Many business owners are scared of using direct mail. There’s a belief that mail-outs are expensive and don’t return results.
If done incorrectly, and as a one shot, that’s absolutely true.
However, with good copy, a great offer and multiple touches, mail-outs can be very effective.
One of our clients, reported that a 6 step promotion we created for National Manufacturing Week helped him achieve the second highest monthly sales in the history of the company.
He originally came on board due to our relentless use of direct mail (in our case email) over the years.
Having been on our list since June 2006, he readily admitted he’d deleted most of our emails. But in December 2009, one caught his eye and he opened it. He had a specific issue that he felt we could help with, picked up the phone and the rest is history.
He talks about the experience in the video below...
And this scenario has repeated itself countless times over the years.
People will buy when they’re ready to buy. Your job is to keep in front of them in a non-threatening, non-intrusive way until they’re ready.
Now I’m always on the lookout for examples of good marketing that works.
So here’s a great example of a direct mail promotion a colleague from Canada sent me.
It’s a 4 page piece with a great headline that directly targets home owners. Notice the headline includes the prospect’s name, which can boost response as it gets attention.
“Rashid, Are You Thinking About Replacing Your Old Furnace?”
Followed by:
“ I’ll buy you dinner at the Keg Just for Letting Me Give You A Quote - But Only If You’re One Of The Next 20 People To Call …”
Now not everyone receiving this might be thinking, “Gee, I should get a quote”. But offering a dinner at the Keg may well tip some people over the line. And the psychology goes further than that.
There are 2 principles at play here.
The first is “Reciprocity”. Offer a gift first and people feel obliged to reciprocate.
And the second is Commitment and Consistency - If people commit to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honour that commitment.
So if your prospect has asked for a quote and had dinner on you, they’re more inclined be consistent with their decision that you’ll do the right thing by them and buy your product.
Now back to the mail-out.
The company initially sent out 1,500 letters and got 25 quote requests.
Their statistics show that 50% of the quotes lead to sales. And the average profit is $1,000 per sale.
Doing the maths, 13 sales = $13,000 profit on a mailing that cost $1,500.
And if they send out exactly the same letter to the same list, they’ll see approximately an additional 50% response from the people who didn’t respond the first time around.
If they’re smart, they’ll do it again - and again - until it no longer makes them a profit.
How many times would you invest $1,500 to see a $13,000 return?
Now I realise you might be sceptical about whether this will work for you.
So Barbara and I have come up with a special introductory offer so you can put your toes into the water.
For $660 inc GST, I’ll create a single promotion (1-3 pages max) that you can mail, email or fax out to your list. You’ll need to give me details of your product, what it does for your customers and any current marketing material you have. I’ll turn it into a short, sharp direct mail piece that invites your prospects to take action – be it picking up the phone and calling you or directly ordering your product.
Given that this is rather labour intensive for me, I can only accept 10 assignments. So first in best dressed.
Give me a call on (02) 9499-7958 now and we can get underway and design a promotion for your business that will bring you more sales now and into the future.
Rashid.
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