Tips for improving your direct mail marketing plan

Direct mail or "snail mail" has become less popular in the computer age. This might be good news for your company if you are still engaging in direct mail marketing. The reason for this is that there is less "junk mail" stuffing people's mailboxes these days. Less junk mail means there is a greater likelihood that your mailer will be opened and read. Here are a few tips for improving your direct mail marketing plan.

Make your mailer beautiful-just like good-looking people often have unfair advantages in the workforce, good-looking mailers often have unfair advantages in the mailbox. People are more likely to spend the time and read your postcard, brochure, or flyer if it appeals to them aesthetically. Spend the extra money to make a professional looking, full color flyer. If you don't, the mailer will look to the recipient like "junk" and will probably end up in the recycle bin or on the bottom of a birdcage. Even if you don't have an advertising staff to make up your mailers, you can use professional programs like Microsoft's publisher to create nice looking ads.

Give the customer something-if it is possible given your product, try to include a coupon or something that will be valuable to your mail recipient. Your mailer is less likely to go the way of the trashcan if there is something on the mailer that your customer wants to keep. It is expensive to add things like refrigerator magnets or stickers to your mailers but these are things that are often saved. If you have the means, try to add something of value to your mailer.

Make readable copy-hire a copywriter to write the text of your mailer. There are little secrets to writing interesting and readable statement. If you are not just sending colorful ads but you are trying to communicate with the recipient, make sure that you are able to communicate by including readable copy. If you need to write the thing yourself, try to make it as to the point as possible, especially in the first sentence. The reader should be fully informed about the nature of the text by within the first 30 seconds of beginning to read it.

Make mailers personal-there are ways to make mailers more personal. One way is to include the persons name on the flyer. Anonymous mailers are immediately classified as junk; mailers with the recipients name on them are only classified as "potential junk". By moving up from "junk" to "potential junk" you may double or even triple the response rate you get from your mailers. Another way to make mailers personal is by including your picture on the mailer. People are more sympathetic and remember a product better if they are able to put a face with a name.

Offer website information-if you have an internet sales department, get your web address onto the flyer. Most people are becoming more comfortable with shopping online and if you can get people onto your website through your mailers, you have increased your chances for sales. Besides offering website information, you might also consider printing direct contacts like phone numbers, especially 1-800 numbers, and fax numbers on the mailer.

Track your responses-you can find out just how effective your direct mail strategy is by tracking responses. Say you send out a million buy-one-get-one-free coupons. If 10,000 of those coupons are redeemed within the year, you can say that you have a 1% response rate from the mailer. Track other marketing techniques also to see what is the most effective for your business.

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