Creating a direct mail campaign

Getting your direct mail campaign up and running means paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. Sure, that sounds obvious, but it’s something many companies sending direct mail campaigns fail to remember. Indeed, many believe success is simply a case of relying on brand power, or a creative spark, or even just pure chance.

Instead, successful direct mail campaigns rely on testing and fine tuning each and every aspect, using the losses and wins to improve performance. 

Getting started

In terms of testing the waters, businesses should first identify their target market, focusing their efforts on exciting offers to draw the early receivers in. It’s important to make sure any offers can be fulfilled however, otherwise a direct mail campaign will fall at the first hurdle. Also, it is important to consider testing more than one creative approach; think about creating two or more designs for the direct mail campaign. 

Once the initial campaign is up and running, this is the opportunity for businesses to measure and assess the customer response. Two things to look out for:

• Which of your target audience is most likely to respond?
• Which of your creative approaches is most effective? 

With this information under your belt, you can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your next direct mail campaign. And with each new campaign you run, you get more data and insight into what works and what doesn’t. Overall, the more precise your campaigns become, the greater the return on your investment.

Who are direct mail campaigns for?

Any size business really – the beauty of direct mail campaigns is their sheer versatility in scope, scale, and affordability. 

Direct mail campaign targeting

When it comes to targeting your direct mail campaign, there are two things to consider – who your audience is (or, your mailing list), and what it is you intend to send (otherwise known as mailshot). The former is definitely the most important part to think about, as you don’t want to waste marketing collateral sending to people who just won’t respond. Also, with each direct mail campaign you will of course want to see a steady increase in responses.

Once you’ve established a core group of customers, you can use their profile to start targeting new customers. Though, don’t think you need only target one specific customer profile, it’s just a safe way to gradually increase your existing customer base. 

Deciding on the best delivery method

You have two clear options when it comes to choosing the best delivery method for your direct mail campaign. If you want to personalise your campaign, hitting specific addresses, you can opt for simple direct mailing. If, however, you want to target a postcode without the need for names and addresses, you should consider unaddressed, Doordrop Media or Partially Addressed Mail. Whichever way you choose, always make sure you can handle any responses correctly (responding to queries, managing increased orders, etc.).

Optimising responses to mailshots

For your direct mail campaign, try to cover the following:

• Offer incentives. This could be prizes, discounts, limited-time offers, samples, etc.
• Make sure your messaging is clear. Include bold calls-to-actions, exciting breakdowns of your product or service offering, reasons why your business is better than the competition, etc.
• Simple and clear methods of getting in touch. Don’t bury your email or contact number in the fine print, make it highly visible and combine with a CTA.

Monitoring responses to your direct mail campaign

As mentioned earlier, it is very important to measure and track the success of your direct mail campaign. This can be done using a number of techniques, including codes and offers that you can measure the response rate of, for example. Other methods include simply measuring email or phone enquiries, plus whether specific web pages see an increase in traffic after your direct mail campaign. 

Regardless of how you choose to measure response rate, always remember that direct mail campaigns are a learning experience. You almost certainly won’t get it 100% right on the first go, so take the data you gather from early campaigns and use it to fine tune your future mailshots.

How can Posthub help?

Posthub are leading experts in mail and offer consultative and practical support throughout the direct mail planning and mail delivery process. With extensive knowledge and experience, Posthub is best placed to provide cost-effective postal costs for each and every campaign.