In an age of technology it’s hard to believe that direct mail marketing actually yields a high response rate in comparison to other direct marketing options. Direct mail marketing still works. There are statistics provided by the CMO Council, that show direct mail yielding a higher response rate than email marketing by a large margin. Of course there are many factors that can also be considered when determining the success rate of a direct mail campaign, the size of the mailer, the color, the envelope, the text, etc. What we do know is that direct mail marketing is still successful and still yields a high response rate, especially yellow letters. Here are a few reasons why.
Targeted
Direct mail is targeted to a specific demographic and more particularly, a specific mailing list. Highly targeted list can be purchased and filtered by counties, zip codes, or cities, and then filtered further to focus on the exact audience to target for success. Where someone lives, how old they are, how long they have lived there and other factors will all influence the response rate of your direct mail campaign.
Personalized
Yellow letters are particularly successful in direct mail marketing for this reason. They are personalized for each individual, including their name and/or address or city of residency. Yellow letters are created with a hand-written font created from an actual person’s handwriting, so they are friendlier to the eye than your typical white sheet of paper with black typed font. Invitation style envelopes also give yellow letters a unique advantage, it’s a different size and shape than most of the mail you receive and the hand addressed envelopes are prepared by an actual person. These letters stand out from the rest.
Options
In direct mail there are so many different options to fit any budget or audience. While yellow letters yield the highest response rate they are a bit more expensive than postcards. If you’re just getting started or trying to market on a budget there are other options available including postcards, door hangers and greeting cards. There is an abundance of options with letters as well, yellow letters of course, and also a color letterhead letter, a typed letter, and we can add a digital signature to these letters so it appears as though you have signed each one. There is also the option of a wet ink signature so a real person actually signs every letter. There are more colorful and graphic options, or simple and direct options. The world of direct mail marketing is very flexible.
Measurable
Direct mail marketing is easy to keep track of. There are call forwarding services available to help with the calls. It’s easy to keep track of how many people are calling, how many coupons have been redeemed or how many emails you have received with a specific response to your mail piece. It’s simple.
We don’t all read every email in our inbox; many are deleted before you ever open them. But, we all see every envelope, flyer and postcard in our mailbox. If you see a hand addressed invitation style envelope in your mail box you will almost certainly open it. If your personalized message in that hand addressed envelope is concise and to the point, it will yield a higher response rate. Direct mail is an effective approach; in fact it is more cost effective than email marketing in this age of technology.
