PRACTICAL DIRECT MAIL

Transcription

1 PLANNING BUDGET RESPONSE A PRACTICAL TARGET POST GUIDE TO CREATING EFFECTIVE DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNS DATA PRODUCTION CREATIVE SMART IDEAS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION

2 NEOPOST - EUROPE S NO.1 SUPPLIER OF MAILING SOLUTIONS OUR MAILING EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE HELP MANAGE MAIL CREATION, DELIVERY, AND RECEIPT SO IT IS EASIER TO RATIONALISE AND CONTROL THE MAIL PROCESS Welcome to A Practical Guide to Creating Effective Direct Mail Campaigns which we have produced, supported by our colleagues at the Direct Marketing Association, to help you get more from your mail. We know that all businesses are looking for cost-effective methods of generating new business from existing and new customers and direct mail is a proven method of achieving that objective. This guide gives you an overview of what you need to consider when preparing direct mail campaigns. It will help whether you are looking to target 100 or 100,000 customers and prospects. There are tips on everything from creative and copy, data and offer strategies. We also cover the planning stage which is crucial to the success of any campaign. 800,000 NEOPOST CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE Our solutions make mail faster, cheaper and more efficient, so our clients can communicate more effectively, internally and externally. THE DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION - REPRESENTING THE UK S DIRECT MARKETING INDUSTRY 75% 75% of consumers like receiving special offers and vouchers through the post. Every year, advertising mail generates 16 Billion in sales The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is the leading trade body for the direct marketing industry. The DMA is the industry voice in discussions with the Government, Royal Mail and other key organisations. There is a wealth of knowledge within the DMA, which is now available to you via this guide. 2

3 HOW TO REACH YOUR TARGET MARKET AT THE RIGHT TIME WITH THE RIGHT MESSAGE That s the goal of every marketing communication, but many fail to hit the mark due to bad planning and targeting. Statistics prove that if you can pull all the component parts together, direct mail will work for you. This guide will provide valuable insight as to how. Direct mail is used successfully by many large organisations in all industry sectors 97% The percentage of customers that prefer to receive print mail rather than . Direct mail is the cornerstone of a number of successful businesses such as Dell Direct mail scores consistently above other channels of communication Direct mail is all about marketing to people on a one-to-one basis CREATIVE PRODUCTION DATA POST 74% The percentage of clients that say TARGET PLANNING BUDGET direct mail is its most successful channel partner. The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: SOME VERY INTERESTING STATISTICS! 3

4 WHY CHOOSE DIRECT MAIL? Direct mail is a proven method of generating positive response for your business. Statistics prove that businesses and consumers alike are more responsive to direct mail than any other form of communication. RAISE AWARENESS DRIVE SALES ACHIEVE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES hello! KEEP IN TOUCH Why? IT WORKS! BUDGET You have complete control over your communication in terms of targeting; timing; what you say to different segments of your audience; the offers that you make to generate response. Direct mail is completely measurable and accountable. TARGET Once your response mechanisms are in place, you will know how much response (and business) the mailing has generated and how much it has cost. DATA In a recent DMA / fastmap survey, direct mail was identified as the most trustworthy communication channel. We also know that 85% are happy to receive direct mail. 4 CREATI

5 POST WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH DIRECT MAIL? The possibilities are endless from keeping in touch with existing customers to generating new business with accurately targeted messages and offers. PRODUCTION HELPING YOU TO GENERATE EFFECTIVE POSTAL COMMUNICATION EATIVE What? You can sell product directly or you can generate leads for your field and telesales teams. You can invite prospects and customers to events. You can create awareness and invite prospects to find out more remember 57% of online traffic is driven by offline communication. 57% OF ONLINE TRAFFIC IS DRIVEN BY OFFLINE COMMUNICATION 80% OF RECIPIENTS OPEN DIRECT MAIL The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: whyandwhat 5

6 SO! HOW DO YOU CREATE AN EFFECTIVE DM CAMPAIGN? We will now take you through how to plan, target, create, produce and post your mailing campaign. We ll even prompt you to think about managing all of that response who answers the phones when they start ringing? Have we got enough brochures to send out to the responders? We can help you to avoid ineffective mailshots that are aimed straight at the bin We can help you to generate response and business cost-effectively So, let s get started on the actual steps to creating an effective Direct Mail Campaign... 6

7 CREATIVE HELPING YOU TO GENERATE EFFECTIVE POSTAL COMMUNICATION PLANNING BUDGET POST RESPONSE THE LIFE CYCLE OF AN EFFECTIVE DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGN TARGET DATA PRODUCTION 7

8 PLAN FOR SUCCESS! failing to plan is planning to fail 8 DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKET We will give you information on how to obtain data in the next section, but you need to consider who you are looking to target and, whether it is businesses or consumers, what selections you need to make to target accurately. Consumers age, gender, geography, household type, purchase habits Businesses geography, size, type of industry, turnover Individuals within businesses job title, purchasing function, area of influence How many are there? Do I want to mail them all at once or take it in stages? As with any major project, planning is key. Direct Mail is no different and you should consider the following: OBJECTIVES Promote one product or a range of products and services? Is that feasible or will it be too much content? Generate leads for future mailings, follow-up phone calls or for your sales force? Increase brand awareness? Introduce yourself to new prospects? Build loyalty with offers to existing customers? Whatever the objective how will you measure success? WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE? What do you want to say? Is the message the same to ALL of the recipients think about segmenting your message What do you want the recipient to do next? What is your call to action?

9 SET A BUDGET Plan your campaign with a set budget. The next few sections of the Guide will highlight areas of cost and ways of minimising the outlay. BUDGET WISELY! The areas that you need to consider are: Data purchase or rental Creative Production CREATIVE & PRODUCTION Once you have set a budget, you can consider the type of mailing that you can afford. Bear in mind that a well written letter can be extremely effective. Postage The Offer Response Handling Each of these elements is easily manageable and there are ways to stretch the budget for each one. BRIEF YOUR COLLEAGUES PRICE IN PROPORTION Make sure that anyone who is customer facing is aware of the campaign and give them copies of the mailing so they know what the responder is referring to. Make sure your website is up to date. Brief the sales team to have space in their diaries for follow up nobody wants a hot lead to get cold. The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: 9

10 TARGET THE RIGHT PERSON AT THE CORRECT ADDRESS A great benefit of Direct Mail is the ability to personalise your message and make it relevant. You can use the correct name, address and salutation for personalisation. You can also recognise the recipient s environment (size and type of organisation) to ensure relevance. The data that you use for your mailing will enable this. YOU DON T WANT TO SEE THESE! Inaccurate data leads to undelivered mail. Undelivered mail is a WASTE OF BUDGET. Keep your data clean. data is king! 10 WHERE DO I GET MY DATA? There are a number of sources available for both business and consumer lists where you can get advice as to which is best for you. The option will be to build your own, rent or buy data outright. BUILD YOUR OWN Cheapest in the long term if you intend to use direct mail regularly. You can compile data from your own contacts and sources. You can then use business directories and other published sources to provide data. Data can be maintained in a simple spreadsheet format. THE DMA CAN HELP YOU CHOOSE Finding the right list owner is vital for your campaign. For information on what is available and how to reach them visit:

11 ADDRESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Accurate data is critical to the success of your direct mail campaign. At Neopost we have products that can help you to manage your data and keep your data clean, thus minimising waste. To find out more visit: addressmanagement SOPHISTICATED DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND DATA CLEANING TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE TODAY SO THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR SENDING POORLY TARGETED MAIL. data is king! LIST RENTAL You pay to rent data on a once only basis. Any response you receive will be yours to keep and build your own database RENT DATA LIST BUY OUTRIGHT You have complete ownership of the data. Once you own it, you need to keep it up to date. BUILD BUY? 11

12 FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT SO GET CREATIVE! Direct mail affords you many opportunities to develop creative formats that use clever folds and images to boost your response rates. A number of specialist direct mail printers can advise and give you ideas by showing you examples. Furthermore, with developments in technology and digital print, costs for sophisticated formats are coming down. However, consider your market and what you need to communicate and you may find that a well written letter with a strong offer can give you the response that you require. This approach can be especially effective when followed up by a telephone call within 5 days of the mailing landing with the recipient. 12

13 THE PROPOSITION Consider your proposition to your customers and prospects. What are you trying to pitch to them and will they understand it from your communication? Is your proposition the same to all recipients? Direct mail enables you to segment your message easily and cost-effectively so build that into your communication programme. FREE WHAT S THE OFFER? SPECIAL OFFER PRIZE DRAW The offer is a (some would say THE) key element of any direct mail campaign. Typically, this will be an incentive to purchase your product or service and can be in the form of free product, money off/discount, premium incentives, vouchers and prize draws, which run for a specific time period. The critical issue is to find what works best for your market by testing different types and values of incentive. Most TV ads last 30 seconds. Send someone something they want to keep and you have an ad which lasts 20 years COPYWRITING & DESIGN There are many creative agencies and designers that can help you to develop the creative for your mailings, you can find them on the DMA website. One tip would be to collect examples of direct mail that you feel are relevant and effective. You may be able to adapt them to suit your needs. Your approach to design and copy should be to keep things simple and try to put yourself in the position of the recipient would they understand your proposition, offer and how to respond from what you have created? TESTING 1,2,3... One of the many benefits of direct mail is the ability to test. Even within small quantities, you can test different elements such as images, copy, offers and incentives. You can find out immediately what works best for you in generating leads and sales. We recommend that you build testing into any activity that you plan even if you re targeting 10 prospects, you can still test 2 cells of 5 each. CALL TO ACTION Rory Sutherland Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group UK Make sure that you are clear about what you want the recipient to do next and make it clear to them. How can they respond to you? Options here are to respond by mail (Freepost), phone, visit website, visit a retailer to buy. Feature the call to action at the end of your copy and make it simple for the recipient to respond. The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: 13

14 MORE THAN JUST INK ON PAPER! Adding colour to a direct mail piece may increase response rates by up to 45% IT S TIME TO PUT YOUR DM CAMPAIGN INTO PRODUCTION! 80% Colour is 80% more likely to be read than black & white marketing materials 14

15 114mm Window Size: 45 x 95mm Window Position: 72mm up 16mm from left hand side Once you have created your mailing, you will then need to think about production. In direct mail terms, there can be 3 elements to this: PRINTING The print of the mailing, stationery and envelope. PERSONALISATION The personalisation of the mailing, i.e. the printing of the recipient s details onto the letter, mailer and or envelope. Advances in technologies such as digital print mean that you can completely personalise text and images to the recipient. Bear in mind that a key benefit of direct mail, and one that will increase response, is the ability to personalise the message. FOLDING AND INSERTING Folding and inserting the mailing pieces into an envelope. The benefits of using a Folder Inserter machine are: u 13 times faster than folding by hand u Saves staff time by automating a manual process u Helps cut postage costs u Improves presentation of your mail morethanink There are many suppliers that can help you to produce your mailing, details can be found on the DMA website. As with any production project, we recommend that you obtain competitive quotes and samples of previous work to show quality. Here at Neopost, we offer a full envelope printing service, in fact last year we sold over 300 million envelopes across the UK. Our prices are extremely competitive and, if you want the rate but don t have the space, we can store them for you. To find out more visit DIY Window Size: 39 x 93mm Window Position: 18mm up 22mm from left hand side 235mm 12/3/12 10:41 Page 1 Window Size: 45 x 95mm Window Position: 72mm up 16mm from left hand side love your pig Emley Business Park, Emley, Huddersfield HD8 9QY FHTproof:Layout 1 17/12/ :41 Page 1 Business Reply y Licence Number r RLUB-ZBHZ-GCHS S If undelivered please return to: the old Mill, High Church street, nottingham ng7 7Ja 05_12_jma1623_y_envelope.indd 5 If undelivered please return to: the old Mill, High Church street, nottingham ng7 7Ja 05_12_jma1623_y_envelope.indd 5 You may choose to produce the mailing in-house, which can save cost and give you complete control. Neopost have a full range of machines from envelope, address and graphic printers to folder/ inserters. There is a full range to cater for all requirements. The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at the web addresses on this page. Federation of Holistic Therapists COMPLEMENTARY BEAUTY SPORTS 15 FHT 18 Shakespeare Bu Hathaway Close EASTLEIGH SO50 4SR

16 lick and stick? Mr T Recipient 123 Buildings Anyother Street Sampleshire SA1 UY THERE S MORE TO POSTAGE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK One of the larger cost items in a direct mail campaign is postage, so we want to help you to minimise that wherever possible. The main considerations are A Customer Whichever Avenue Theotherarea Anothertown AT2 1WE Size of the mailing Quantity to be mailed at one time 16

17 SIZE Pricing in Proportion (PIP), from The Royal A5 Mail means that items that are larger than A5 are more expensive to post. Quite simply, keep your mailings to A5 and under to ensure that you keep costs down. 59% agreed that: information through the post is more likely to be noticed by customers than s. 65% agreed that: Sending information to customers by post is a more personal way to communicate than . Royal Mail Business Communications Research Document QUANTITY As well as franked mail discounts, Royal Mail offers further savings of up to 23.5% for businesses that send 500 to 25,000 letters in a single mailing. Find out more at FRANKING m 2 1 An obvious way to save costs is to frank your mail rather than use stamps. You can save up to 34% on your postage by franking. SAVE UP TO 34% WITH FRANKED MAIL THE BENEFITS OF FRANKING MARKETING you can include your logo and a message within your PPI. PROFESSIONAL a badly affixed stamp can undermine your mailing campaign. This would not be an issue with franking. TIME SAVING Using a franking machine means that you will not need to queue at the Post Office to purchase stamps. At Neopost, we have a full range of franking machines for all types of business. To find out more, please visit dmfranking 17

18 BUT THE PROCESS DOES NOT END HERE!! KEEP THE PROCESS FLOWING! IN FACT IT S JUST THE START... The preparation has to continue to include the critical area of response handling, there is no point in spending time and money generating response to then lose it. 18

19 FREEPOST SOME KEY POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND: Make sure that all customer facing personnel are briefed to expect calls. Provide them with copies of the mailing so that they are aware of what a responder may be asking about If you are offering brochures, samples or further information, make sure you have enough! If the mailing is to generate a sales visit, make sure that the salesforce are prepared and have room in their diaries Direct mail can be supported by a telephone follow up. Make sure that time is set aside for this If response is directed to your website, make sure that this is up to date. Also, that analytics and tracking are in place ANALYSING RESPONSE Response can provide you with business and also information to make your marketing campaigns even more effective. Make sure that you analyse response to build a profile of your responder. Once you have this go and find more of them! If tests have been included, make sure you can understand which test cell has worked best. MAKING IT EASY TO RESPOND Royal Mail Response Services. The Royal Mail has a number of services that enable your prospect to respond quickly and in a manner that is free to them. You have the option of Freepost or Business Reply. There is more info at If the response could be considered confidential, where you have asked a number of questions, include a Business Reply Envelope (BRE) in your mailing so that the responder can insert the document and return it to you securely You may wish to encourage response by telephone. There are a number of Freephone and local toll services available. Cost is determined by volume Receiving response to your website means that you avoid the cost of inbound postage and then having to data capture response. The responder can give you their details on a form on the website which can be downloaded into your customer/prospect database. You obviously need to ensure that the website is set up for this YOUR WEBSITE CAN SAVE POSTAGE! 19

20 AND FINALLY You are about to press the button on your direct mail campaign but we want to make sure that you have everything in place. DIRECT MAIL CHECKLIST 1 Are you happy that you have planned the key stages of the campaign? Does your mailing fulfill the objectives that you set? 2 Are you targeting the correct groups? Does the data selection that you have made cover your key target markets? 3 Does your creative convey the right messages? Ask a colleague who is not close to the activity to read it through what do they take from it? 4 Are the production processes in place? Have you checked proofs from any suppliers? Have they confirmed timescales to you? 5 Are you posting the mailing economically? Make sure that you have investigated all options to save money on post. 6 Do your colleagues know the mailing is taking place? Are they ready to answer the phones when response comes in? Do you have brochures and offer material to send out to responders? Is your website up to date? 7 Do you have procedures in place to capture and monitor response? Data on responders can help you to build your own database a key asset for your business. 8 Analyse and learn. This is the last item on the checklist for this campaign the first for your next. If you need any further information on Neopost services and products, please visit or call quoting dmaguide. Neopost Limited Neopost House, South Street, Romford, Essex RM1 2AR.