Marketing Mechanics — Advertising & Internet Marketing Agency

The digital revolution has transformed the direct mail industry, thanks to the savings, interactivity and accountability electronic direct mail delivers.

Making the switch from snail to electronic direct mail has many benefits. But there is also a host of considerations that small businesses should make before embarking on an online direct mail campaign for the first time.

Personalisation is the Key

One of the best benefits of electronic direct mail is the ability to personalise each mailing.

But to be able to personalise an electronic direct mail campaign, you need a quality database with up-to-date names and addresses to which to send the direct mail piece. This means renting a database of contacts.

To ensure you only rent a database from a reputable database vendor, Diane Costa, direct mail specialist and director, sales and marketing, Marketing Mechanics, says to make sure that the vendor “is a member of the Australian Direct Marketers Association. It’s also an idea to ask for examples of lists to make sure they offer a quality service.”

Good quality database providers should be able to offer a well-articulated list of contacts, with the ability to offer multiple contacts within the same company — sales manager, regional sales manager and national sales manager, for example.

Costa’s advice to small businesses that balk at having to pay $20,000 for one list is to split the mailing up into bite-sized chunks, for example by sending the communication to only $5,000 worth of contacts in the first month, and distributing the remainder of the direct mail campaign in the three months following. This will also allow for “test marketing” to ensure you get the response you are looking for.

But be warned — if you pay to rent a database once and use it again without paying a fee, the database provider will know what you’ve done. Costa says each database is seeded with the e-mail and mail address of someone associated with the firm that manages the database. So if you use the database again, they know and will enforce huge penalties and costs.

Creativity Counts

When it comes to messaging for direct mail, Costa has some great tips. She says “don’t use the words free, sale or save in the subject line and don’t capitalise words because the spam filter will catch them.” Including Flash features or scripting in the e-mail also means it will usually be deleted by the spam filter.

“It’s also essential to get to the point straight away in body copy. Include what’s in it for the person you’re sending the message to right at the top of the copy,” she says, adding that it’s also essential to include “an opt-out clause in the message for legal reasons and to ensure the spam act is followed correctly.”

It’s also an idea, says Costa, to check your competitors’ direct mail pieces by signing up on their home page to receive e-mail alerts. This will help you compare and contrast your own direct mail pieces.

One way to attract attention to your direct mail piece is to include a limited time offer in the copy. “But this has to be something that the target market actually wants,” says Costa.

In terms of results, Costa says you can expect a response rate of between one and 30 per cent for electronic direct mail, but a response rate of only 0.025 and 2.5 per cent for direct mail sent through traditional channels such as the post office.

“The response rate comes down to the product that’s being offered through the direct mail piece,” says Costa. “If the offer is for something more expensive, a computer network for small businesses for example, the response rate may decrease but the profit margins for a lower response should cover you.”

If you offer a great competition, the piece can even become viral. “A piece that has been sent to 2,000 people might reach 4,000 people if the offer is good enough,” she says.

Costa also says that even direct mail pieces that don’t get a great response rate do achieve a branding objective by giving exposure to whatever brand the direct mail piece relates.

Rent, Try Buy?

Costa’s advice to small businesses that are thinking about undertaking a direct mail campaign is to rent rather than buy a database. “You can buy them but I don’t recommend it because it’s impossible to keep them up-to-date,” she says.

Another tip, says Costa, is to send a test batch out — say 50 — before sending the communication out to potentially thousands of recipients. This allows you to test that the database is accurate and also lets you test the message of your communication piece.

Above all, Costa’s advice is to try to make your direct mail piece stand out from the crowd, by offering something really special to the database and by making it different from what your competitors are doing.