is to use sub-headings to break up the text and use a PS at the end of your letter.  When it’s all written, look at it without reading the words.  Does it look like hard work to read? If it does, see if you can break it up with spaces and breaks.  

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

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The copy

Which do you find easier to read – Chaucer or The Sun editorial?  My guess is that whilst we hate to admit it, The Sun will win out every time.  I’m not suggesting that you copy their writing style, but elements of it are admirable. It’s clear what they are about.  They use short, punchy sentences.  There is little ambiguity over what is meant and you don’t need to re-read any of it because it was clear the first time.  At school we are taught to expand our vocabulary and write to impress.  With direct mail copy almost the opposite is true. You want to use words that everybody will understand and that people won’t stumble over.

One good way to discover any pitfalls is to read out loud what you have written and see if any bit makes you stumble.  If they do, re-write it until the whole letter flows smoothly.  Another important aspect is to use sub-headings to break up the text and use a PS at the end of your letter.  When it’s all written, look at it without reading the words.  Does it look like hard work to read? If it does, see if you can break it up with spaces and breaks.  

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

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The headline

You cannot sell to people if you haven’t got their attention. The headline is there solely to catch people’s attention.  Newspapers use headlines to communicate what they stand for and the type of stories that you will find inside.  The headlines actually sell the papers: once you have bought the paper, each story headline sells each individual story.

If you don’t have a clear benefit driven headline at the start of your letter you can wave goodbye to about half of your readers, so spend time getting it right. It has to appeal to your perfect customer so think up a series of headlines that sum up what the letter is about.  Create at least 10, but you may write as many as 100 before you find one that perfectly sums up what you want to say.

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

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The offer

What do you want to say? Why are you contacting these people in the first place?  You should always have a reason for writing to people.  Is it something new that they can have?  Is it a special offer or a reduced price, a new item in stock for a limited time?  Whatever it is, the offer is probably the most important area.  If you get the offer right then you are off to the best start.

Make your offer as eye catching and imaginative possible.  Make it time sensitive and difficult to say no to. Make it believable and above all make it easy to understand. To assess this, show your letter to a stranger: they should be able to say what you are telling them about in about 5 records if you are to have a chance of winning over people with your direct mail letter. 

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

What to say in direct mail?

There are various things that you can write in your letter that will make it more widely read, but bear in mind that about 50% of people will never even open your letter – it will go straight in the bin or will be partially looked at and then thrown away. The more you can make your letter look like a personal communication from one person to another, the better.

Having said that, there are certain ideas, tips and techniques that you can use to improve readership and response rates.

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.

Direct mail vs. e-mail

Traditional direct mail letters are quick compared to other marketing media but slow against e-mail. With direct mail, you can include more material and more details.  You have a physical presence in their home /office.  You can send your message out to named people or a job title. It is more expensive to send out than e-mail, but can be used to start the marketing process.

With e-mail, a cold list tends to elicit a poor response so it is more worthwhile sent to opt in people. It is very fast to send out and free or very low cost but response rates are generally far lower as people get inundated with e-mails every day.  For every letter you receive, you are likely to get around 20 e-mails. In order to make an impact with e-mail, it’s best to make it look as much like a ‘normal’ e-mail as you can.

This material comes from one one of the Marketing Mentor Marketing Seminars.