Open it, Read it, Respond to it. The First Rules of Direct Mail

We are direct mail professionals. We produce first class direct mail pieces with proven track records of bringing success in direct mail – such as the automatic pop-up products pictured above. Our mailing house division handles millions of pieces of promotional mail each year. We’ve been doing it for over 20 years. We believe that we know what we are talking about. So do hundreds of thousands of marketing professionals all over the world. So answer this – why do so many marketing professionals opt for flat mail as a promotional piece?

I am absolutely amazed by the amount of B2B mail we receive each morning that is never going further than the paper recycling bin near our “gatekeeper’s” desk. It makes me wonder just how much money has been spent and wasted on producing the contents, the envelope, the mailing list, the address labels and the postage. How much time and effort has been wasted? And yet, you can almost guarantee that the marketing professional who was responsible for this appalling waste will be aware that the chances of the mail even being opened are slim. The chances of it being read are even slimmer. The chances of it generating a positive response are currently estimated at 1% – 2% if you are lucky.

Why do they do it? Purely and simply because someone who holds the purse strings puts on pressure to buy the cheapest option – regardless of the fact that this will almost surely turn into the biggest waste of money! The person who holds the purse strings is usually an accountant. So the next question has to be, “Why is an accountant making marketing decisions?”. Would you expect the Marketing Manager to prepare the monthly accounts?

All professional marketers know the first objectives of direct mail: make sure that your audience opens it, reads it and responds to it. In many instances flat mail doesn’t even reach the addressee so there’s no chance of it ever being opened by the right person! If promotional mail fails to achieve a high rating on the “Open Read Respond” scale then there’s no point doing it.

If you are serious about DM you need to ask this question before embarking on any campaign – “Will it meet the “Open Read Respond” standard?”. If in doubt read “How to get Good Results” on our Pop-up Mailers website.