The Value of Direct Mail

As far as brand trust, reliability and return on investment are concerned, direct mail marketing has been a proven channel for many decades now.

Research shows that direct mail is more trustworthy than receiving cold emails (both for businesses and individuals) and improves client retention and brand recognition.

Paper quality ‘feel’, among other factors, gives the receiver an indication of a brand’s likely strength and credibility.

For example, Easyjet experienced the power and effectiveness of running a direct mail when it decided not to send out emails or other forms of digital marketing in favour of a direct mail campaign to a specific group of high value loyal customers. As a result of the direct mail campaign designed to make this group of loyal travellers feel more valued and appreciated, Easyjet achieved not only the results they had hoped for, but saw this cohort book even more flights than they had previously done so.

You can read the full article here by MoneySupermarkets CMO, who has previously worked with Easyjet: https://www.marketingweek.com/how-direct-mail-taught-moneysupermarkets-cmo-the-discipline-of-truly-impactful-campaigns/

For this very reason, the direct mail marketing channel is still worth its weight in gold today!

How to achieve Success through Direct Mail campaigns

Identify your target market and curate your mailing list

In order to achieve the desired response rate for a mail campaign, identifying your target market is absolutely crucial.  With the use of postcodes, mailing lists, and company data sets, it is possible to narrow down and refine who will be on your direct mail list.

A direct mail campaign must be meticulously researched and refined, as well as combined with human input to ensure the best possible results.

It is a common misconception that direct mail is junk and that it will not be read and will be discarded immediately. However, this is not true. Direct mail campaigns can deliver real results and return on investment when they are implemented correctly. In fact printed DM is now perceived by recipients as quaility marketing reflective of quailty organisations, with email for marketing although cheap, is less impactful when used as a standalone communication medium.

Campaign planning is a key component to a successful outcome by examining the data collected from previous campaigns. Managing data and cleaning the mailing list involves ensuring that businesses or individuals who have moved house or business premises are updated or removed from the mailing list. Furthermore, a number of people pass away each year, so maintaining up to date current information on the deceased is necessary too.

Create a positive first impression by making it eye catching!

Having the right design, layout, and the presence of the appropriate calls to action (CTA’s) are equally vital, because first impressions really do matter. They can make the difference between a set of fantastic results or just just something more mediocre.

Your campaign message should be conveyed in a succinct manner by using the right combination of text copy, imagery, fonts, colour schemes, and contrasts – along with the correct and most appropriate messaging theme.

Direct mail recipients are known to form an opinion within the first few split seconds after receiving it on their doormat or having it pushed through their letterboxes. People will likely not read it if it appears too boring, dull, or like a long read. You can remove a lot of the hassles and time spent devising and creating your direct mail campaign by carrying out plenty of research, forward planning and thinking ahead.

Improve your response rate with personalisation

Consider sending out several variations of direct mail to different categories of people or businesses. For example, this could take the form of additional enclosures included in some envelopes, while not included in others. Additionally, consider personalising the salutation of the addressees so that the intended recipients do not perceive the direct mail as a mass block mailing.

Embrace an outside-the-box mindset

With direct mail, as with all forms of marketing, sometimes it pays to experiment a little with new ideas and strategies, as existing strategies are always evolving, or become too popular/ saturated, making them less effective.  Being a free thinker can really help you to set yourselves apart from your competition.

Consider carbon balancing your print

Try to look for a printer that is a member of the World Land Trust as these certified carbon balanced printers can often automatically offset/balance the carbon on your print jobs. It’s well worth considering and should cost you no money financially. Thus, you are able to make your pound go further and benefit the environment by contributing to sustainability.