The BIG secret to a successful
direct mail campaign.
Elsewhere I’ve shared with you how to craft an effective direct mail piece, so here I want to talk mainly about how you use it once you’ve written it. See, most business owners make one fundamental error when planning a direct mail campaign - they rarely make it a campaign at all.
Let me explain.
More often than not they’ll send a single letter or postcard to the list... and then stop, even if the mailing has been successful.
This is a huge mistake.
The fact is, if your mail got, say, a 5% response on the first posting, vast reams of statistical data show you’re likely to get another 5% or so if you repeat the mailing a second time; and you’ll then get a progressively smaller response the more times you mail it.
This is why I say you should create a proper direct mail campaign; in fact, don’t just mail the same old piece time after time. Experience shows if you use different media in the direct mail campaign (say, a letter first, then maybe a postcard, followed by an audio CD, etc), the more responses you’ll get by the time your direct mail campaign has run its course.
How many pieces should you include in your campaign?
At least 3, and be prepared to go up to 7 or more. The only way to know for sure is to test. If you send your 7th piece and you’re still making enough sales from your direct mail campaign to make a profit, then you may as well try an 8th piece to see what happens, and so on.
The point is, don’t just stop at the first piece, thinking everyone who will respond has responded. There are lots of reasons for people on your list not to respond, and not all of them have anything to do with not wanting to buy your products. So keep trying, adding pieces to your direct mail campaign until response starts to drop off.
Have a look around the rest of this site and see some of the specific direct mail campaign strategies you can use to increase your profits starting TODAY!
Happy Direct Mailing!
Chris Cardell
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