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The 6 Most Common Direct Mail Mistakes...
And How To Avoid Them
Mistake No.1:
Not targeting a list of prospects that want... and can afford your product/service.
The first and most important component of using direct mail is NOT your product. It's not your service. And it's not the 'professionalism' of your sales materials.
It's your mailing list!
Marketing great Gary Halbert puts it this way. Imagine you own a hamburger place. You make the best burgers in town, using only the finest ground beef... fresh lettuce and tomato picked straight from the garden... and even buns baked fresh, every morning. Your premises are located on the best corner... of the busiest road in the entire city... and... there is no competition for miles.
Will you succeed? No... not without a hungry crowd!
Mistake No.2:
Not testing before rolling out
No marketer can foresee, with 100% accuracy how successful a marketing campaign will be. It's not possible. In direct mail, what should you test?
That's just a small sampling of the factors to be tested.
Mistake No.3:
Not using a sales letter
In his book How To Write Sales Letters That Sell, advertising expert Christian Godfrey cites an interesting study. A group of researchers wished to determine the most important factors contributing the success of a direct mail promotional piece. They wanted to know the true significance of brochures... sales letters... teaser copy on the envelope etc.
Their discovery was quite interesting (though not to seasoned direct marketers). They discovered by far the most important factor to the success of a promotional piece (after targeting a hungry market) is the inclusion of a sales letter.
Not Flashy Brochures... And Not 'Creative' Gimmicks!
A sales letter caught the prospect's attention... built interest, explained benefits and asked for action.
Mistake No.4:
Selling features, not benefits.
People buy benefits, not features. What's the difference? A feature is something the product or service does. It's a technical fact. A benefit is something the product or service does for the customer. It's the result or advantage him or her experiences.
Let's take a pen as an example. The feature is a lid. The benefit is the ink won't go dry when you're not using it.
In your direct mail packages, you must sell benefits. That's what people buy.
Mistake No.5:
Not having an offer.
An offer is what the reader gets when he responds to your mailing. To be successful, a direct-mail package should sell the offer, not the product itself. Make sure you have a well-thought-out offer in every mailing. You must extend an offer that is appealing to your prospect.
Mistake No.6:
Sending only one letter.
If the sales letter of a specific product or service traditionally yields a response rate of 1% (which is the norm), of the 99% who do not respond... 5-10% (maybe more) will be thinking about purchasing... but have decided not to take immediate action.
After your initial contact, you should send out a follow up letter. This follow up letter builds upon the offer of the first. The prospects that do not respond to the second letter, receive a third and final letter.
Please understand, just because a prospect did not respond first time, it doesn't mean he is not interested. We all lead busy lives and can be easily distracted.
And How To Avoid Them
Mistake No.1:
Not targeting a list of prospects that want... and can afford your product/service.
The first and most important component of using direct mail is NOT your product. It's not your service. And it's not the 'professionalism' of your sales materials.
It's your mailing list!
Marketing great Gary Halbert puts it this way. Imagine you own a hamburger place. You make the best burgers in town, using only the finest ground beef... fresh lettuce and tomato picked straight from the garden... and even buns baked fresh, every morning. Your premises are located on the best corner... of the busiest road in the entire city... and... there is no competition for miles.
Will you succeed? No... not without a hungry crowd!
Mistake No.2:
Not testing before rolling out
No marketer can foresee, with 100% accuracy how successful a marketing campaign will be. It's not possible. In direct mail, what should you test?
- The envelope
- The list
- The offer
- The price
- The money back guarantee (if any)
- The headline
That's just a small sampling of the factors to be tested.
Mistake No.3:
Not using a sales letter
In his book How To Write Sales Letters That Sell, advertising expert Christian Godfrey cites an interesting study. A group of researchers wished to determine the most important factors contributing the success of a direct mail promotional piece. They wanted to know the true significance of brochures... sales letters... teaser copy on the envelope etc.
Their discovery was quite interesting (though not to seasoned direct marketers). They discovered by far the most important factor to the success of a promotional piece (after targeting a hungry market) is the inclusion of a sales letter.
Not Flashy Brochures... And Not 'Creative' Gimmicks!
A sales letter caught the prospect's attention... built interest, explained benefits and asked for action.
Mistake No.4:
Selling features, not benefits.
People buy benefits, not features. What's the difference? A feature is something the product or service does. It's a technical fact. A benefit is something the product or service does for the customer. It's the result or advantage him or her experiences.
Let's take a pen as an example. The feature is a lid. The benefit is the ink won't go dry when you're not using it.
In your direct mail packages, you must sell benefits. That's what people buy.
Mistake No.5:
Not having an offer.
An offer is what the reader gets when he responds to your mailing. To be successful, a direct-mail package should sell the offer, not the product itself. Make sure you have a well-thought-out offer in every mailing. You must extend an offer that is appealing to your prospect.
Mistake No.6:
Sending only one letter.
If the sales letter of a specific product or service traditionally yields a response rate of 1% (which is the norm), of the 99% who do not respond... 5-10% (maybe more) will be thinking about purchasing... but have decided not to take immediate action.
After your initial contact, you should send out a follow up letter. This follow up letter builds upon the offer of the first. The prospects that do not respond to the second letter, receive a third and final letter.
Please understand, just because a prospect did not respond first time, it doesn't mean he is not interested. We all lead busy lives and can be easily distracted.
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