5 Tips for an Effective Direct Mailer Campaign

  1. Have a Data Driven Approach

They say that 40% of what makes a campaign successful comes from good targeting. Due to the increased costs, targeting is especially important for direct mail campaigns – you want to make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth.

 

If you send out a mailer to a load of customers who aren’t interested in the offer you’re promoting, you’re paying too much for what you receive. However, if you track your clients’ purchasing history to find out what products they’re interested in/when their busy periods are/how much they spend per order, you can identify which of your clients will find this offer relevant and your campaign will be much more cost effective as a result.

 

  1. Personalise, Personalise, Personalise

These days, people expect a certain level of personalisation. Have you ever received an email or a letter directed to “the occupier” or “customer”? It doesn’t feel great, does it? People want to feel unique and appreciated in their own right, not just because they’re one of many clients.

 

So, personalising your mail by using their name is very important as it makes your customers feel valued. If you can take personalisation even further, they’ll appreciate it all the more. Why not include the address of the nearest vender that they can find your product, like Kit Kat did for their new Chunky bar?

 

  1. Split Test and Optimise

Without testing your mailers, you’ll never know if you’re generating the best results possible. You could make variations on all sorts of things – your campaign title, the teaser copy on the front of your envelope, using blank envelopes or decorated ones, using real stamps or not – anything!

 

Send out variations to a small sample of customers, assess which variation performs better and then continue with that one for the rest of your targeted customers. Use different discount codes for each variant so that you can track which receives a better response.

 

  1. Give it Some Weight

You’ll know yourself how much more exciting it is to receive a package than it is to receive just a letter. Even adding just a little bit of weight to your mailer can make recipients more interested and more likely to open it. Even better than that is if you can create some unusual shapes that they can feel through the envelope. Perhaps you can give your discount code on a gift card?

 

Making your mailer a package would be ideal but obviously not everyone can afford to do that.

 

  1. Make CTAs Easy

Finally, just like you would include a link on your promotional email to take people directly to the right page, you want to make it as simple as possible for your recipients to carry out the desired action. If you want people to return a form, give them a pre-addressed and pre-paid envelope. If you want them to visit a certain website, include a QR code. Try and do as much for them as possible so that it’s not an inconvenience for them.