With the heavy onslaught of online advertising, consumers are feeling digital fatigue now more than ever. A great way to stand out and see high ROI is to send direct mail. This form of advertising is most effective when it’s useful to your consumer. Irrelevant mail gets tossed whereas useful pieces make an impression.
If you are wondering whether or not your direct mail is useful, ask yourself these 5 questions.
1. Are You Sending to the Right Person?
If you read nothing else, pay attention to this step. Everything hinges on it. Marketing across all mediums has become personalized for target audiences. If you send out massive amounts of direct mail to just anyone, you will miss your target audience, and your beautiful mailer will end up in the toss pile. Pull your customer data and analyze it. Find out exactly who your target audience is and what are their interests.
Customer Data Analytics will tell you their ages, zip codes, income, family status, hobbies, etc. This information will give you incredible insight into the common characteristics of your best customers and how to find more just like them. When you know who your ideal target audience is, you can remove names on the list that don’t match. Trimming down your list to the people who will find your mailer useful will also save you money.
2. Have You Designed Your Mail Piece for the Target Audience?
When designing a mailer, you need to think about who you are trying to reach and create a piece that will be relevant to that person. Are you trying to reach new parents? Feature images that matter to them such as your latest baby products. Are you trying to reach the 65+ audience? Use a color scheme that catches their eye. Want to win over the dog lovers? Highlight your team’s favorite products and maybe even include their reviews.
If you design for the general public, your mailer won’t resonate with the receiver. Make sure you design with purpose and let your target audience know you understand them and have what they’re looking for.
3. Does Your Mailer Benefit the Receiver?
Mailers are especially effective when they benefit the consumer. Have you included an exclusive offer for them? Are you letting them know about a big sale coming up or a special new product? Direct Mail should always benefit the consumer. Your Target audience will hold onto the piece longer if it is valuable to them, and they’ll be glad they received it.
4. Have You Included All Relevant Information for Them?
Receiving an offer you’re interested in but having to search for the information you need is frustrating. Be sure to include the website, contact information, important dates, etc. Avoid overloading the mailer with text and information but definitely make sure the audience has all of the relevant information they need. If they have to search for something, you will lose them in the process.
5. Are There Easy Next Steps?
Make sure your audience knows exactly what they need to do with your mailer. Are there coupons for them to use that are clearly marked? Is there a certain person they should speak with and is that person’s name and number included? Is there a specific form they need to fill out or a code they need to use? That form should be easy for them to find with a short url and codes should be highly visible. QR codes are a great way to get people to a specific page on your website. Whatever the next step is, be sure that it’s clearly stated and easy to follow.
Direct Mail is a powerful tool, and when it’s designed for the target audience, it’s even more effective. Spend a little extra time making sure that what you’re sending out is useful to your consumers.
If you’re interested in learning more about data analytics for your next mailer, contact us here.