How to get Good Results and High Response from Direct Mail Marketing

Direct mail marketing is very much like everything else in life inasmuch as you can’t expect to get anything back if you don’t put anything in. Another way to look at it is – you get what you pay for; particularly in B2B campaigns. Pop-ups and interactive mailers are more expensive than flyers, leaflets and postcards but they are far more successful at generating direct marketing response.

Six Major Reasons why Pop-up and Interactive Mailers bring Direct Mail Marketing Results

1. The mailing pack gets past the gatekeeper
2. The pack captures the imagination of your target
3. The mailer holds the attention of your target
4. The action creates an element of buzz marketing
5. A massive aid to generating direct marketing response
6. Positive and long lasting marketing value

Let’s look at these points in greater detail.

Make sure that your Direct Mail Piece reaches your target

If your direct mail piece is cheap to produce, if your audience is not properly targetted and if you are not telling them anything out of the ordinary then you are very likely to be wasting your time and money. In many instances, a boring white envelope won’t even get past the employee who opens the mail ie it might never even reach your sales prospect!

That’s the very first job of a direct mail marketing piece - to make it past the “gatekeeper” and get to your target. In order to guarantee that you achieve this, a personally addressed package is the ideal vehicle for your direct mail marketing campaign.

Make sure that your Marketing Piece capture’s your customer’s imagination

You’re a business professional so you are already aware of the type of business mail that arrives each morning. Ask yourself a simple question, “Apart from payment cheques, what do I find exciting in my daily stack of mail?” Plain white, flat envelopes are totally uninspiring and poly-wrapped magazines are too commonplace to send your pulse racing. But what happens when a packet, parcel or chunky bubble envelope arrives? Now that’s a totally different. The receipt of an unexpected package is always accompanied by a very positive sense of anticipation and a high level of curiosity.

Sending a well-designed, colourful mailing pack is one way to guarantee that your direct mail marketing piece will catch your customer’s eye and create a high level of interest.

How to Hold Your Customer’s Interest and Attention

Having attracted the attention of your target, the next job of your direct mail marketing piece is to hold that attention long enough for the prospect to read and take in your message. One way to guarantee that this happens is to use a mailing piece that creates a high level of customer interaction.

A pop-up mailer is an obvious choice. It comes with its own mailing pack and it has a dynamic pop-up action. As soon as your customer opens the pack, the mailers jumps out to form a 3D shape whilst bringing the elements of instant impact, fun and surprise to your mailing piece. Almost everyone then picks up the mail piece to see how it works and makes it jump up again and again. This is the time when your customer reads your message and decides to take action on it.

You should always take care to incorporate a call to action in your pop-up piece and we are happy to include your personalised letter in the pack if we are doing the mailing.

Interactive Mailers help to Improve Direct Mail Results

If an automatic pop-up mailer is not in keeping with the theme of your direct mail campaign then you should consider one of our other interactive mailers. We have many options which come with their own mailing pack and create a high level of customer interaction such as the flicker card, the telescopic box and the extender card.

Pop-ups and Interactive Mailers create the bonus of Buzz Marketing

At this stage in proceedings your direct mail marketing piece brings an unexpected bonus. Your customer will be so impressed by the novelty, innovation or sophistication of the product that he or she will pass it around the office for other colleagues to see. This is buzz marketing in a nutshell. Our products are often taken to meetings to show other office colleagues and are regularly shown to other marketing professionals. One place that you won’t find them is in the waste paper bin with the unread flyers and postcard mailings.

Direct Mail Response Rates govern the success of your Direct Marketing Campaign

Let’s do a quick re-cap. The mailing piece has got past the “gatekeeper” and has caught your customer’s eye.  The curiosity value of the pack has started to win your customer’s interest and the interactive nature of the mailer easily holds your customer’s attention long enough for your marketing message to hit home. So far, the mailer has done its job. The next part is up to you – and it is a very important part, too – the response mechanism. The success of your direct mail marketing piece will be measured by results and that means response rates.

You need a positive, strong and well-written message to match your powerful mailing piece. You also need a persuasive call to action. Make sure that your contact details are easily visible and make it easy for your target to respond to your marketing campaign.

Direct Marketing Response rates are far higher with Dimensional Mail

It is well documented that “dimensional mail” brings terrific direct marketing results. A search of the internet will reveal reports of response rates of 25% and higher. Some marketers report fantastic successes but you should remember my initial comment – you don’t get anything out if you don’t put anything in. A pop-up cube will not perform well on its own.  You need a powerful campaign. You need something different to say and a different way of presenting your message. Do that and successful direct marketing response rates will follow.

Positive and long lasting Direct Marketing Results

Long after the initial impact of your marketing campaign is over you will find that you will receive an occasional phone call from one of your prospects. It happens to us all the time. The conversation usually goes like this, “I received one of your pop-ups some months ago. At the time, I had no need for your services. However, I kept the pop-up on my desk because it is such a novel idea and I’m glad I did as I now need you to give me a quote.”

High Rates of Direct Marketing Response are a result of Powerful Direct Marketing

An internet search for direct mail open rates and response rates can make depressing reading. You will find reports of open rates as low as 0.2% and response rates of only 1%. However, you should always bear in mind that these disappointing results are what you can expect from a poor campaign. Put some real thought and effort into your direct mail marketing and you then stand a chance of double figure response rates to be quickly followed by high conversion rates. Our own list of testimonials features reports of 20% rise in sales, 10% take-up rates and many other inspiring direct marketing success stories.