Less mail equals more visibility in the mailbox. More overwhelm in the email inbox equals less visibility than the Direct Mail piece you are holding in your hand.
According to a recent report from the Data and Marketing Association, the volume of mail went down in 2016, yet the percentage of Direct Mail went up. Almost 10 billion catalogs were mailed that year, and more than 100 million people in the U.S. made a purchase from a catalog.
Email costs less to press send, yet the cost is to scale because the return on investment for Direct Mail remains strong. The DMA said prospect lists generated around a 2.9% response, whereas a house list got a 5.3% response.
In marketing, that’s high – really high – because nothing else comes close. The same DMA report showed response rates decidedly lower for online display ads (0.9%), for email prospect list (0.3%), for email house list (0.6%), for Social Media (0.6%) and paid search (0.5%).
So, what does that say about the value of print and the post office? It’s still working.
A large majority of people still check their mail daily – and around three-fourths sort their mail when they do. So Direct Mail puts you in the home. You can’t get closer than that unless you personally knocked on the door.
Then, your sales piece allows you to present your presentation from start to finish. That’s where you identify the homeowner’s pain, show how you can solve that problem, the benefits they’ll receive when you do and what they need to do this get this valuable solution.
In a time of phishing scams, privacy concerns and email hackers, Direct Mail skips over all that fear brought on by the digital age. It’s seen as more trustworthy. But it takes a plan to make it work.
Effective Direct Mail follows a tried-and-true formula, beginning with compelling copy. The strategic wording of your offer, the promise of your solution, the proof in your testimonials and guarantees and the call to action operate like a fine-tuned system to generate leads.
This system includes sequential mailings over a specific period of time. In marketing, if you do something one time, it goes nowhere. But do something one time in one media, repeat in that media and reinforce in other media, you begin to breakthrough. After a great letter goes out, send a follow-up letter or postcard. A minimum of three mailings is optimum. Also reinforce your message in Social Media and other marketing avenues.
For your Direct Mail marketing, take a page from digital marketing. Heck, take several pages. The technology that brought us online platforms also improves Direct Mail – because it allows personalization and targeting that marketers of yesteryear never knew. Because of the investment required, targeting to the right list is more important than ever.
Digital marketing can’t be beat on tracking clicks and activity. Your analytics have all sorts of nitty-gritty details. But you can still do a great deal to measure your Direct Mail response. For example, your letters can have different phone numbers or slight variations that your call-takers can note as they say, “May I ask how you heard about this offer?” You can also do split testing, sending one version to a portion of your list, another version to the remainder. Or you can send them to a specific landing page in your call to action.
Also, digital and Direct Mail are interwoven, because the call to action often leads to a website visit even as your message is reinforced in online media.
Hudson,Ink can help you navigate both the online and offline sides of your marketing. Call 800-489-9099 or email [email protected] to speak with a coach about a tailored marketing plan for your business.