1. Choose the right list

Whether you serve all households or businesses in an area
or you serve a more specific market, an effective campaign
targets those consumers or businesses that are most likely
to be interested in your product or service. In fact, up to
40% of direct mail success relies on choosing the correct
list of prospects. Getting your message to your target
audience generates higher-quality leads and increases
your ROI.

2. Timing is important

You wouldn't purchase groceries months before cooking,
so why order a list well before your campaign is ready? Like
food, information can spoil over time. Lists go out-of-date
at a rate of 15% or more every year. Ordering a list when
you're ready to launch your campaign results in a higher
percentage of deliverable mail because the list is fresh.

3. Define your campaign objective

Before starting, ask yourself, "What am I trying to
accomplish with this campaign?" Some businesses launch
a campaign to build their brand or to announce their
presence; others aim to generate leads and orders.
Determining your goal is the first and most important step
in a direct marketing campaign because all other steps
should then drive toward achieving the goal. Without a
clear objective, it is impossible to determine success.

4. Include offer and call to action

To elicit responses, your campaign has to generate
excitement. One of the top ten direct marketing mistakes is
burying or not including a call to action. Programs such as
discounts, free consultations and buy-one-get-one-free
offers, coupled with deadlines, give the prospect an
incentive to respond to your campaign quickly.

5. Give multiple ways to respond

Some people prefer email communication, others prefer
phone calls. For consumers, if you offer both phone and
mail response, the response rates will be equally split.
However, if you eliminate one method, the total response
rate typically drops 20%-25%. For businesses, if you
eliminate one method, the response rate drops 50% or
more, from what it would be with both options.

Giving your customers multiple ways to contact you not
only generates more responses, it also shows a concern for
your clients and their preferred method of communication.

6. Testimonials are powerful

Nothing is stronger than good references. Peers are the
second most trusted source of information, with 22% of
respondents of a recent Sirius Decisions survey indicating
peers as their most trusted source. (Industry Analysts
ranked first, with 29%.) When your message comes from
customers, it has greater influence due to their objectivity
and independence from your company.

7. Test, test, test

Knowing your product or service and your market goes a
long way toward success, but you never know exactly what
will register with prospects until you do it. The best way to
increase response is by testing three elements of your
campaign, one at a time. The elements are the headline (or
opening sentence), the offer and the pricing. By knowing
and using what has already proven to be successful, future
campaigns will be more efficient and will generate higher
ROI.

8. Manage your expectations

It is important to be realistic when developing
expectations for your campaign's response rate. The
deliverability rates for consumer and business lists are 94%
and 90%, respectively. However, the average response rate
for direct mail prospecting campaigns is 1-2%. The
disparity between delivery and response rate further
illustrates the need to target prospects specifically and to
use a proven method of reaching them.

9. Call to follow-up

Following up a direct mail campaign with a phone call
makes the campaign more personal and reinforces your
brand. For every day a lead is not contacted, it loses 10% of
its value. Calling prospects is a great way to quickly
establish a relationship after your campaign has raised
awareness of your brand.

10. Track results and calculate ROI

Monitoring the number of people who respond to your
mailing and what characteristics they have in common is
critical. This will reduce workload and increase profits for
future campaigns, as you will have defined targets and will
know what resonates with those prospects.