Do Your Direct Mail ResearchWe all know what direct mail is. In fact in the last few decades we have been sent an innumerable amount of direct mail, but as a business we rarely do any direct mail testing or direct mail research. Direct mail takes on many forms, it comes in letters, postcards, brochures and even cds, and this means that companies spend a lot of money on their direct mail campaigns.
What makes some direct mail campaigns successful and others not so successful then. The most successful direct mail campaign is that direct mail that is personal rand is geared toward potential buying customers. If you have decided to conduct a long term direct mail campaign then you should do some direct mail research and test your results. You can conduct your direct mail research by starting out with a small direct mail campaign. Send out enough direct mail postcards so that you can tell if there are results and not so large that you will lose perspective of your research. A good number that is easy to keep track of is between 1,000 and 5 thousand. You should have different responses depending on the effectiveness of your message and how many you send out. When conducting a direct mail research there are several elements you should take care with: * What is your goal with the direct mail campaign? Do you want sales, brand awareness, leads or what? When you decide on the goals you want for your direct marketing campaign. You will need to find a way to get your prospects to respond, especially since you are conducting a direct mail research. * Your mailing list - One of the most important elements when conducting a direct mail research project, you need to be sure that your list is targeted toward real buyers. There are certain questions you need to ask yourself about your list and answer them truthfully. What characteristics do the customers have in common? Are your customers other businesses or are they end consumers? Are they economically stable? What is your customers location? * Your copy needs to be good and you need to have a good offer. Give an expiration date on your offer. People buy more when there is a certain time limit in which they can take advantage of the offer. * Know that when you are doing a direct mail research program you need to factor in the value of your new customers and know whether they are to be long lasting customers or not. * When you conduct a direct mail research test then you need to be sure to factor in all the costs of your direct mail campaign. You need to include the cost of creating, printing and distribution and divide it by the amount of responses you got and the amount of revenue you received from the campaign. Remember that the only way you will be able to make an effective direct mail research is by making it easy for the prospects to contact you. Give them a phone number, fa number, an email address and a web site, that way your prospects can contact you in whichever way they prefer. Many of these lists have phone numbers as well as addresses so follow up your mailing campaign with a follow up telephone call. It will help you with your direct mail research and your sales. |