For the past decade, many business owners have regarded direct mail as the ugly stepsister of print or broadcast advertising. Loud, misleading and cluttered pieces mailed anonymously to millions of prospects only served to reinforce this perception.
Today, however, some of the most innovative and effective advertising is delivered through the mail, and more and more business owners are finding the rewards of direct mail are great if their campaigns are designed with a discerning eye and a realistic strategy in mind. Looking for some tips to help you create a direct mail campaign that brings in results without breaking the bank? Here are 10 smart tactics, culled from my 15 years as a direct mail professional:
1. Develop a visual sense for what works and what doesn't. You have an abundance of learning materials right inside your mailbox. The next time you go through your mail, take a minute to examine what's there, what catches your attention, what attracts you and what repels you. Do you have examples of previous campaigns you've sent out? Or pieces from your competitors that you can learn from? "Junk mail" has a unique style--learn to recognize it and think about how you can create the opposite.
2. Don't insult your prospects' intelligence by using cheesy tag lines or see-and-say visuals. Believe it or not, "FREE MONEY" doesn't attract much attention in the inundated world of today's consumers. So avoid using bold with italics, ALL CAPS, and multiple exclamation points (!!!!), as these are the clichéd visual cues of junk mail.
And try to be innovative in what you do show. Make a point of avoiding see-and-say graphics, which are too elementary to involve and activate the brain of a potential customer. For instance, let's say you were sending out a postcard for your lawn-care service that reads "Lawn-Mowing Service" and the photo or illustration depicts a company employee mowing a lawn. (See: picture of employee mowing lawn. Say: "Lawn-Mowing Service.") Boring! Instead, be more creative.
The key here is to entice your audience to complete a story in their minds of how your product or service solves a problem they have. In the example above, you might show the uniformed employee mowing the lawn but have the caption read "Honey, did you mow the lawn today?" "Yeah, it's a tough job, but someone had to do it." That way, the audience has to figure out the picture. They might complete the riddle like this: "Why is this guy taking credit for mowing the lawn? Because he hired this lawn-mowing service and got the job done. Maybe I could relegate my lawn-mowing responsibility like this guy did." Involving your audience lengthens the time they take to look at your mail piece and improves the odds they'll take in the information they need to make a decision for your business. Humor can also play a great part in these visual stories.
3. Don't assume your audience knows everything. An educated consumer is one that's more willing to make a purchase. Your headline should draw attention to your body copy, which is your most powerful selling tool. Ignore what people say about how no one reads anymore--if compelled by a good headline and provoking imagery, a potential customer will want more information immediately. Directing them to a website or phone number is asking a lot of your audience, so instead, include essential information right on the mail piece. When writing copy, start from the beginning, be direct, and include as much information as you can in five sentences or less. Chances are, the reader is scanning, so use words that are easy to understand but are descriptive enough to accurately communicate your message.
4. Use what you know. If you know your customers inside and out, by all means, use that information in your mail piece. Meeting your potential customers where they are is a great way to attain trust quickly. Become familiar with your market so you can be specific about your mailing list. Consider demographics like gender, age, income, climate, leisure activities and more when deciding where to mail each piece. The more you use information that's been hard-earned in years past, the better your response rates will be.
5. "You Won't Believe This Amazing Offer!" At least that part's true, when it comes to your prospects--people are much more skeptical these days. So do something completely unusual with your direct mail piece: Tell the truth. Exposing your weaknesses make your strengths seem even greater, and (yes, believe it) creates a sense of honesty and trust. Consider this example: A flooring company boasts "the best styles at the best prices." While the claim sounds attractive, it doesn't have the same believability (thus response-eliciting) factor as a piece that claims "the same styles at the best prices." Creating a trustworthy message allows consumers to set positive expectations, rather than refuting any false ones they might be reading. And when potential customers set expectations, you can bet they're ready to take a risk on your business.
6. Ask and you shall receive. Know exactly what action you want your mail piece to elicit, and then ask for it. Then ask again. This is known as the call-to-action in the world of direct mail, and it's the consumers' cue for getting what they want. If there's no call-to-action, your direct mail piece is just creating brand recognition. Is there a number to call? Don't just list the number--ask them to make the call. Is there a website to visit? A response mail required? Ask, suggest and entice your audience to respond to your piece. Make the information accessible, easy to read and effective--which may mean making some changes in the office, whether that's a designated phone line or a more memorable web address.
7. Consider the medium. What will your message be delivered on? Postcards are an effective medium for most products, because they cut down a barrier (the envelope) between the consumer and the message. However, some direct mail is more appropriate when crafted as a letter, especially those that involve high-dollar sales and financial services.
Think carefully about your product and your message before making a decision about the medium. No matter what format you choose, consider the paper your message will be printed on. Inexpensive paper communicates something very different from high-quality paper. If you're selling anything that's considered expensive, high-quality or custom, nice paper will communicate that message much more effectively than something inexpensive. On the other hand, the type of paper you choose makes little difference when you're selling items that are inexpensive, sold at bulk rates or discounted. Deciding what's best for your direct mail piece will improve your response rates exponentially.
8. Use color wisely. Color will always catch more attention than black and white, but when it comes to color, more is not necessarily better. Additional colors may cost more money to produce--and too many colors can create a piece that's confusing and cluttered--so it's important to find what's best for your project.
Begin by choosing one or two main colors and one or two supporting colors based on the feelings they elicit: Warm colors are exciting and energizing; cool colors are relaxing and refreshing. Bright colors speak loudly; dull colors suggest quietly. Think about your product, corporate image and your audience when choosing color. Metallic colors are a great option for one- or two-color jobs.
And check with your printer to see what's available that might make your piece stand out for a small--or no--increase in price. Consider colored paper, as well as using a color as a field (covering a large shape area) and reversing out the text (that means showing white text on a colored background). These techniques will help you make the most of your budget and color choices for maximum impact.
9. Personalize your pieces. You've seen them: "[your name here], you've got to check out this deal!" Personalization can enhance a consumer's inclination to read your direct mail piece by creating a sense of familiarity. It also emphasizes their importance to your business. For example, are you more likely to open an envelope that says "Current Resident" or "[Your Name]"? Most likely, you'll feel important to the second business and choose to open that mail first.
When it comes to personalizing a direct mail piece, there are a lot of options, ranging from addressing it to a specific consumer or including their name in the letter portion to printing their name in the art area on the actual postcard or letter. Some of these options can get pricey, so if you think it's appropriate for your mailer, talk with your printer about your personalization options so you'll know what options fit your budget.
10. Determine the best way to mail it. When it comes to mailing your direct mail pieces, you have options regarding the postage you purchase. Think about your customers and the value of your product, as well as time sensitivity. Will "presort" (formerly bulk rate) arrive in time? Do your potential customers care about first-class postage or not? Are you eligible to receive special, not-for-profit postage rates? And don't forget to consider the type of postage for your direct mail piece. You can choose to use first-class or presort stamps, or you can print the first-class or presort postage directly on the mail pieces (this is known as the indicia). In pieces that are highly personalized and official-looking, a stamp can enhance response rates because consumers infer a human touch. On postcards, indicias work just as well as stamps and don't cost anything to apply to the mail piece.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/79016
Showing posts with label Direct Mail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Direct Mail. Show all posts
3/29/10
VBScript To Send Email Using CDO
Sending email with CDO is a simple task. First we create a reference to the CDO component
Set objMessage = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
then fill-in Sender, Subject and Recipient (To) fields of the headers and the body text which can be either plain text or HTML. You can also add a file attachment. You then use the Send method to send the email.
Below I'll show all three types of emails, and how to send an email using a remote SMTP server in the event you are not running your own. I've added and example to illustrate how to request a return receipt and delivery status notifications.
Please note, when using the AddAttachment method in your scripts you must use a fully qualified pathname as the argument to the method. Using just a file name or a relative path will produce the error The specified protocol is unknown.
If you receive an error message related to objMessage.From then you should try replacing it with objMessage.Sender
I've added sample code to illustrate how to load the body of the email from a text file on your disk.
I've added a sample of how to load recipient data from a database.
I've added a sample illustrating how to use data from Excel in an email.
If you are looking for an ASP based email form processor then please look here.
If you are interested in a mass mailer using CDO and VBScript, look here.
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6/30/09
Messaging for the Apathetic
So I look at the mail yesterday and there’s a catalog from Bliss. If you don’t know Bliss, they are an online / catalog / storefront multi-channel retailer. The tagline on the book is “beauty by mail from new york’s hottest spa” - yes, no caps at all. So you pretty much know this book is positioned for younger - or want to feel younger - gals.
The book had a wrap on the outside with a message for the Apathetic. This is a great technique to use because you can do it “in-line” with the rest of the mailing, which saves a lot on postage. The Engaged just get the catalog, the Apathetic get the catalog with this special wrap around and they all are processed inline and enter the mail stream together.
It’s one of my favorite catalog tricks, check out the piece:
Let’s do the copy thing:
You can see on the left spine the macro message of “we want you back” - again, no caps. This is an acknowledgement of the state of the relationship - we’re not sure if you like us, but we still like you! This is a classic Date message tactic, it sets the proper tone and pulls the customer into the conversation.
Then they just come out and say it:
We haven’t had an order from you in a while and - what can we say? - we miss you. We feel lost without those 3 a.m. ‘beauty’ calls and the sweet, soft sound of your mouse clicks.
Yes, they’re great copywriters, but there’s a bigger point I think you should take away: you couldn’t possibly get away with copy like this if you had not set up the personality of Bliss in the first place. They can speak like this because they have spoken like this to the customer in the past - all over the web site and throughout their catalogs and hopefully in customer service phone / e-mail. Consistently. Everywhere. That’s a Brand in remote retailing, that’s how Brands are built. Theatre of the Mind is the best weapon you have. Copy. Art. Get it? What about your web site?
This is probably the most common retail problem on the web today - web sites / businesses that completely lack any kind of personality. Catalogs know how important this idea is in remote retailing and have been using it for a very long time.
So, in a totally shameless attempt to woo you, we’ll send you a Free full-sized bottle of our clog-dissolving cleansing milk (a $28 value) when you order $75 or more from this catalog or at blissworld.com.
The classic Dating offer, complete with a threshold ($75) as explained here. They’re testing. The importance of the words “full-sized bottle” you don’t know about but I do; about 4 weeks ago we received another “we want you back” effort that offered a trial size. They’re essentially starting small with the offers and when we remain Apathetic, they up the offer.
This approach drives down the cost of the average customer reactivation; the strategy is called The Discount Ladder.
(If that’s not a great excuse to arm yourself with our all-out flab attack kit (p. 49) or smooth yourself citrus with our lemon+sage set (p. 09), we don’t know what is.)
This is just very smart merchandising, it is persuasive because it directs you to a specific place rather than giving you a lot of choices - by the way, how many different offers do you make in a promotional e-mail? The choice of products promoted here may have been customized (not sure of my wife’s buying history) or they may simply be very popular products with a high conversion rate to lapsed buyers on catalog covers.
I would bet the latter; that’s how I would play it because after all, she’s a lapsed buyer. She’s stopped buying because she doesn’t want what she has bought before. Do you make offers based on what customers have bought before? Why is that? Why not offer the products that convert people like the targets?
Unless you have specific evidence that “people who buy this also buy this” I’m pretty sure that outside of certain niches, you depress response by making “forced offers” to customers - especially lapsed ones - to buy a specific item or category just because they bought it in the past. Think about it. “Buy anything over $75″ is a lot stronger offer than “Buy these specific things we are promoting”.
A lot to test there as well…
To take advantage of this special offer, just order something from us before March 1, 2008. Our land of lotions and lip gloss just isn’t the same without you. Bliss on, the entire bliss team
Par for the course here - a deadline and an “in personality” close. Urgency and persuasion. If you’re busy, you probably keep the book at least to check out p. 49 and p. 09…
P.S. If you’ve been getting your Bliss fix somewhere other than our catalog or web site (it happens), don’t forget to keep up with our latest and greatest by signing up for Bliss beaut-e-mails at www.blissworld.com
Ah, the beaut-e of multi-channel done the right way.
They probably don’t have perfect visibility between the direct channel (web and catalog) and the retail channel (who does?) so they are acknowledging that, telling you it’s OK, and then offering you a service so you can “keep in touch” - the general theme of “we want you back”. They don’t want you to feel bad if you find their retail distribution more convenient, and at the same time they’re trying to re-engage you electronically and generate value from this catalog drop even if you don’t buy.
I guess the channel managers are team players. By the way, this relationship started on the web site…and in my experience, you can extend the LifeCycle by switching customers to another channel. But you don’t want to force it, you let it play out the way the customer wants it to. Test and look to the behavior; they will tell you what is right on an individual or segment basis through their actions.
bliss-ful job on the catalog wrap gang!
P.S. Well, almost. A search for “flab attack” (phrase from the promotional copy above) on the web site returns this result:
We’re sorry, but your search for flab attack returned no results. Please try again with a different keyword, or double check the spelling. (You’re not alone - we only learned how to spell ‘fuchsia’ properly a week ago.)
Gotta love that personality thing though…
The Low Down on Bulk Mail Permits
Wow! You’re still reading after the title. That must mean you need some help with a bulk mail permit. I’m here to help.
Before getting a bulk mail permit, consider the following:
- You will spend $360 to get the permit. ($180 for application fee and $180 for annual fee). Will the money saved having the bulk-mail permit cover these fees?
- Ex.- A first class stamp is $0.42. Bulk mail rate is roughly $0.17 per piece. The savings is $0.25 per piece. Therefore, the break even point is 1,440 pieces over the course of the year. This would drop to 720 pieces after year one since you will not pay the application fee again.
- If you will be mailing more than 1,440 pieces then consider getting the bulk-mail permit
Step 1: Complete Form 3615, Mailing Permit Application and Customer Profile.
Step 2: Complete From 3624, Application to Mail at Nonprofit Standard Mail Rates.
- At a minimum you will need to complete all questions in Part 1.
- You will also need to complete the top half of the “Checklist for PS Form 3624) by checking the boxes for all the documentation you are able to provide. It is best to provide as much documentation as you are able demonstrating that you are a legitimate church. At a minimum include your Articles of Incorporation (or Articles of Association), Bylaws and any pre-printed materials you have such as a business card, brochure, program/bulletin, etc.
Step 3: Take both completed forms to the post office. Include the following:
- A check for $180: This is the permit application fee (Form 3615). It is a one time fee and separate from the annual fee you must pay for mailing
- 2 forms of identification: One must be a picture ID. Options include: valid driver’s license; armed forces, government, university or corporate identification card; passport; current lease, mortgage or Deed of Trust; voter or vehicle registration card; home or vehicle insurance policy.
- Evidence the organization is nonprofit: IRS letter of exemption from payment of federal income tax or a complete financial statement from an independent auditor. As a new church you may not yet have received your 501(c)3 status. Don’t let this stop you. By default churches are nonprofit. It says so in the IRS code. You may have to persuade your local post office employee, but you can submit the application without it and be approved. Stand firm.
- Documents describing the organization’s primary purpose: This will most likely be articles of incorporation.
- Documents explaining the organization’s operations: This will most likely be the church’s bylaws. You can also include bulletins, brochures, financial statements, membership applications, minutes of meetings, newsletters or a listing of activities for past 6-12 months. If you do include any of these things be sure to check the appropriate boxes on page 3 of the Form 3624
Step 4: Wait
The post office will send the Form 3624 to the national office for processing. This typically takes 4-6 weeks. You will receive a permit imprint number and a receipt from Form 3615. Keep this receipt for documentation. Once Form 3624 is approved it will be associated with your imprint number and you will be ready send bulk mail at nonprofit rates. Before your first mailing you will have to pay the $180 annual mailing fee and make a deposit into your account.
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