Direct mail is a top performer for your integrated marketing strategy, and recent studies are showing its reliable and steady impact. In fact, according to the ANA/DMA Response Rate Report 2018, prospect lists in 2018 earned a 4.9% response rate – higher than 2017 and actually the highest since the report was first issued in 2003.
House lists are doing even better and in 2018 garnered a substantial 9% response rate. That’s nearly double 2017 (5.1%) and, again, is the highest for this category since the report started. The distance between house lists and prospect lists makes sense since your most loyal customer base will be included as well as other customers and prospects who have made contact or have a relationship with your company.
The same report also shows that direct mail outperforms any other digital marketing medium, including email, paid search or social media, at a rate of five to nine times greater. For example, the house list response rate of 9% compares to 1% for email, 1% for paid search, 1% for social media and .3% for online display.
Mailing to customers not only pays when you’ve launched a marketing campaign and want to reach the group most likely to respond, to purchase and to choose an upsell for a higher transaction value, but retention mailing also keeps the customers connected so that they’ll be ready as your next offer solves their current problem.
Repetition Builds Response
Though direct mail continues to be a marketing workhorse that delivers leads, it’s most effective as part of an overall campaign strategy. According to media delivery company Valassis, 74% of customers surveyed say that seeing an offer in both print and online captures their attention, and for 60% of their customers, seeing an offer in both print and online makes them more likely to purchase.
Using multiple marketing channels helps create the reminder echo that prompts the customer to say, “Oh, yeah, I need to follow up on that.” According to a study from the British firm Go Inspire Group, segmented study groups that received both email and direct mail as part of their campaign purchased six times more than those who received email alone.
In another study conducted by Valassis and the NPD Group, 69% of respondents say that they look at ads that come in the mail “always or most of the time,” while another 25% answered “sometimes.”
These numbers for mailboxes can’t be touched by the numbers you’ll find for email inboxes. Yet each channel works together to support your overall campaign and lead your prospects toward an action step.
Benefits of Direct Mail
Direct mail has several “tangible” qualities that help improve response rates. The physical item stands out in a mailbox. Prospects handle it, bring it in the home and leave it on a counter, giving it longer shelf life than the soon-to-be-deleted email in their inbox. As a matter of fact, RetailWire reports that direct mail has a 17-day lifespan, but email can be gone in seconds.
Because it’s tangible, homeowners can discuss the offer before making a decision – it can open a conversation between spouses – whereas an email just goes to one person and is unlikely to get forwarded if unsolicited.
Direct mail is seen as more trustworthy than email. “Junk mail” is largely a term of the past, when homeowners were comparing advertising mail to letters from friends and family. Now it’s just “mail.” Yet unsolicited email is considered spam and gets caught up in junk folders.
Follow Success Strategies
Because direct mail is a significant marketing investment, however, you don’t want to squander your potential with a poorly written or designed marketing piece. Creative approaches and even different size mailings can get attention, but even your regular envelope will perform well when you employ tips for best practices. For example:
Break up the copy – Bob Bly, direct response copywriter and author of The Direct Mail Revolution, says that readers should be able to tell at a glance what your offer is and how they can benefit. Don’t bury your gold in long paragraphs. Use bullets, subheads, checklists and other ways to allow busy readers to scan your message for key benefits.
Connect the letter to your website – Use a QR code or direct prospects to visit your landing page for additional details on your offer. You’re giving them an action step while also reducing the risk they might feel about calling you out of the gate. Consumers like to research before they proceed toward a big-ticket item (and often small-ticket items too).
Create landing pages for your direct mail piece – This not only helps you focus on the details, benefits and reasons to act now, but you can also use the analytics for the landing page to help you keep track of your campaign’s success.
Target your mailings, starting with existing customers – As mentioned earlier, house lists perform twice as well as a prospect list. While consumers are highly likely to throw away mail from a company they haven’t heard of, more than three-fourths (76%) are likely to discuss mail from a company they’ve purchased from in the past.
Schedule your mailings for integration – After your direct mail goes out, an email can follow a week later that references the mail. You’ll be more likely to get someone to read the email after a print mailing than if you reversed that order. Follow with another “last chance” email to remind about the offer’s urgency and the need to act now. You can also schedule direct mail just as you would a drip email campaign that is triggered by certain actions.
Don’t forget the call-to-action – Be clear about the next steps your customer should take to gain the benefits you’re offering, and make that step easy to take. It could be “visit our website for complete details” or “give us a call today and schedule your free estimate.” And make sure your contact info is prominent. Also, when you do receive a response, be ready to respond quickly to your next customer!