Make Your Direct Mail Work Harder

Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool, and when it’s used creatively it can be extremely cost effective. The biggest mistake to make when planning a direct mail effort is to allow it be uninteresting.

Direct mail pieces that are big on product features and overly informative (and also totally unexciting) make direct mail an expensive medium because so much of it goes straight into the wastebasket unopened, and of course unread.

Here are eight techniques that will put more life into your direct mail and deliver better results from your next campaign.

1. Make an Interesting Offer

Unlike people shopping in a store, when someone gets your direct mail piece they aren’t looking to buy something. You have to capture their attention and get them interested in whatever it is you’re selling.

The usual offer is something like “10% off” or “7-day sale”. Not that the offer itself is necessarily a bad one, but we’ve seen it all before. Try to make your offer really interesting by coming up with something new.

If you’re marketing an Italian car you could package a test drive with a free DVD of “The Godfather”. Or perhaps you could offer the chance to win a trip to Italy and use the headline: “Test drive your new Alfa Romeo in Tuscany”.

The main point here is to be imaginative. Try to come up with an offer that’s something new and don’t just do what everybody else is doing.

2. Have More than One Benefit

We talk about “the offer” but it doesn’t have to provide just one benefit. The offer you make can be a package of benefits, and the top two or three should be pointed out to the reader as excitingly as possible.

Always think of it from your reader’s point of view. What do they really want from a product like yours? A home security system serves as a deterrent to burglars, naturally, but also delivers peace of mind and can possibly lower the cost of home insurance premiums.

3. Look Different

Direct mail doesn’t always have to be something printed and stuffed inside an envelope, although that description probably fits over 90% of all direct marketing pieces.

People are curious. If they receive something that looks a bit unusual they’re much more likely to take a look inside to find out what’s there. Check with your local postal authorities to see what they’ll allow but mailing pieces using CDs or something that rattles can attract attention as well as carry your message.

4. Have a Handwritten Address

Keep track of your own mail over a week and see how little of it has been personally addressed. Most of it’s neatly laser printed and looks like it’s come straight from a computer, which it probably has.

It will cost more to have your DM pieces addressed by hand but it’s another way to have something stand out from everything else in the mailbox. If you’re sending out tens of thousands of pieces it’s probably too costly, but well worth considering if the number of pieces you’re mailing is a thousand or less.

5. Base It on a Testimonial

You can talk about your product all you like, but everybody expects you to be positive about it. After all, you’ve got something to gain when it’s sold.

If somebody you know tells you they’ve purchased something and it’s been really good that’s another story. That’s a referral and there’s nothing better to base your direct marketing on than referrals from satisfied customers.

Testimonials don’t always have to be from people who are famous or well-known. A real estate agent with a single office can capitalize on their localized nature by getting testimonials from people in their neighborhood to be their spokespersons.

6. Keep it Brief and Brisk

Direct mail has to be written in an exciting and stimulating manner. Droning on and on about something is a quick way to lose the reader’s interest.

Tell your story in as few words as possible, touching on only those points that are necessary — the offer, why the reader should accept it, what they can get out of it, and what they have to do to get it.

Make it as easy as possible for the reader to respond. Offer multiple choices such as by mail, by phone, by email or by visiting your website. Highlight the “now” element by giving them a deadline that’s not far away; most direct mail pieces aren’t kept more than a day or two anyway.

7. Put a “Grabber” on the Outside

Once again, take a look at the mail you receive. Most of it just has a return address and that’s not very exciting.

Put something on the outside of your direct mail piece that will get the reader’s attention– something that hints at what’s inside and makes them want to open it.

“Enjoy your next pizza in Italy” or “Your new car could be inside” would inspire most people to at least check out the contents.

8. Who’s the Recipient?

People always respond better to direct mail that’s addressed personally to them. As a DM expert once commented: “Recipient doesn’t live here; I do!” and he’s right.

Unless you’re extremely lucky, any direct mail you send out that’s not personally addressed will be viewed like spam in an email inbox. It will be unwanted, not requested and therefore suspect.

A personalized address list is more expensive than simply sending material addressed to “the recipient” or “the householder”, and it will be worth every cent it costs.

Direct mail gives you so many opportunities to get people interested — even excited, about what you’re offering them. Take advantage of all these opportunities and watch your response rates climb.

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Copyright 2005, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.