Direct Mail Response Rates: What Mail Marketers Want You to Know

What’s one of the biggest challenges with sending out direct mail? Getting a response.

The response rate is the metric that marketers use to determine the success of a mailing. The higher the response rate, the better the chance you have to grow your business.

Increasing your response rate will give you more bang for your marketing dollar. On average, advertisers spend $167 per person in direct mail. If you want to get a great return on that investment, read on for the top tips from mail marketers.

1. Know Your Market

What is it about your target market that would make them need your service? That’s what you want to address in your mailer. You need to address the “pain points” of your target market.

A dentist’s office can send out a mailer that addresses the fears of potential new patients. Many people fear going to the dentist. In this instance, the dentist can show how their approach helps patients overcome that fear.

2. Use a Good List

There are a number of things that will impact your success rate. The quality of your list is one of them. A list from three years ago might be inexpensive to purchase, but it won’t do you any good.

Before you send out your direct response mail, process the data you have to make sure your mail pieces are being sent to the right place.

For example, if you’re running a political campaign and you want to remind Democrats who is running for what office. You want to send it to registered democratic households. People move frequently and there’s a chance that you could be sending your campaign lit to registered Republicans.

3. Have a Call to Action

What’s the next step someone needs to take after they read your mailer? That’s a call to action. You need to communicate that with your readers.

A restaurant might include a coupon to invite people to visit. A plumber or a landscaper may have people call for a free estimate.

Whatever that next step is, make it clear and stand out in the design. Remember, people are going to look at your direct mail piece for a few seconds.

You only want to have one call to action. Trying to jam several calls to action into a mailer will only create inaction.

4. Have a Clean Design

You have to resist the urge to put everything great about your business in a direct mail piece. Think like your target market. They get the mail, flip through it, and look at it quickly before they decide what to do with it.

You have to get your point across in just a few seconds. The design of your direct mail piece will have a huge impact

You want to have a headline that stands out – that should be enough to get their attention. Have a couple of images, but not too many as that will clutter the mailing piece.

Mail marketers approach design in a way that encourages the reader to take the next step. The purpose of the headline is to look at the text and images.

The text and images are done in a way that brings readers to the call to action. The call to action is crafted to get people to convert.

Top Tips From Mail Marketers to Increase Response Rates

When you invest in a direct mail campaign, you want to make sure you get the best response rate possible. The tips that the best mail marketers use to increase response rates include understanding the target market, using a call to action, and having a clean list.

Are you ready to start your next direct mail campaign? Contact us today to find out about our direct mail services today.