Creating a Direct Mail Campaign

Getting your direct mail campaign up and running means paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. Sure, that sounds obvious, but many companies sending direct mail campaigns fail to remember it. Indeed, many believe success is simply a case of relying on brand power, a creative spark, or even pure chance. Instead, successful direct mail campaigns rely on testing and fine-tuning every aspect, using losses and wins to improve performance. 

Getting Started with Direct Mail

To test the waters, businesses should first identify their target market, focusing on offering something exciting to attract early adopters. It’s essential to ensure any offers can be fulfilled; otherwise, a direct mail campaign will fall at the first hurdle. Additionally, it is crucial to consider testing more than one creative approach; consider creating two or more designs for the direct mail campaign. 

Once the initial campaign is up and running, businesses can measure and assess customer response. Two things to look out for:

• Which of your target audiences is most likely to respond?
• Which of your creative approaches is most effective? 

With this information under your belt, you can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your next direct mail campaign. And with each new campaign you run, you get more data and insight into what works and what doesn’t. Overall, the more precise your campaigns become, the greater the return on your investment.

Who are Direct Mail Campaigns For?

Any size business. The beauty of direct mail campaigns lies in their versatility in terms of scope, scale, and affordability. 

• Direct mail campaign targeting

When targeting your direct mail campaign, there are two key considerations: who your audience is (or, your mailing list) and what you intend to send (also known as a mailshot). The former is the most essential part to consider, as you don’t want to waste marketing collateral sending to people who won’t respond. Also, with each direct mail campaign, you will want to see a steady increase in responses.

Once you’ve established a core group of customers, you can use their profiles to start targeting new customers. However, you don’t need to target only one specific customer profile; it’s simply a safe way to increase your existing customer base gradually. 

• Deciding on the best delivery method

You have two options for choosing the best delivery method for your direct mail campaign. If you want to personalise your campaign and hit specific addresses, you can opt for simple direct mailing. If, however, you want to target a postcode without the need for names and addresses, consider unaddressed, Doordrop Media, or Partially Addressed Mail. Whichever way you choose, always make sure you can handle any responses correctly (responding to queries, managing increased orders, etc.).

• Optimising responses to mailshots

For your direct mail campaign, try to cover the following:

• Offer incentives. This could include prizes, discounts, limited-time offers, samples, and more.
• Make sure your messaging is clear. Include bold calls-to-action, exciting breakdowns of your product or service offering, reasons why your business is better than the competition, etc.
• Straightforward methods of getting in touch. Do not bury your email or contact number in the fine print; make it highly visible and pair it with a clear call-to-action (CTA).

• Monitoring responses to your direct mail campaign

As mentioned earlier, it is essential to measure and track the success of your direct mail campaign. This can be done using several techniques, including codes and offers, to measure the response rate. Other methods include measuring email or phone enquiries and whether specific web pages increase traffic after your direct mail campaign. 

Regardless of how you measure response rate, always remember that direct mail campaigns are a learning experience. You almost certainly won’t get it 100% right on the first go, so take the data you gather from early campaigns and use it to fine-tune your future mailshots.

How can Posthub help?

Posthub is the leading mail expert, offering consultative and practical support throughout the direct mail planning and mail delivery process. With extensive knowledge and experience, Posthub is best placed to provide cost-effective postal services for every campaign.