Postal costs are one of the most
substantial items in a marketer’s direct mail budget. But even if your budget
is tight, don’t compromise this critical customer contact and retention tool.
Don't mail less. Mail smarter. Here’s
how:
1. Keep your list up to
date.
The most reliable way to
reach your target audience is to use postal mail, but people still move.
According to the United States Postal Service, 14% of Americans change
addresses annually. Use change of address tools like the NCOA (National Change
of Address) database and “enhanced” NCOA (which adds the use of third-party
data) to make sure your mail reaches its destination.
2. Get addresses right.
Ensure that your addresses
are deliverable. This
means they have been checked, updated, or "certified." The National
Deliverability Index (NDI) rates the percentage of deliverable addresses in a
list. Know your number!
3. Remove duplicates.
For every duplicate you
mail, you are wasting money. Bob M. Jones might be the same as Robert Michael
Jones and B. M. Jones, so make sure to find out. Lists need to be “scrubbed” to
ensure that each individual or household only receives one piece of mail.
4. Select your audience
carefully.
Mail only to recipients most
likely to buy. One family-owned automotive company, for example, was regularly
getting less than 1% response rates to its mailings, so it invested in creating
a demographic profile of its best customers. Once it knew what its best
customers looked like, it targeted new customers that looked just like them.
The results? Response rates tripled, and the mailing brought in 33% more
revenue per customer.
5. Be relevant.
Only mail information of
relevance to your audience. Instead of mailing promotions on lawn care to
everyone within a specific ZIP Code, for example, only target people who own
standalone homes with yards. Don’t waste money mailing to people in condos with
no need for your product.
Need help optimizing your
postal costs using one or more of these techniques? Let us help!
Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.
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