One of the elements that is critical for a contracting business to be successful is the ability to build the trust of your current customers and future customers. Trust is actually the basis for any commercial transaction. Who buys a new product they don’t think will work or turns to a company they believe will rip them off?

Certainly, contractors need skill sets, equipment, a service/installation menu and a target market to run a business. You need a way to communicate with this market, and a way to keep these customers engaged. There are clearly a lot of steps to put into place to turn your plan into profit. So, trust is not the only thing you need. However, you surely cannot prosper without it.

What are the reasons a prospect might not trust a contractor? The usual suspects probably line up like this: prices are too high, won’t follow up after the sale, pushes you to buy something you don’t need or – despite what the phone recording says – doesn’t think your call is important to them.

Plus, this is an industry that also has had the bad actors of scam artists who take the money, do the job halfway, then leave town. So suspicions do exist. Therefore, everything you do on behalf of your company should work toward developing trust. Your direct mail strategy is a valuable and flexible process to put to use in this effort.

When the objective is acquisition marketing, trust is better built not by selling but by advising, explaining, showing and leading into the right decision for the right customer. Direct mail letters give you the space to present your case with strong headlines, unique selling propositions, benefit-rich copy, supportive testimonials, reassuring guarantees, time-sensitive offers and a strong call to action.

As the prospect reads, he or she can sense value and credibility. By layering your copy with promises of benefits that are supported by statistics, guarantees and testimonials and other types of proof, you’ve become a trustworthy provider of contracting services.

Trust is also built when you reach out to your customers for reasons other than selling your products and services. That’s why customer newsletters distinguish you from your competitors while also raising the level of trust customers have in you. Direct mail allows you to serve, assist and recommend – building your image beyond “salesman” to advisor, expert and even friend.

Now, what do friends do? They share the inside scoop. Direct mail enables you to give special deals to people with whom you have a relationship. This is how your customers get the extra discount on offers you’ve created. Holiday cards express gratitude at the year’s end, and thank you notes say it too, right after the call.

According to MarketingSherpa, 76 percent of consumers trust direct mail over digital channels when they want to make a purchase. While digital has its own positive attributes, those factors of low cost and immediate distribution make it a go-to tool for marketers that doesn’t get the same attention by potential audiences as a letter in the mailbox. Plus, it’s often misused.

That’s why marketers trust direct mail too and find that integrating it with other media fosters a solid marketing result. A study released in 2019 by Demand Metric on multichannel marketing revealed that half of the marketers responding to the study use direct mail in their multichannel campaigns – and 80 percent of them report that adding direct mail improves their campaign performance.

Postcards and letter formats are the most common direct mail pieces, each providing their own benefits. Postcards obviously have a lower price tag, and the message is immediately visible since there’s no envelope to open. They’re often kept around and sometimes saved prominently on a refrigerator or in a coupon holder when a discount is offered. As noted earlier, direct mail letters give you more space to make the case, which is especially useful when you’re trying to move someone to action on investing in a new system.

Direct mail stands out in the mailbox more than other media in digital, electronic or even print form. It’s delivered to the home. The homeowner lifts it, holds it, reviews it – and often saves it.

There are some variations that stand out even more. Oversized postcards and oversized letters get noticed, at the cost of a bit extra postage. Some companies also use “dimensional” direct mail – which extends beyond postcard and envelope to include boxes and tubes. These intrigue and create curiosity that gets them opened. The added expense, however, does limit their use for mass-market campaigns.

A research study completed a few years ago by Canada Post found results that marketers in the U.S. can apply as well. The study showed that:

  • Customers “get” your message faster – and remember it. Direct mail is easier to understand and more memorable than digital media, the study said. The brain science showed that a direct mail piece requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than an online ad and generates a much higher level of recall.
  • Customers respond to your message more often. Direct mail is far more persuasive than digital media, the results show. By layering the benefits into this memorable and tactile format, the motivation response is 20% higher.
  • Customers take in a lot at first glance. According to the study, direct mail is visually processed quicker than digital media. The brain receives the message faster, thanks to the lower cognitive requirement as well as the higher motivation factors.
  • Customers are more likely to be moved to action. Direct mail drives behavior more than digital media. That means the calls to action are more effective and get a higher response rate.

Developing trust also involves keeping your database up to date. By updating your list prior to and following each mailing, you increase your direct mail deliverability, improve your ROI – and lower the postage costs of sending to outdated addresses. In addition, narrow your aim. The more targeted you make your direct mail, the more likely it is to be effective.