Make Your Mailing a Success!

Topics Covered

Why direct mail?
The quality of a mailing list is critical!
Are all lists created equal? Qualified vs Compiled
What is best to mail?
Developing the right direct mail piece
What should a direct mail piece include?
Utilize responses to their full potential
What response rate can be expected?
When should a direct mail piece be mailed?
How to measure success
Direct Mail vs Email
What is a Third-Party Mail House?
Checklist for an effective direct mail campaign

Why direct mail?
Direct mail marketing is a critical part of your marketing mix. From generating awareness about your product or service to building a qualified database of customers, direct mail marketing is a powerful tool. It is a unique blend of advertising and sales, allowing you to present the product or service, make an offer and try to close the sale – all at once.

What are some other benefits to direct mail?
• Obtain qualified leads for follow up, which in time, builds a customer database.
• Control who sees your message, and how it’s presented.
• Expose your product to a larger geographic market.
• An affordable way to zero in on your crossover market.
• Re-calibrate or refine at any time – direct mail is flexible!

Consider this...
• Direct mail averages $10 in sales for every $1 invested! (According to a recent DMA study)
• Consumer response to direct mail jumped 12% from 2001-2003. (According to the annual direct marketing survey conducted by a marketing services provider)
• According to a recent United States Postal Service (USPS) study, 74% of direct mail recipients expect direct mail to affect their purchasing decisions.

Being able to market pinpointed prospects with postcards, flyers, catalogs, or personalized notes is a terrific opportunity. If you take the time to do it right, direct marketing will generate gratifying and measurable results. Let us show you how we can help!

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The quality of a mailing list is critical!
Your sales success with direct mail is directly related to the quality of your mailing list. The best product, the best offer and the most cleverly-written copy will be wasted if your direct mail is sent to the wrong people. A list of 5,000 non-targeted names that yields one or two sales may make your cost of sale too high. You would be better off to spend the money on a more targeted mailing list that has the potential to generate a higher percentage of sales. In the end, your per-sale cost will be lower. The more specifically you can describe a prospect, the more likely you are to find a list that is a good match.

Remember the 60-30-10 Rule: 60% of a campaign’s effectiveness is driven by the mailing list, 30% by the offer, and 10% by the creative package. NBM can provide you with the 60% (the right mailing list), now you just have to focus on the other 40%.

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Are all lists created equal? Qualified vs Compiled
Qualified lists are lists that have been contacted on a regular basis to gather demographic information, which is done via mail, phone, fax or email. A qualified list is the owner’s personal customer list; therefore the data is maintained and kept current. These lists are typically rented on a one-time use basis.

Compiled lists are created by companies that access public information sources, such as yellow pages, government listings, etc. The company places these listings into categories (compiling the data) solely for the purpose of renting the lists. The lists are usually sent to the renter via disk and are useable for one year.

Compiled lists usually cost less to rent than a qualified list because the data is not proven or qualified. Qualified lists are updated and proven, therefore more time and expense has already been put into the data.

Benefits of a Qualified List
• Higher response rates. A qualified list can yield on average 5%-6% response rates, sometimes higher. A compiled list yields 1%-2% response rates.
• More targeted lists are available with a qualified list because demographic information has been gathered. This enables the renter to reach their target market more effectively.
• The money spent on creating and printing mail pieces as well as the postage is better spent with a qualified list. It is more cost effective to spend a little more on a qualified-tailored-proven list of buyers that has substantially higher response rates, which results in a higher ROI. “You get what you pay for!”

What is best to mail?

• When you want to attract new customers or broaden your product line or service offerings, you need to include a clear and enticing call to action. Giving customers an immediate taste of your offering usually works best. A tri-fold flyer detailing a free sample or offer is most effective. Your discount or special offer can also be showcased in a special tear-off tab at the bottom of the flyer (be sure to include your company’s contact information on this tab).

• Consider an envelope and note card that delivers a special gift or service when the customer mentions your mailer. You might also offer time-sensitive gift certificates or a card for a set of discounts (For example, 20% off your first order), coupons for a one-time bonus, targeted catalogs, or tickets for a prize drawing if the customer buys an item. For business-to-business marketing, the certificate or note card might offer a free week’s service or a learning experience.

• Produce a lower-cost piece such as a postcard and send it (or a series of similar pieces) to the target audience frequently. Create a bigger impression by producing a larger, high quality printed piece. Based on the amount of content you want to convey and the budget you have, you can select a format that meets your marketing and budget requirements.

• 4 postcards – 1 piece of paper. An 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper cut into quarters produces 4 perfect postcards. It’s a fast, simple way for your printer to produce postcards with paper right off the shelf.

• Postcards over the maximum height or length for card rates are charged letter rates. Additionally, odd sized pieces can bring the cost of your mailing up in price as well.

• Always horizontal: The address side of any mailer must be designed in a horizontal format. Mail pieces that are taller than they are wide, incur a surcharge from the United States Postal Service (USPS). Also with the horizontal pieces, the ratio of height to width must fall into USPS guidelines.

• Barcodes – 1st Class: Barcodes can save you 20% over full rate mail and 13% over presorted only mail.

• Barcodes – 3rd Class (Standard A): Barcodes can save you 17% over non-automated Standard A mail rates.

• Labels and addressing systems: One of the very first items a potential client uses to judge you (by your mail piece) is the address and method used. Quality and readability is important to present a good first impression. So whether your printer/mailhouse uses a label or a direct impression system for addressing, make sure it’s running well and looking good. Ask your mailhouse for a sample of the size and font they’ll use for your mailing.

• With all direct mail pieces, the size of the recipient’s address area is vital. Always check with the USPS before printing your mail piece.

Developing the right direct mail piece
Make sure you understand your goals and know what you want your mailer to achieve. The United States Postal Service (USPS) found that the top three reasons for increased frequency of direct mailers were:

1. Company growth or expansion
2. Change of strategy
3. Introduction of a new product

Understanding your target audience and the unique benefits that your company offers them is also crucial. Select your target audience, clearly identify what you are trying to accomplish, and formulate a direct marketing campaign that will impress your prospects and motivate them to respond.

What should a direct mail piece include?

• Ask a hard-hitting question in the headline, or write something clever about your offer. The more emotional and attention-grabbing headline the better (as long as it appeals to the audience and it has a pay off that ties into your product or service).
• Focus on customer benefits in the beginning.
• Keep the offer simple, easy to understand and persuasive. Tell them about the offer upfront...and then tell them again. Make the offer for a limited time and encourage prospects to “Act now”.
• Don’t forget your call to action! (and don’t be shy about repeating it) A single-page direct mail letter may have the call to action listed three times, with one always being the bottom line by using a “P.S.”.
• For example, “P.S. Call for your catalog today”, “Receive 10% off your next order with this code”, “Bring this to booth #110 to receive your FREE sample”
• Make it easy to respond or place an order. The more ways you allow a customer to respond, the better your chances of getting a response. For example, include a toll-free phone number, fax number, email address, postage-paid reply card, various payment options, etc.
• Emphasize your brand. Although each piece should have its own look and message, you still need to make sure it’s consistent with your company’s other marketing materials and overall branding. Pay attention to color palette, fonts, design elements, and messaging tone.
• Before you finalize the design of your mail piece, it is a good idea to check with the local United States Postal Service (USPS) for mailing regulations.

Other things to remember...
• Make your message appeal to your target and differentiate your company from its competitors.
• Write in a personal and friendly style.
• Solve a problem for your customer. (For example, “Not reaching your production or profit goals? We can help!”)
• Utilize photographs, graphics and color to break up large amounts of text and make your piece stand out.
• Use buzzwords like “SALE” and “FREE”, or use contests.
• Always double and triple check your mail piece for errors.

Utilize responses to their full potential
In addition to quickly following up with those prospects or customers who have responded, you can use a database to store leads so everyone in your company can access and use the information. Data can easily be manipulated to perform a variety of tasks if each piece is entered into a separate field.

Key information to gather and store includes:
• Company name
• Company address
• Contact name
• Contact job title
• Email address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Contact history (notes)
• Purchase history

Once your direct mail campaign has begun, it is critical to quickly follow up with those prospects that have received your mailer and responded.

What response rate can be expected?
Average response rates for direct mail vary considerably, depending on a number of variables, most importantly the list! A good return on mass mailings to new prospects runs 1% (for a compiled list) to 5% (for a qualified list). A 2% to 3% response can usually be expected, and anything near 5% or 6% is spectacular. NBM has a terrific track record of success. Reported response rates of 11% are not uncommon!

When should a direct mail piece be mailed?
Tuesday. This is the ideal day for your mail piece to be delivered. It is the lightest mail day in the U.S. and having your letter delivered to a busy executive, purchasing agent, or plant manager, on the day they receive the least amount of mail increases your likelihood of the piece being opened and read. That is your first goal!

Wednesday. This is the second lightest day of the week. If you can’t hit a Tuesday delivery, shoot for Wednesday.

What about Monday? This is the heaviest mail delivery day in the U.S. This simple fact may decrease your response rate regardless of the accuracy of the list, the conciseness of the target company selection, or the correctness of the information.

Tip: It is best to have your mailing drop on Monday.

How to measure success
One of the greatest advantages of using direct mail is the ability to measure and evaluate the results of a campaign.

ROI (Return on Investment)
The best way to determine the success of your direct mail campaign is to measure the resulting increases in sales and profits. Campaign success is measured as ROI, or Return on Investment. Other standard measurements such as cost-per-piece or cost-per-lead are helpful but will not provide the “big picture” view that ROI analysis will.

Response Rate
If you compare the number of responses to the number of pieces mailed, you can calculate the response rate. If you include coded coupons or response cards you can keep track of exactly who responded and from what source.

Other ways to measure results may include the number of:
• Leads generated
• Qualified prospects obtained
• Appointments scheduled
• Presentations or product demonstrations given
• Sales made (units and dollars)
• Add-on sales made (units and dollars)

Campaign Cost
Take the total cost of your mailing (including creative, printing, postage, mailing list, and labor) and divide that figure by the revenue generated from an average sale. That will tell you how many sales you need to make in order to break even and cover the cost of your mailing. For example, if the cost of your mailing campaign is $550, and your average order is $50, you will need to make 11 sales in order to recover the cost of your mailing. You may be willing to send out a campaign without breaking even or showing a profit if it means generating qualified leads to whom you can sell again and again. Gaining new prospects for your database certainly has value as well.

Direct Mail vs Email
Many companies falsely believe that sending an email blast is an inexpensive alternative to sending a direct mailing.

• The average conversion rate (percentage of emails resulting in sales) for an email marketing message is only .3% (3 in 1,000). This makes it about one-third as effective as a direct mail campaign.
• With direct mail, your sales potential is equal to, or better than, anyone else’s because you are only competing with the items in a person’s mailbox.
• Sending unsolicited email can have a negative impact on an organization’s brand. You might even find yourself on some blacklist Web sites urging people not to do business with you.
• Email lists are not nearly as targeted as direct mail.
• Because of the filtering, and because email reliability is significantly down (compared with a year ago) you can no longer assume that your email actually got delivered. NBM’s guaranteed deliverability for direct mail is 95%.
• A study by Pitney Bowes found that direct mail generated a higher percentage of internet sales than internet advertising, TV and radio.

What is a Third-Party Mail House?
A mail house (sometimes referred to as a “letter shop”) is a bonded company that provides mailing services that include:

• Laser Mail-Merge & Personalized Letters
• High Speed Direct Inkjet Addressing
• Machine Labeling/Inserting/Folding/Tabbing
• Metering/Bursting/Affix Live Stamp
• Zip Sort, Tie, Tray & Bag for First Class and Bulk
• Hand Work & Fulfillment
• Postal Report & Delivery to the United States Postal Service (USPS)
• Quality Color Printing

Typically, a mail house uses computerized inkjet technology, barcodes your mail to get the best postage and expedites the entire process very quickly. They can use your postal permit (indicia), their postal permit, or first class stamps if you prefer.

Many printers also offer these services. If you do not already use a reputable mail house, checking with your printer is a good place to start. If they do not offer mailing services, perhaps they can recommend a company that does.

Checklist for an effective direct mail campaign

• Understand your goals (brand recognition, new product introduction, sales, etc.)
• Mail to the right people (use a qualified, targeted direct mail list)
• Design an eye catching piece
• Start with an attention grabbing headline
• Get to the point – tell them about the offer upfront
• Make the message appeal to your target
• Differentiate your company from its competitors
• Solve a problem for your customer
• Emphasize your brand
• Include a call to action...more than once
• Provide easy ways to respond
• Use color, pictures, and graphics to break up text
• Ask leading questions (For example, “How do you want to increase your sales?”)
• Use buzzwords like “SALE” and “FREE”
• Collect key information (Company name, contact name, address, phone, etc.)
• Mail on the right day (Drop on Monday)
• Follow up! (Respond to every inquiry)
• Determine the success of your mailing
• Re-calibrate and refine for next time


©2007 National Business Media, Inc.