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Ready For Better Direct Mail Response Rates? Here's An Action Plan That Works. By Michael Del Chiaro

By: Michael Del Chiaro

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You can direct business even in delicate times with direct mail. The technique is having a simple but effective action plan to compel great direct mail response rates. Here's an action plan that works for any size of business and for any type of product or service offering. Before you get your direct mail action plan laid out, you need to have a distinguished provider who can back you up. A skillful dealer, like My1Stop.com, can even help fine tune your direct mail action plan. So, be certain to communicate your plans with your supplier before you start your direct mail campaign. Here's a simple but effective three stage action plan to push up direct mail response rates . . .
Develop A Clearly Attentive Mailing List
Bulk mailing is old school. Don't go back there. Instead, try creating smaller more substantially observant direct marketing lists. Segment your products or services into groups. Then create individual lists for each cluster. Get Niche specific. If you're a heating and air conditioning company, segment your direct marketing lists depending on household income ranges and match your products and services accordingly. If you're a start up church with a young minister, develop a list of under 35 year olds in your region for starters. Get a list from the local colleges, propose to co-op ads with the area music store (using their list), get inventive - but stay alert.
List Building Tools For Your Direct Mail Action Plan:
o Construct Your Own List Out Of Combinations.
Buy names, barter for names, social-media for names, and network for names.
o Segment Your Products and Services. Niche Specific.
Focus. Segment product groups into specific products - correlate them to your lists.
o Lots Of Smaller Lists Get Greater Results - At Lower Costs
There are no longer many incentives to mass mailing big lists.
You'll see in a minute how digital printing turns small direct mail lists into huge possibilities - tiny lists and digital printing are a must for your direct mail action plan.
Provide An Enticing Incentive And Make It Highly Relevant
OK. So you have your well focused lists. Great start. Now you need motives that are very significant to each unique direct marketing group. Here are a few examples. Let's say you sell heating and air conditioning units and services. To your higher income household list, you would offer high end big BTU units - the enticement is discounted executive vent cleaning - which is very relevant to what you do and the prospects requirement. For middle and lower income household lists you would offer smaller units with the enticement being ultra green and especially low operating expenses. You can see the usefulness of the direct marketing sectors now - just think if you had a "green" list for this offer! Using digital direct mail printing lets you personalize every piece in every list - you can personalize the names - the offer -the images - anything that establishes more relevance for the beneficiary is the thing to do!
Incentive Structuring Tools For Your Direct Mail Action Plan:
o Develop Different Incentives - Or Bids -For Each List Group
This sets you up for big response rates.
o Develop Incentives That Are Highly Relevant And Motivating.
Think discounts on products and services relevant to the offer.
o Personalize The Offer To Each Individual Recipient
This will make the most of the list segments you made before.
Remember. There is no reason to do mass mailings and there is no reason to make the same offer to all of your lists. The printing won't cost much more to do two or three separate mailings - that's an advantage digital printing suppliers offer. The results will be much better for each
Test. Test. Test.
This is a minimal thing to do. You have your direct mail segmented lists, correct? OK, now segment them again - into fourths. You want three test sample groups and a large remaining main group. Test different direct mail designs and offers on each of the three smaller groups to see which design - which proposal - grabs the highest response rate. Again, the fairly low costs of digital printing make it possible to send a direct mail test of 5,000 or maybe even fewer pieces.
Testing Mechanisms For Your Direct Mail Action Plan:
o Segment Each List Group Into Four Parts
Three test groups - one large non-test group.
o Develop A Different Offer For E Test Unit
You can modify the design too - but make certain the offers are different.
o Track The Response Rates
Whichever offer gets the most responses is the one to go with to the entire group.
How large should the three test groups be? Let's say you have 50,000 names. Go with 5,000 each for the test groups! That will leave 35,000 for the greatest offer. So 40,000 (or 80%) of your list will have received the best bargain - that should give you exceptional direct mail response rates!
My1Stop.com is the direct mail superstore. We work with our customers on direct mail marketing action plans every day. Please visit us online or call, today.

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