[cs_content][cs_section parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]Direct mail marketing has huge positives over email marketing, with 3.4% of consumers responding to mailings over 0.12% that respond to email campaigns.

However, direct mail isn’t as simple as you may think and you’re never guaranteed a positive response rate, unless you have the skills and put the hard work in to your mailing, you could end up with a costly and ineffective campaign.

With our door mats becoming inundated with a variety of mailings, from credit cards to take away menus, retail offer and much more, how do you ensure that your direct mail offering stands out from the others? We have the top ten industry secrets to help you to improve your chances of being noticed by your audience.

[/cs_text][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”false”]How to attract consumers attention and keep it [/x_custom_headline][cs_text]Enticing your audience to open your mail should be at the forefront of your mind during the design process. The tips below should help you to secure their interest as well as encouraging consumers to follow through on your offer:

1. Special offers – More than 75% of consumers have reported that they like receiving special offers in the mail. With a figure like this, you’d be crazy to ignore the potential special offers can have. Make your offer appealing, clear and attractive to consumers, it’s no good sending out offers that are of no interest to your audience, so think carefully about what will work best.

2. Appearance – One of the most common ways to distribute direct mail is in clear polywraps. For a consumer, this is not fun and offers little excitement as you can see what it’s about without even opening it. Consider using envelopes and making your direct mail a different shape, consistency or size to draw a consumer’s attention to it. Consider putting a free gift inside to bulk out the envelope, which will excite the consumer and is a sure fire way to get your mail opened.

3. Creativity – Standing out from the crowd is what will get your mail noticed by consumers. Try to be original in your design concept and offer consumers something completely different to what they’re used to. Make it fun and interesting for your consumers and avoid long-winded and boring text.

4. Usefulness – By creating a mail that offers consumers a use, such as a notepad, to-do list or grocery list with your offers and designs surrounding it, you can almost guarantee that your mail will stick around for a lot longer. This helps reinforce your message and remind consumers of your offers, which can increase ROI.

5. Promotional products – As well as being creative, consider giving a promotional product away with your direct mail to act as a gift but also a constant reinforcement of your brand and products. Whether it is a pen, key ring, memory stick or even a diary, we all love to receive something free and sending promotional gifts can increase the chances of a call back by 55%.

[/cs_text][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”false”]Ensuring consumers follow up on your mailings [/x_custom_headline][cs_text]Getting your mail opened and viewed is only half of the battle of a direct mail campaign, the other half is getting your audience to respond to your offers.

6. Tailor made content – Knowing your customer base is one of the most important aspects of direct mail. Your content needs to be tailor made to attract the right attention. Use market research, customer comments and buying trends to decide what interests your audience the most. From this information, you can build a strong mailing campaign that is guaranteed to prompt a response.

7. Personalisation – Consumers tend to view generic mail that is clearly mass-produced as junk mail. Generally, we as consumers like to think we are cared about and important which is why an excellent direct mail tool is personalisation. Using envelopes, ensure you address mailings directly to a named person, ensuring you have the name correct. Receiving mail addressed to ‘Dear Consumer’ or with the wrong name on is only guaranteed to end up in the bin.

8. Contact details – One of the worst offences a direct mail campaign can commit is failing to instruct a consumer on how to contact them. If you expect consumers to follow through on your mail then you need to make it clear and simple for them to do so. Use bold text for show website addresses and telephone numbers or give a clear code for consumers to quote on ordering.

9. Call to action – Don’t put all the pressure on your consumers to respond, use your own initiative and sales team to chase up potential leads. Using your customer database, contact consumers you have mailed and politely check they have received your offer and would like to take advantage.

10. Collaborating – Consider collaborating with a company that compliments the products or services you offer. Collaborating cannot only help to lower marketing costs, but it can also increase the response rate you receive.

Using the above ten industry secrets should help you to create a successful direct mail campaign. If time or resources are limited then why not consider using a professional mailing house to help manage your direct mail and other services including print management, database cleansing and even bulk postage rates.

We hope you enjoyed these industry secrets direct from Baker Goodchild. For regular news about the Direct Mail industry feel free to subscribe to our Twitter and Facebook social media accounts.

Image Credit: Internet Archive Book Images

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