The easiest way to increase your direct mail response rates is to make your packages more personal. Given the choice between reading a flyer and reading a hand-written note from a friend, most people will read the personal note first. Here are some ways to make your direct mail packages more personal.
ENVELOPE
• Use a stamp instead of a postal indicia or metered postage.
• Hand-write something on the envelope.
• Hand-write the address.
• Attach a Post-It note, signed with your first name or initials.
LETTER
• Attach something interesting to the letter with a paperclip.
• Use a full date: Wednesday, 5 March, 2008.
• Use a personalized salutation (“Dear Alan,” not “Dear Business Owner”).
• Start your first sentence with a compelling fact that you know about the reader in particular.
• Use the reader’s name somewhere in the letter, without sounding fake.
• Elsewhere in the letter, name the reader’s company, or industry, or neighnourhood or brand of car or anything else that shows you know and understand the reader (just make sure you sound sincere and don’t come across as a privacy-invading vendor, or, worse, a stalker).
• Sign the letter by hand.
INSERT
• If you enclose a brochure, print it using variable data imaging so the photos match the age or gender or buying profile of each reader.
• Print the brochure on the fly, putting the reader’s name in the headline or opening line of copy.
Power comes through personalization. People like to hear the sound of their own voice, and to listen to (and read) what’s important to them. The more you customize each letter for the needs of each of your customers, the more you are likely to win, and keep, their business.
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