Direct mail, or mailshots, are a great way to keep in touch with existing customers and attract new ones. However, if not done efficiently it could amount to a costly, time-consuming mistake. General advice on how to use and produce direct mail campaigns is given in Use Direct Mail for More Business. This article focuses on how to make it appear more professional.
What Are You Going to Send?
A direct mail campaign can be either single or multi-piece. A single piece item could be a postcard, a letter folded over to form an envelope, or even a full catalogue. It must contain the name and address of the recipient as well as the posting mechanism, e.g. the stamp or frank as well as the information the advertiser is trying to convey. As such, it needs to work hard creatively.
The alternative is a multi-piece. It can have any number of items but as a minimum it will have an envelope or carrier and a letter. Beyond that, anything is possible. Multiple leaflets, interactive devices or toys, application forms with envelopes. In fact, almost anything.
As with all aspects of marketing, work out what is most appropriate for your audience and use testing disciplines to establish what works most effectively.
Personalisation
At the very least, the direct mailing will have the recipient's name and address, but how much further could you take it? With digital printing you can produce personalised leaflets for every single mailing recipient. Imagine the effect of the recipient seeing their name on the front cover of the leaflet or envelope.
Obviously it costs more to do this, but the results may be worth it.
Eye Scanning
Where do you look first as you pick up a direct mail pack from the floor after it’s dropped through your letter box? You don’t know which way up it will land so consider something on both sides of the envelope. Also, you don’t know if they will read the letter or a leaflet first, so make it look attractive and appealing regardless of which part is seen first.
When a reader looks at a letter they’ll generally see the top left hand corner first, then scan the right hand border, then the headline, then the start of the paragraphs. If what they see appeals, they may read the letter. A similar pattern will be repeated with each element. The purpose at each stage is simply to get them to read a bit more. If they stop reading, you’ve lost them.
Creative Techniques
Make sure each of the eye-scanning points mentioned above are visually appealing and interesting. Use short sentences and paragraphs and break up the text with subheadings. Don’t try to introduce too much colour or bold and italics in the text, it can become confusing.
Instead, have a display box at the side containing the information you want to draw people’s attention to. And avoid capitals, they’re difficult to read. Images are good though, so have as many as you can, preferably of people enjoying your product or service rather than static shots of the object you’re selling.
The UK’s Direct Mail Information Service is a great source of ideas for improving mailings, but there’s no substitute for trying it and seeing what works. Get more advice on how to make these tests effective from Generate More Business by Testing.
Jack Roberts - I am a marketing consultant who specialises in small businesses. I like to refer to them as micro-businesses as they generally have less ...
