Direct mail is the most cost-effective form of advertising not withstanding advances in digital technology. Direct mail marketing remains the most responsive and effective form of advertising delivering the largest return on investment.
In fact, open rates for direct mail pieces can reach as high as 90% compare that to 6% to 24% for email opens. Smart brands continue to use well-designed direct mail letters, postcards and brochures to get timely messaging into the hands of customers.
Let’s explore the benefits of direct mail marketing and learn how to effectively leverage it as part of your marketing mix to drive brand awareness and business success.
Direct mail is the most cost-effective form of advertising not withstanding advances in digital technology. Direct mail marketing remains the most responsive and effective form of advertising delivering the largest return on investment.
In fact, open rates for direct mail pieces can reach as high as 90% compare that to 6% to 24% for email opens. Smart brands continue to use well-designed direct mail letters, postcards and brochures to get timely messaging into the hands of customers.
Let’s explore the benefits of direct mail marketing and learn how to effectively leverage it as part of your marketing mix to drive brand awareness and business success.
According to the AMA, people of all ages and demographics particularly enjoy the touch, feel and most other aspect of opening and reading mail.
Direct Mail can take this another step further by incorporating special effects to pieces which enhance the consumer’s senses in turn creating even higher response rates.
Direct mail marketing design plays a vital role in the effectiveness of your mail piece. There are many design considerations and your intended audience should be a major one.
Are you sending a letter which needs to be opened by a specific person or a postcard with a message available to anyone who sees it?
Can an unusual size or color scheme garner greater response?
Would a texture like soft touch, sand/grit or woodgrain connect deeply to a haptic sense?
Direct mail marketing design plays a vital role in the effectiveness of your mail piece. There are many design considerations and your intended audience should be a major one.
Are you sending a letter which needs to be opened by a specific person or a postcard with a message available to anyone who sees it?
Can an unusual size or color scheme garner greater response?
Would a texture like soft touch, sand/grit or woodgrain connect deeply to a haptic sense?
The possibilities are endless, and we have plenty of great ideas that we’d like to share. Connect with us to explore the possibility of format optimization, paper, personalization, textures and more.
In order to maximize effectiveness, a direct mail marketing campaign should be carefully planned and prepared. The first step is to identify your target audience. This could be people that have previously purchased from you or a specific consumer type from a contact list. Always design your mail piece creatively, aim to capturing the specific interest(s) of your audience.
If you want to expand your current audience we offer Predictive Modeling services that can help hone in on your current audience and identify new segments. It’s a good idea to keep your message simple for a more effective connection. Remember the three keys to success for any direct mail campaign are: an accurate list (data), the right offer, and creative that speaks to your audience.
Direct mail marketing is actually the perfect complement to your digital campaigns, in fact, the two work best in tandem. When digital sets-up the arrival of direct mail we call it “priming the mailbox”. Additionally, the information you’ve collected digitally can be used to personalize the direct mail pieces – it’s all part of an effective integrated marketing campaign. Customer information like accurate spelling of the person’s name & address are essential. Response to direct mail can provide opportunities for tailor made offers towards items they’ve purchased or browsed. For example: a website click or QR scan can automatically trigger a follow-up postcard to purchasers with a promo code to further stimulate sales. Contact us about “priming the mailbox”.
Here are some basic tips to start your direct mail marketing campaign:
Determine your budget, consider all aspects and value of each customer, including cost per acquisition and the life time value of a customer.
Identify your potential customer’s pain points and focus on how your product or service alleviates the pain.
Give them “an offer they can’t refuse” – something that will really motivate them to purchase.
Be persistent. Effective marketing can take 8 to 12 touch points to establish trust and familiarize a customer with your brand.
Our expert team can integrate direct mail with your digital campaign to collect important data and remarket with highly personalized print as the catalysis for re-engagement, targeting non-responders, abandoned carts and high intent audiences that you may not know you have.
If you are marketing business-to-business (or B2B) direct mail marketing is a special segment and differs from business-to-consumer (B2C). In general, B2B direct mail is highly effective when targeted properly. In B2B consistent messaging across all channels is key (direct mail, digital ads, trade press) You want to be sure you are targeting key decision makers to create proper authority. B2B marketing requires alignment with your sales team and follow-ups by phone or email to be highly effective.
Direct mail marketing requires consistent mailing> Therefore, each cost in a high-volume direct mail campaign needs to be evaluated and managed. American Litho offers one point of contact to help guide you through the process and add value with innovative solutions on everything from format design to postal optimization.
Turning to return on your investment, or ROI, this can be calculated by multiplying the costs of the mailing by the number of pieces mailed, the number of responses to the mailing, the number of sales, and the price of the item sold. ROI on a direct mailing can be quite attractive (AMA average is 37%) contact us to look at your specific campaign.
An essential step in the direct mail marketing process is testing your campaign. Before you do the big spend, try sending your mailer to a small segment of your list. This can help you estimate how effective the campaign will be. Our digital print platform is the perfect match for testing small sample sizes of highly personalized direct mail. If satisfied with the test run, we can scale up the campaign from there.
Our digital print platform is optimized for one to millions, with each impression customizable with 100% personalized variable data.
In order for your direct mail marketing campaign to deliver results, you’ve got to make it as easy as possible for your customers to engage across all channels. This means having a phone number and a digital component like a website, coupon code, or QR code.
Ultimately you want a clear call to action like a store visit or online to make a purchase, each which can also be tracked and counted as a conversion. Depending on the technology integration your design may qualify for a postal discount (up to 2%).
In order for your direct mail marketing campaign to deliver results, you’ve got to make it as easy as possible for your customers to engage across all channels. This means having a phone number and a digital component like a website, coupon code, or QR code.
Ultimately you want a clear call to action like a store visit or online to make a purchase, each which can also be tracked and counted as a conversion. Depending on the technology integration your design may qualify for a postal discount (up to 2%).
Now that you know more about direct mail marketing, let us introduce you to American Litho, an award-winning company and a top US direct mail printer. We offer a unique approach to planning, creating, printing, mailing and tracking direct mail.
Are you ready to raise brand awareness and tap into the power of direct mail marketing? Give us a call or fill out the form below. We’ll be happy to give you a free estimate along with sample campaign ideas (depending on the scope of the project) to get your imagination going. We look forward to hearing from you!
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