|
Did you ever see the television commercial that
starts out showing the “launch celebration”
of what looks like a fairly small company? The
folks have gathered in a room, with drinks and
munchies, watching some kind of tally machine
that shows the number of “hits” to
their brand new website. At first, the clicks
start off in intervals that probably represent
a nice, manageable number. Everyone’s thrilled
with the results.
But
when the intervals grow shorter, and the numbers
of hits increase, the looks on their faces change
from pleased to panic. It’s obvious to everyone
in the room that they’re completely unprepared
for the response they’re getting.
Well
guess what? The internet doesn’t have that
market cornered. It can happen with your direct
mail advertising just as easily. And once you’ve
dropped a response inquiry, chances are you’ve
lost the opportunity to make that sale, get that
member, or garner that charitable contribution.
Direct
mail is a wonderful way to send your targeted
message to a “hand picked” list of
companies or individuals who are most likely to
buy what you’re selling. It starts with
a good list, from a reliable source. From there,
good creative (design and copy), comes next. Finish
with knowledgeable production and mailing, verified
with USPS statements, and VOILA! It’s in
the mail. Now just sit back and watch the orders
pour in.
Trouble
is, at this point you’re only half done.
Have you considered how you’re going to
handle the responses to your mailing? Are you
driving respondents to a website? Are you asking
them to call you? Do they respond to your mailing
with some form of return mail? How about all of
the above?
What
you’re selling and how much you’re
charging have an effect on your response rate.
Any incentives you add should increase your response
as well. There is no rule of thumb that will tell
you what to expect in the way of responses until
you’ve sent out your first mailing, so it’s
usually a good idea to test a relatively small
quantity at first. After that, the rule of thumb
is that the results are repeatable to within very
close tolerances, so long as you don’t change
your message or your audience.
But
for the sake of this example, let’s say
your response rate is one and a half percent.
For every thousand mailing pieces you send out,
fifteen people will respond. Are you set up to
accommodate those responses? Okay, you can probably
handle that number, whether it’s hits to
your website, incoming phone calls, or reply mail.
But
let’s say you’re sending out five
or ten thousand mailing pieces. First responders
will usually hit back to you within a week, and
the following week will see the bulk of your total
responses. Given the same rates of return, could
you handle seventy-five inquiries, requests for
more information, or sales? How about one hundred
fifty?
Losing
a sale, because you were unprepared to handle
the response to your mailing, is twice bad. First,
you’ve wasted all the time and expense that
went into driving that response. It’s gone.
Second, chances are, that responder will judge
you to be “unresponsive” to their
needs, and they’ll likely be resistant to
your further attempts.
So
while we at DirectMail.com want and encourage
you to “keep those cards and letters”
in the mail, we also want to make sure that your
every mailing is as successful as it can possibly
be. Plan for success – literally. Do the
math and ask yourself “what if?”.
You won’t be sorry.
DirectMail.com
can help you with suggestions on what to expect
and how to test to determine response rates –
call us today at 1-888-690-2252 or click
here to see how!
|
