Insights from Polaris Direct

Five MORE Tips for a Successful Direct Mail Program

Last year, we shared five tips for successful direct mail. Today, I’ve got five more: Allow no sacred cows. Perhaps you’ve been mailing the same control package for a decade—it’s been working great, there’s been no reason to change course. But if (and/or when) it stops working, let it go. Don’t become entrenched in tradition […]

Last year, we shared five tips for successful direct mail. Today, I’ve got five more:

  1. Allow no sacred cows. Perhaps you’ve been mailing the same control package for a decade—it’s been working great, there’s been no reason to change course. But if (and/or when) it stops working, let it go. Don’t become entrenched in tradition just for the sake of it. Test new approaches until you find something that works better, and move on.
  2. Make it multi-channel. We eat, sleep, and breathe direct mail…but we also know that having a multi-channel strategy in place is key. Through IMb-tracking and in-home mail dates, we can work with you to trigger perfectly timed campaigns across all channels to increase response—and with 65% of US shoppers currently shopping across at least two channels¹, reaching your customers where they are is crucial.
  3. Make it easy to respond. No one wants to search high and low for a way to respond. Include your URL, phone number, and mailing address prominently and in several locations throughout the piece. Beyond that, consider including a reply device—yes, a physical, printed reply card. Remember, your customer should be in the driver’s seat of the experience, so always give options. The goal is to get a reply, no matter the channel.
  4. Track campaign performance. One of the biggest advantages to direct mail is the ability to track results. In contrast, 22% of marketers didn’t know their response rate for telephone (that, according to the DMA’s 2015 Response Rate Report). Whether you’re using list coding, online tracking like PURLs, match-back analysis or some other method, the important thing is not how you track, it’s that you track.
  5. Analyze results. That tracking we just talked about? It’s useless if you don’t do anything with the information you collect. To find out what worked and what didn’t, start by looking at how an appeal did overall—Response Rate, ROI, you name it—then drill down on how various segments performed. Finally, measure results at the individual level. Take what you learned from your analysis and apply it to your next marketing campaign. (We can help you with that.)

Want more tips? Email info@polarisdirect.net or call us at (603) 626-5800.

 

About the author: Melanie Gray is Creative Supervisor/Copywriter at Polaris Direct, a nationally acclaimed high-volume direct marketing services company in Hooksett, NH.

 

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¹PWC. “Understanding how US online shoppers are reshaping the retail experience.” p. 4 https://www.pwc.com/us/en/retail-consumer/publications/assets/pwc-us-multichannel-shopping-survey.pdf