| So, it’s settled. You’ve decided that direct mail is the way to go. You’ve heard about the benefits and you’re ready to pull the campaign together. In principle, it sounds pretty straightforward – take your message, get your hands on a contact list, create a mail piece and off you go.
It is certainly true that the beauty of direct mail lies in its ability to deliver a tangible, personal message. At the end of the day, consumers just love receiving something real in the mail that speaks to them and appeals to their interests. However, getting a direct mail campaign to deliver the kind of response rate and return on investment that marketers dream about means avoiding some common mistakes; mistakes that trip up both rookie and experienced direct marketers alike.
Here are some of the mistakes I see time and time again and my tips on how to avoid them.
1. A second, third and fourth pair of eyes.
There’s no excuse for spelling or grammar mistakes in a direct mail piece (or any other marketing communication for that matter!). It is often easy to get too close to your own campaign so give it the reality check by having someone else in your office, agency or even at home proofread the mail pack before you sign it off. Some of these people might just check spelling for you, while others can give you feedback on how easy it is to read, understand and take action on. Don’t be afraid of some constructive feedback!
2. You want me to do what?
Ever got to the end of a letter and not been clear what you are meant to do next? Chances are, your next move was to put the pack straight into the recycling bin. Make sure you are explicitly clear what you want the reader to do. Do you want them to call you? Go into your retail outlet? Mail back a reply paid form? Visit their personalised URL? Whatever it is (and remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘buy now’ initially, as you might want to lead them on a journey to purchase), make sure it is clearly articulated multiple times throughout the mail pack.
3. Open the envelope.
The great thing about people is we are all different. Some of us like lots of Vegemite on our toast, some like just a smidge. Some of us open an envelope from the top, others to the left, others to the right. If the order of contents in your mail pack is important, make sure you test some live samples before the mailing is lodged to see how people open the envelope and go through the contents. It’s a little thing, but it might just save 90% of your audience from seeing the back of your letter first instead of the front, which you’ve spent so much time slaving over.
4. Computer says no.
There’s nothing worse than getting a relevant, compelling direct mail pack that inspires you to respond immediately – only to find the retail sales person or call centre operator has absolutely no idea about the offer you have received. Setting up the internal processes is definitely not the most glamorous part of a direct mail campaign, but it is a critical one and can make or break the ultimate success of your campaign.
If your call to action is to a personalised URL, make sure they work. If it’s to retail outlets, make sure the staff are briefed on the offer and who received it. If it’s to a call centre, make sure you track the calls coming in (not just the sales that come out at the end) and that the operators fully understand the campaign. And if it’s a multiple of these, which it should be to ensure the best chance of success, then do all those things.
5. Measure everything.
Leading straight on from that old adage “Test, test and test again” is “Measure, measure and measure again”. After all, what’s the point in setting up a complicated test matrix if you are not a) actually able to measure the different outcomes or b) aren’t interested in learning from your testing? And don’t just be limited to basic measurement (although anything is better than nothing).
If you are running a serious number of direct mail campaigns to a large proportion of existing or prospective customers on a regular basis, why not include a measure of direct mail recall in your advertising tracking research? On a more basic level, you should at least be looking at which offers pulled a greater response (both initial response and conversion), which channels were more effective, which customers responded (and just as importantly, which didn’t and why) and what your best overall performing mail pack looked like.
Edited extract from ‘10 direct-mail mistakes’, Australia Post Priority magazine, Issue 48, Jan/Feb 2010.
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