Making Direct Mail Work

 
 
  
 
 
 
 
   

First time

Choosing the right mailing list

Whom you mail is obviously important.  While no one would think of sending details of software to people without computers, some people get stuck because they feel that the exact list they want is not available - and so they do nothing.

Here's an example: a company wants to sell wine by post to companies for their parties.  So they look for a list of firms that  buy wine by post.  There are such lists but they have been built by firms that sell wine through the post, and these firms won't allow a sale to a rival.

Drawing a blank the new company tries getting a list of firms that have parties - and finds no one has built one.  So they pull out of direct mail saying, "its no good - the lists don't exist in my industry."

In fact this problem arises all the time and is faced by around 50% of firms that use direct mail, and there is a simple solution.  First you consider the type of businesses most likely to buy from you.   There might be certain industries (advertising agencies, PR companies and so on).  Then you might consider size (20 to 100 staff perhaps).  If you are already trading you will be able to look at your existing client base to establish the most likely type of firms.

Then you buy the appropriate list and mail them with a really attractive offer.  The aim of this mailing is not to make money, but rather to get as many replies as possible.  So you might mail all the firms with 50 to 200 staff excluding retail industries, and offer them 24 bottles of wine at half price.  Everyone who buys is then put on your list of interested people, and now you have your own list to mail.   

What's more you can re-analyse the replies to see if you can go further with your thoughts on what sort of companies buy.   You might find that although 30% of the firms in your list had 25 to 50 staff only 1% of the orders came from that section of the list, so next time you do a mailing you cut those people out.

Sometimes your analysis of possible contacts can be very accurate.  For example, if you wanted to mail schools with swimming pools you might find it hard to get a list.  So you could mail all the private schools with over 300 pupils, and the specialist sports schools.

It is sometimes argued that the offering of a free or low cost sample with your first mailing is too expensive and wasteful, and I don't recommend it every time.  But a well-written offer like this can work well in that it removes from your list people who are so disinclined to buy from you that they won't even pick up on a special offer.  After all, if they don't want the goods at half price, they are not likely to buy at full price, are they?

 

 

 
 
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