Posted by Greg Kathol on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
Graphic design for direct mail has a couple of important tasks. One is to attract the customer and get their attention. The other is the help guide the customer to the offer and call to action once you have their attention. The overall design of a direct mail piece should support the copy and images, not detract. By this I mean, the creativity put into a mail piece must carefully balance all of the elements going into it and not just "look nice". This way they all work in harmony to create a cohesive, attractive and hopefully responsive direct mailer.
1. Use Relevant Images
Images used in a direct mailer, weather they are photos, illustrations or other graphics are there to help draw attention to your mailer. They can also support the message. Images can be used to make a connection between the copy, call to action or offer by relating to it. For example, a mailer for a car may have an image of a car on it, but it may also show a winding road running along a coastline or a family getting ready to go on a trip.
2. Call to Action
A clear and easy to find call to action will tell the reader what it is you want them to do. That could be to call a number, send an e-mail, visit a webpage or come into a store on a certain date. Whatever that may be, don’t bury it or otherwise hide this critical element in your piece. Make it stand out enough to be seen.
3. Fonts - Easy to Read and Limited in Variety
There are thousands and thousands of fonts in the world. That doesn’t mean you need to use all of them in your mailers. Choosing a font or two is important (your company logo doesn’t count as one of your fonts). Easy to read, large fonts are great for headlines and drawing attention to a call to action or offer. They also separate blocks of text to aid in readability. Smaller, clean serif style fonts are good for text in a letter or postcard. Remember; limit your fonts to only 2.
4. White Space
White space is critical. It allows the viewer of a piece to easily navigate thorough the images and copy. This white space is especially important in a letter. A cluttered letter is difficult to follow and will not get read.
5. One Dominate Item on the Page
Many direct mail pieces have a headline or image that dominates the page. This headline or image is there to highlight what it is you want the reader to do or what you have to offer them. It is a good idea to limit this to just one thing, as placing more then one dominate item on a page will cancel each other out and nothing will be emphasized.
By Greg Kathol
Posted by Greg Kathol on Fri, Jul 30, 2010
On July 6th, The US Postal Service filed a request to increase rates by an average of 5.6%. This is above and beyond the regular rate hike the Postal Service is allowed. However, the USPS says that due to the recession and its impact on their financials, they need to increase to rates to make-up for the shortfalls in the budget. This heightened financial stability would also assist their service in the future by helping to stabilize the organization.
The USPS expects to lose $6.5 billion this fiscal year and about $7 billion in 2011. The Postal Regulatory Commission has 90 days to approve this request. If the new rates are approved, they could go into effect as soon as January 2, 2011. Of course, that is not enough to make up for the $7 billion they plan on loosing, so operational cost reductions are going to have to come as well. Some of these cost reductions could come from reducing mail delivery to 5 days a week by eliminating Saturday’s.
Here are some of the proposed rate increases for various categories of mail.
- First Class postage would raise from $.44 to $.46 an ounce
- Standard Parcels - 23.3% average increase
- Non-machinable flat mail - about a 38% increase
- Standard-mail letter – 5% increase
- Flats - 5.1% increase
- Publishers of periodical rate mail could see an increase of 8%
- Media/library mail – 7% increase
Posted by Greg Kathol on Wed, Jun 30, 2010
Whether you're new to direct marketing or a long-time veteran it's good to remember some of the basics when preparing your next direct mail campaign.
Studies analyzing the success, or lack thereof, of direct mail campaigns often find that list selection accounts for up to 60% of the success factor of a campaign. Many marketers follow the 40-40-20 rule. 40% lists selection, 40% copy, offer and call-to-action and 20% creative. Any way you look at it, the list is a critical part of every mailing.
Makes sense doesn't it?
After all, if you're fishing for trout you're going to want to present "bait" that a trout would be interested in vs. say, bait that a big-mouth bass would find enticing.
So the first step in your journey towards creating a winning direct mail campaign is finding a bona-fide "starving crowd" of prospects to whom you can mail. If you need help in this area, give us a call and one of our representatives will find the right list for you.
The next step is the development of an "appealing offer."
The offer you make in your direct mail package needs to be matched as closely as possible to the interests, wants, and urgency of the list. The more your offer matches to your target audience, the higher the response rate should be.
Here's an example to give you a better idea how this can work.
Example: A new mails 5,000 postcards about their Grand Opening to residents living within a 5 mile radius of the restaurant. The offer may be a great one, a complimentary gift card just for visiting, free appetizers and wine along with live entertainment, but the response may still be very low because of the lack of focus to clearly identify the ideal customer.
This restaurateur's targeting was only based on "geographic" criteria.
Of the 5,000 residents that were mailed maybe only 5% (250) actually LOVED Italian food. Of those 250, 10% came in which is a great response rate but not when you compute it based on the total number of cards mailed.
A Better Solution: Our smart restaurateur contacts a brilliant list broker who informs him that he can rent a list of 5,000 names of individuals who all live within 30 miles of his location and have bought subscriptions to "Italian Cooking" magazine.
Let's say only 5% of this "starving crowd" responds. Our restaurateur now has 250 people who come in instead of just 25.
By closely matching his offer to the right list of probable patrons, this restaurateur can realize a very profitable ROI and discover what smart direct marketers have known all along...that direct mail CAN and DOES work incredibly well when you take time to plan for success from the start!
Whether you need help identifying lists to mail to or creative services to come up with winning offers, All Direct Mail Services has the resources and the expertise to help you succeed with your next direct mail campaign.
Photo courtesy of @slava on Flickr
Posted by Greg Kathol on Tue, May 25, 2010
There are many things that can cause direct mail to not perform as you had planned. More often then not, it's a combination of challenges that keep a direct mail campaign from rising to the top. It's also a combination of best practices that creates winning packages. Below are a few points to get you thinking and hopefully optimizing and improving your next direct mail project. These aren't in any particular order.
- There was no clearly stated call to action.
- The copy was too short to really tell a story or offer enough information about "what's in it for me" (WIIFM).
- The copy was too long and didn't get to the point of the mailing, loosing the reader's attention.
- The offer had no deadline or sense of urgency.
- The offer wasn't strong enough to create an action.
- The benefit of opening and/or reading the mail piece wasn't clear to the recipient.
- The list wasn't segmented enough and as a result your offer was going to the wrong target market.
- The mailing was a stand alone or one-off, meaning it's not in a series of 3 or more, which is often required to gain the attention of the recipient and get them to act.
- The copy lacks the emotional connection to drive the desired action. It isn't addressing a need, fear or want.
- There are too many bad addresses resulting in waste and an ineffective mailing. Simply clean the list and utilize CASS, NCOA and suppression services.
- The graphics where too low quality putting the legitimacy of the business into question.
- The mail piece was over produced - it looked too high-end or didn't connect with the product or service being offered.
- The copy (especially for longer copy) didn't have any headlines or subheads, bullets or visual elements to keep to reader on track or allow a non-reader to skim.
- The mailing didn't have multiple ways of ordering or reaching your company, such as phone, e-mail, website, specific landing page or reply device.
- The contact information was incorrect resulting in bounced e-mails and dead phones calls.
- No white space. Too many graphics and copy crammed into one letter or postcard lowers readability.
- The graphics didn't support the copy, offer and call to action.
Do you have any to add to this list?
By Greg Kathol
Image courtesy of Mykl Roventine on Flickr
Posted by Greg Kathol on Thu, Apr 22, 2010
The merge/purge process is defined as the removal of duplicate records from a given data set or in this case, a mailing list. There are several reasons to perform this task. Many direct mail lists, whether a house list or in the form of multiple purchased lists and/or a combination of both, can contain duplicated information. The merge/purge process will eliminate the unwanted records based on certain criteria you select.
Criteria for de-duping a mailing list may include: one record per address, one per household, one per name per address or other fields like a keycode or unique ID. One record per address means that a list will be processed to remove all duplicate addresses. Typically a duplicate address represents the entire address. For example: 1234 Maple St., Anytown, CA 90000. Any records matching that will be removed so only one record with that address remains in the list. If there is an apartment or suite number associated with the address then the duplicate record will only be removed if there is an exact match with the apartment or suite number at the address. This will ensure that apartment complexes, condos, townhomes and business parks don't get unnecessarily removed. Note: a purchased mailing list may not include apartment or suite numbers. You may find that your list contains quite a few families at one address that will be removed using this technique.
This next match type is one record per household. This process removes all records that have a last name matching. For example, a record with the last name of Smith at one address will be removed if there is an exact match with another address and name in the data. An example of this would be an individual named Joe Smith and in individual named John Smith living at the same address. One of those records would be removed by utilizing this record removal process. The assumption here is that both people are member of the same household.
The removal of one record per name per address is the process of eliminating all records that have an exact address match and an exact name match. Note: Joe Smith 1234 Maple St., Anytown, CA 90000 does not match Jane Smith 1234 maple St., Anytown, CA 90000 since the full name is different. You can however ask that the records be de-duped only by last name per address. That way only one mail piece will arrive per name. If there is more then one name (last or full) at that address then each person with a different last name will receive a mail piece. An example of this could be two families or people with different last names living at the same address. It's also important to note that there is no distinction made between a name such as Robert or Bob. This name will be treated as two different records. However, there are more sophisticated data cleansing methods for recognizing, matching and clearing common name versions.
The last category is perhaps the easiest to remove duplicates from. Removing records by keycode or unique ID such as a customer number, account number or other assigned unique identifier can simply be done by matching those fields and eliminating one of the matches. However, this will remove whatever is in that field, no matter what. The only criteria here is the unique identifier. If you don't feel the integrity of the data is high enough to do this, then run one of the other merge purge processes first, then perform the unique file de-dup.
Most of these merge/purge or duplication removals are performed by data processing experts who are familiar with direct mail and what is needed to ensure the highest level of data integrity. Many of these processes can get quit sophisticated on the back end, but with a simple working knowledge of how each process works, you will be able to talk to your mail house or data expert about your particular needs and let them do hard work for you.
Hopefully this gives you a clearer understanding of the merge/purge process and what it really means to remove duplicates. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.
By Greg Kathol
Posted by Greg Kathol on Thu, Mar 25, 2010
Symptom: Struggling to keep current customers and bring in new business
Cure:
1. Never under estimate the power of a coupon or a free sample.
2. Send coupons with your mail piece.
3. Use your direct mailer to drive people to your web site where they can print their own coupons.
4. Coupons do not have to be for your services. Gift cards for Starbucks or Ben & Jerry's can be effective too.
5. Free is still a terrific draw.
Symptom: Trouble getting more mail pieces opened
Cure:
1. Use teaser copy on your envelopes (Ask to see samples of ADMSI's inkjet teaser using red or blue ink)
2. Try using full view envelopes occasionally.
3. Colored envelopes also stand out in the mailbox.
4. Change the size of your envelope. Almost every mailer uses #10's.
5. Change your mail piece. 1st a self mailer - followed by a envelope - followed by a postcard - followed by a phone call.
Symptom: Suffering from "I can't afford to mail" syndrome.
Cure:
1. Understand that your customers are buying from the companies who are advertising.
2. Direct Mail is still the most economical way to reach your customers and prospects.
3. Try a 4.25 x 6 postcard. 1st class postage can be lower than Standard Mail rates. Your message doesn't have to be big!
4. Take a lesson from the "big guys": Offer early bird specials to your best customers.
5. Clean your list and keep it clean - save on postage - print - services - and - go green at the same time. (Ask us how)
Symptom: You're sending out lots of quotes, but can't seem to close the deal.
Cure:
1. Have conversations, not presentations. Do 20% of the talking (ask questions) and 80% of the listening (take notes).
2. In this economy, prospects raise more objections than they did in the past. Objections = Opportunities.
By Ronnie Barnansky
Posted by Greg Kathol on Sun, Feb 28, 2010
I found some nice facts about the USPS on their website the other day and thought I would share them with you. For those of you not familiar with the numbers, they are quit large and shows the widespread use of the medium. I also included some fun facts about the United Sates Postal Service.
According to the USPS site, the postal service is the hub of a trillion (yes trillion) dollar mailing industry. The mailing industry employees more then 8 million people* including those working in direct mail services companies across the country.
- First-Class Mail $38.2 billion
- Advertising Mail $20.6 billion
- Shipping Services $8.4 billion
- International Mail $2.4 billion
- Periodicals $2.3 billion
- Package Services $1.8 billion
- $75 billion in Revenue (2008)
If the Postal Service was a private sector company, it would rank in the Fortune 500 as follows:
- 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500
- 61st for just First Class Mail
- 119th for just Advertising Mail
- 310th for just Shipping
How does the 200 billion plus pieces of mail breakdown?
- 203 billion - Pieces were processed in 2008
- 667 million - Average amount of mail pieces processed each day
- 28 million - Average amount of mail pieces processed each hour
- 463,000 - Average amount of mail pieces processed each minute
- 7,700 - Average amount of mail pieces processed each second
- 835 million - Number of international mail pieces processed
What does it take to deliver the mail?
- 656,000 - Number of employees
- 221,000 - Number of vehicles in the USPS fleet - this is the largest civilian fleet of vehicles in the world
- 1.2 billion - Number of miles driven each year by postal workers and professional truck drivers for the USPS
- 32,741 - Number of Post Offices across the nation
Other Facts:
- 46 million - Amount of address changes handled every year
- 1.2 million - Number of visitors to the USPS website each day
- 56,659 - Number of places that sell stamps
- 1.2 million - Number of new delivery points added in 2008 alone
- $0 Tax dollars where received to operate the Postal Service
Here are some fun, but little know facts about the Post Office:
- Highest Elevation - Leadville, CO - about 10,150 ft
- Lowest Elevation - Mecca, CA - about 180 ft below sea level
- Farthest East in US - Lubec, ME
- Farthest West in US - Wales, AK
- Farthest North in US - Barrow, AK
- Farthest South in US - Naalehu, HI
- Smallest Post Office- Ochopee, FL - 8'4" x 7'3"
- Oldest Post Office - Hinsdale, NH - since 1816
- Coldest - North Slope Borough, AK - The average winter temp is -22°
- Hottest - Death Valley, CA - The average summer temp is 115°
- Most Unusual Construction - The Corrales, NM, Post Office was constructed using 875 bales of straw.
- Most Isolated - In a remote region of Northern Alaska, the Anaktuvuk Pass Post Office is the only link to the outside world for the people that live there. There are no and all supplies and mail must be flown in.
- The USPS is the nation's second largest employer
- The nation's largest retail network
- It runs the world's largest alternative fuel fleet
- The USPS utilizes various forms of tranportaion, including: planes, trains, trucks, cars, boats, ferries, helicopters, subways, float planes, hovercrafts, T-3s, street cars, mules, bicycles and of course people.
- Most unusual delivery method is a mule train in Arizona. Each mule carries about 130 pounds of mail, food and supplies. They travel down the 8-mile trail to the Havasupai Indians, averaging 41,000 pounds per week.
- Another Unusual Delivery Method - the JW Westcott is a 45-foot contract boat from Detroit, MI, that delivers mail to bosts passing by the Detroit River. The JW Westcott also has its own ZIP Code - 48222.
- Longest rural delivery route in the US is 176.7 miles in Fordville, ND.
- Shortest rural delivery route in the US is 1.9 miles in Henderson, NV.
- The lowest number ZIP Code is 00501, a unique ZIP Just for the IRS located in Holtsville, NY.
- Highest ZIP Code is in Ketchikan, AK - 99950
- The top five most common street names in the US are Main, Maple, 2nd, Oak and Park.
*The Envelope Manufacturers Association reported in the "2008 Economic Jobs Study for the Mailing Industry" that there are 8.4 million jobs and over $1 trillion in revenue attributed to the mailing industry.
I hope you enjoyed the facts about mail, the mailing industry and the Postal Service. By the way, the picture above is of an 1847 Benjamin Franklin 5-cent stamp, one of the two first to be officially issued by an act of Congress in 1847. Do you know who was on the other stamp?
Posted by Greg Kathol on Fri, Jan 29, 2010
Resources on the USPS site are far reaching, if you can find them all. Below are a few we think will help you out. The postage calculator is for retail or regular 1st class postage. There is a link to using repositionable notes on the outside of your direct mail. A nice response boosting tool. Zip code look up info is the next link followed by information on periodical ride-alongs or sending a mail piece (ride-along) with a magazine. Lastly, is a link to the DMM (Domestic Mail Manual). This is the go to place to find specific rules and regulation regarding mail. Of course you can just call us to get the info you need, we are what you call experts.
Postage Price Calculator for Domestic and International Retail Prices.
http://postcalc.usps.gov/
Repositionable Notes Placement Templates.
http://www.usps.com/repositionablenotes/placement.htm
Zip Code Look Up.
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Periodicals Ride-Along.
http://www.usps.com/ridealong/welcome.htm
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual.
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/dmm300_landing.htm
Posted by Greg Kathol on Tue, Dec 29, 2009
I came across an interesting website recently; it's called Postal Journal - www.postaljournal.com. Their mission is "To explore the evolution of the North American postal system as part of the nation's 21st century economic and communication infrastructure." Their site contains a collection of papers and articles on the postal system, where it is and where it's going. The main focus of its subject matter is on commercial mailers. One nice thing about this site is who it's written by or rather the group of organizations that add to its content. The perspectives are from a wide range of backgrounds and postal industry sectors. Here is a list of its contributors:
- Association for Postal Commerce
- Direct Communications Group
- The Direct Marketing Association
- The Envelope Manufacturers Association Foundation
- Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association
- The Law offices of Robert J. Brinkmann LLC
- Transformation Strategy Inc.
Take a look at it, I think you'll find some good nuggets of direct mail news and perspective.
By Greg Kathol
Posted by Greg Kathol on Mon, Nov 16, 2009
Master, I have searched long for the secret to successful marketing. I have sent many direct mail flyers, brochures and letters, but with little success. How have I failed, Master?
In many lands, Grasshopper, there are people mailing brochures that speak only for themselves. They speak only of their capablilties, their discounts, and their services. These people spend their valuable money and get little in return.
You must beome one with WIIFM.
What is this powerfull magic, Master?
It's no magic, Grasshopper, but it is a secret to successful marketing. WIIFM is the light that shines and increases profits. WIIFM stands for "What's In It For Me." It is what all customers first ask themselves when reading a direct mail piece.
For example, if one sells custom T-Shirts. Are the first selling points the quality of the material used or the number of colors that may be printed? No! The potential customer must first be told of the soft caress of 100% cotton on their bodies, then of the smiles they will receive when their friends see them wearing the vivid, exciting designs. Once the customer feels the need to fulfill these desires, the sale is made.
I see, Master, but my friend runs a swimming pool service. How can this WIIFM work for him?
First, he should speak of pools that are sparkling clear, fresh and clean. His customers should be reminded of how comforable, convenient and inviting it is to have a pool that is well-maintained. Then, he may make an offer. A discount or free gift. This gift must be precieved by the customer as having value.
Remember, it is of the upmost importance to think in terms of the customer and what motivates and is important to them, not you. We all value different things, so too do your potential customers. Remember this and you will travel far.
Thank you, Master. I see that motivation is the important connection between seller and buyer. I will try to use WIIFM wisely.
By Marc Cohen