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A Better Response Rate When You Advertise by Mail
If you are going to advertise by mail, you will get a better response rate when you make your mailer useful to the consumer in some way. Landfills are full of mail that has been tossed, unread. Here are 11 secrets to keep your advertisement out of the trash, and working to bring you a better response rate.
1. Create Useful Mailers
When you create a mailer that serves more than one purpose, you give the recipient a reason to hold onto it. It could end up hanging in a well traveled area and viewed by more than just a few people. You could add a calendar, include a list of helpful local numbers, or make the item useful in some other way. Consumers are more likely to retain your mailer when you do this.
2. Quality Over Quantity
Focus on quality, rather than quantity. To get better results from your mail campaign, it is better to send a high quality mailer to fewer people, than it is to send a poor quality mailer to thousands. This will give you a better response and follow through rate. Quality will help you build your brand image into something that consumers will trust when they need something.
3. Study Your Consumer Group
Before you advertise by mail, take the time to learn everything possible about the consumers that you want to attract. This will help you personalize the marketing content and the message that you send. Ultimately, it will help you drive sales more effectively. When you know your targeted consumers, you can make your mailer more appealing to this group.
4. Be Short and Sweet
Start your mailer with a proposition that grabs the reader and holds their attention. Consumers have little time and a short attention span for mailers. Be mindful of this when you are designing your mailer. Start off with the value proposition. Make sure that the proposition you use will appeal to consumers, so that it is worth the time and money that you spend.
5. Include a Product Sample
One way to ensure that your mailer is noticed when you advertise by mail is to include a product sample. Consumers love to get something for free. A product sample allows them to try out your product, before they spend any money at all. When you are willing to let consumers try it out at no risk to themselves, it shows your confidence in the products that you offer.
6. Team Up With a Partner
Team up with a partner to advertise by mail. Of course, you don’t want to work with a competitor. Look for a businesses that offers complimentary products and services, or whose a business whose product compliments your own. They may be willing to pool resources and advertising materials. This can help lower advertising costs, while making your mailer just as effective and appealing.
7. Send a Lumpy Envelope
In order to be effective when you advertise by mail and get your envelope opened, you must provoke curiosity in the consumer. Ad something in the envelope to give it an unusual feel and a unique lump. This will make the recipient curious about what is inside. This secret will get your envelopes opened far more often. Recipients won’t be able to wait to open your mailer.
8. Leave Out the Gimmicks and Sales Pitches
Consumers don’t want gimmicks or sales pitches. They want something that has value to them. Offer this, and you are guaranteed to get a better response rate when you send out mailers. A significant discount, a special coupon, or an offer provided to just a few targeted consumers can give your mailer value to the person who receives it.
9. Put Your Name on Promotional Items
Send out a useful promotional item when you advertise by mail. Make the item something that has your company name or logo in a visible place. A pen, a notepad with your logo, or something else that consumers will use that has your brand on it will help get the word out. This is free advertising every time your promotional item is used.
10. Use an Expiration Date
Make sure that your offer or coupon has an expiration date. This gives consumers an incentive to act now, instead of later. This will also make it easier for you to track your campaign results in a reasonable time, because the offer must be used by a specified date or within a specific time period. Without an expiration, you may get responses for months after the mailer is sent.
11. Use a Stamp
When you advertise by mail, try using an actual stamp, instead of a metered postmark. This will be more expensive, but consumers are far more likely to open a stamped envelope, than they are to open a metered postage mailer. The use of a stamp shows the consumer that you have invested in your campaign. It shows that you care enough to spend a little more for better results.
What other secrets have you learned that get great results when you advertise by mail?
