Direct Mail Delivery Concerns
Businesses that are going to launch direct mail campaigns should carefully plan all stages of the process from obtaining the mailing list to plotting direct mail delivery. Prior to doing the first step, businesses should study what they can offer to the market so that they would be able to identify their target market. Moreover, it should be determined if direct mail delivery will be aimed to businesses or households. The scope of the campaign should likewise be determined so that all details in marketing will be compatible to the size of the market that will be its focus. From experience and in theory, direct mail campaigns have the potential of increasing sales, increasing profits, increasing customer base, increasing awareness about products and services and raising funds. It is also an effective way of conducting market research analysis, promoting new products and promoting products that have just been introduced to the market. Mailings lists, or the compilation of customer names to which the mails will be addressed to, is a crucial factor of implementing this marketing strategy. Household mailing lists can be narrowed down in terms of age, income, or any similar criteria. Business mailing lists, on the other hand, can be narrowed down in terms of sales volume, employee size, business type, and phone numbers.
Sufficient time should be allotted when implementing a direct mail campaign since rushing things could make it a failure. Costs for this type of advertising are usually for postage, design and printing of the mail, list purchase, direct mail delivery, processing by a mail house and fulfillment of orders. Direct mail campaigns, especially involving a large number of mails can be very labor intensive and time consuming so, the services of a mail house could be an advantage. These include applying the postage, sorting to avail of bulk rate savings, stuffing envelopes and placing addresses. Direct mail delivery time by the Post Office is also an important consideration. Marketing communications should be sent promptly especially when time sensitive materials are sent or if materials are part of a time-bound activity. In general, processing time for post office takes two working days however, these mails could be sent to three or four different post offices. Consequently, direct mail delivery time might take six to eight days before the mail reaches its destination. So, if the advertisement is about a sale then, it should be sent weeks ahead of it. Moreover, when conducting a direct mail campaign, the mailing list should be ordered from a broker even before the marketing communication is printed. Businesses should make sure that the list is at least ninety percent deliverable and the customers on the list are likely to make a response to the direct mail. List response is not the same as list deliverability. Direct mail delivery could be possible for all the customers whose names are among the list. However, this does not assure businesses that customers will make a response. This is integral in the campaign since direct mail effectiveness is usually measured through response rate of target market. |