Despite the growing influence of the Internet and email, there is still an important role for direct mail marketing campaigns in modern business. However, a lot of direct mail looks generic, impersonal and commercialised – and that often means it is thrown away before being opened. The only way to ensure the success of your own marketing campaign is to persuade the recipients of your mail to open the envelopes you send, and there are five relatively simple ways to make sure that happens.
Use the personal touch
There are several ways to ensure correspondence doesn’t look generic and impersonal. You could opt to use a plain envelope and handwrite the address. However, this is a highly inefficient way of managing a direct mail marketing campaign if it involves several thousand recipients. Another way to connect directly with potential customers is to create a bespoke envelope for each main demographic group. You can have personal messages printed, and use coloured envelopes that are appropriate to the target consumer.
Include a small gift
Nothing pricks the interest of the consumer like a ‘lumpy’ envelope that obviously contains a free gift. This could be a free pen, key-ring or anything that is relatively cheap and conveys the right message. An oddly-shaped envelope will make it hard for anyone to resist opening it.
Use an attention-grabbing envelope
The use of bespoke designs, eye-catching colour combinations and over-sized envelopes can inspire the inquisitive side of most consumers. Some companies have gone as far as replacing the envelope with a bag or box – simply to differentiate their message from the plethora of direct mail that gets sent to homes in the UK every day. Your mail should look exciting and unique, but there should also be a clear message to the recipient on the envelope. This message may be a ‘call to action’, or it could be something as simple as your company logo.
Deliver your marketing mail by hand
Let’s face it; we all get sent direct mail on a regular basis, and most of it can immediately be identified as marketing from the moment it hits the doormat with the rest of our bills and correspondence. However, when mail is handed over by another person, or delivered without a stamp, it can provoke the inquisitive side of recipients. There are specialist companies that offer this type of hand delivery service in localised areas, as well as newsagents, local restaurants and domestic services companies that may be prepared to deliver your mail when they’re delivering their own newspapers and leaflets.
Regular follow-ups
A lot of direct mail will sit unopened in homes for days before being thrown out. If you can follow up your initial mail-out with further contact a few days later, you may be able to drastically increase the amount of your direct mail that gets opened. This follow-up action can be in the form of a phone call, or you could use the medium of email alongside your direct mail campaign. Following up in this way will also allow you to track the success of all your marketing activity.
Whilst there is an undoubted need to embrace the Internet in modern marketing campaigns, direct mail still creates a very personal, tangible relationship between UK companies and consumers. By sending the right message using a quality envelope, you can ensure your company is always striving to win new business, build relationships and communicate with the public.