How to Foul Up a Direct Mail Campaign in Three Easy Steps
Writing by Darrin Dickey on Wednesday, 10 of October , 2007 at 4:23 pm
we received a direct mail piece at our house a couple of days ago that came from a major big box toy retailer. After a good chuckle, it went straight into the trash. Do not pass go. Do not spend $200 at their store. We laughed because the whole direct mailing was so messed up that it was unusable to us. Here are the three things they did wrong.
1. They sent mixed messages.
The back of the envelope said, “A special offer just for you.” Teh front read, “To the Dickey Family - or current resident.” OK. Which is it, a special offer just for us or a generic offer for anyone who happened to open the envelope? Don’t assume your audience is stupid and won’t notice things like this.
2. They sent the mailing Bulk Rate.
Direct mail is generally sent one of two ways: first class or bulk rate. First class is more expensive, but is processed and delivered right away. The post office makes no guarantees, but first class mail generally arrives in 2-5 days. Bulk rate is less expensive, but can take longer since it does not get priority processing. In all honesty, bulk rate is a great way to send a direct mailing and is recommended if arrival time is not an issue or if you’re mailing well in advance. However, bulk rate can take two weeks or more to deliver. Not a good choice if you’ve got a call-to-action in your direct mailing, especially if the deadline is looming large. If your direct mail campaign has a specific time component - an “act by” or event date, bulk rate mail is a gamble and a bad idea. It can lead to your direct mail recipient saying…
3. They delivered the piece too late.
Yup, our direct mail piece arrived three days after the week-long sales event had ended. I don’t know what happened, if it was late art, delayed client approval, a data file or mail fulfillment snafu, bulk rate mail delay or simply a misdirected letter. As a consumer, I really don’t care. In fact, the discount card they included with the letter may have still been usable, but I didn’t look and didn’t care. Their message int he letter was, “Come celebrate our birthday with savings and specials this one week.” That time period had passed. Their expensive mail piece was D.O.A. - only landfill material as far as I was concerned. What a shame.
Bonus takeaways to help you with your direct mailing:
- Plan your direct mail campaign early and pad your schedule to allow for unforeseen incidents. They will happen!
- Have a “Call to Action” in your mailing. Ask for the sale and ask for it now. Open-ended offers tend to be ignored. “I’ll take advantage of that later if I have the time.”
- If you have a limited time the customer must act within, mail first class if you can afford it. If you don’t have time-sensitive material, mail bulk rate and save the money.
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Category: Direct Mail
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