Direct Mail

1. Is It for You?

Direct mail can generate enquiries, build long-term customer relationships, and lead to increased sales. Use these methods to maximise your chances of success.

1.1 Identify your target audience.

• The closer the mailing profile is to the existing customer base, the better the response rate will be.
• Build your own mailing list (see 2) for the best response rate.
• Targets for business products are often easier to identify than targets for consumer goods.

1.2 You must be able to make a profit, after accounting for all the associated costs.

• You can calculate the costs of an individual mailing very precisely.
• Do not underestimate the costs of building up a good mailing list, administering marketing activities, and fulfilling orders.
• Repeat orders are the most profitable.It costs between three and 30 times more to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one.

1.3 Build up your response rate.

With direct mail, you can quickly find out if there is a market for your product, who will buy, and what you can afford to charge.

The size of your mailing depends on how many responses you need, and what the expected response rate is - which in turn depends on the targets and what incentive you provide.

• Provide some incentive for customers to respond. For example, by offering a prize.
• You can tailor your mailing to seasonality.

1.4 You can use direct mail to establish a mail order operation.

Decide whether your product is suitable.

• Customers need a reason to buy this way.The reason might be convenience, product range or prices.Some specialist items are not available in stores. Mail order (to a well targeted list) is the only way to make them available.
• One drawback is that the customer cannot try out the product.
• Your product needs a high enough margin per item to cover all the costs involved.