Five Tips For a Successful Direct Mail Campaign

1. Make sure you are using a good list.  You can buy mailing lists from KD Mailing & Fulfillment and other companies or you can build your own list. Whichever you choose, you will want to make sure your list effectively targets your potential customers. Everything starts with a good list. If your mailing list is of low quality your best direct marketing efforts will produce limited results.

2. Make it easy for your prospects to take action. It’s surprising how often we see direct mail campaigns with no clear call to action; this is one of the most important direct mail tips. It’s almost as if the marketer was afraid to ask for the sale or lead. You must provide an easy call to action, even if it is just a small step that encourages the prospect to say yes. That’s a more positive direction to take and leads to more “yes” responses. Remember to always have the website and phone number on the mailing piece.

3. Choose the path with limited resistance. Carefully select the type of mailing piece you want to send. A postcard is almost always looked at, both front and back while people tend to throw letters and envelopes away without even opening them, unless they look official or have some type of compelling message.  A high-color postcard doesn’t have to be opened and will most likely be read by the recipient.

4. Make sure you can track results. This is often the most overlooked of direct mail tips in a direct marketing campaign. You need to be able to track the ROI, which allows you to send a mailing campaign, measure the results, correct changes, and repeat the process. You can track phone numbers on your mailing and even provide dynamic phone numbers across your website.

5. Be Committed. Many marketers will try something and are quick to surrender their efforts when it doesn’t work, but how often are you 100 percent correct on the first try? This is why you need to have great tracking in place so that you can improve upon your earlier successes and failures.  Often, people need more than one touch before they take action. Your first message may only arouse curiosity, whereas the second, or even the third, mailing will lead prospects to make a purchase.