Guidelines on Direct Mail Marketing

Want to get more out of your individualized direct mail marketing? Ponder on Hello Market’s guidelines for inspiration and guidance.

1. Identify your customer. Know who you are reaching out to and ensure that the information is correct. Ensure that names and addresses are correct and PAF verified with correct title casing.

2. Housekeep your data. Update your data regularly and avoid sloppy mistakes which just annoy consumers. Dump the ‘junk’. With today's extensive suppression services readily available there is no excuse for badly targeted mail. Remove gone-aways, invalid addresses and hoax records. Avoid upsetting the bereaved and use every effort to removed deceased individuals.

3. Personalise your mailings as much as possible using the information you have about your customer. Personalisation isn’t just about a name and address, so make sure that you use the other data insights to make your mailings relevant. Only include respective products and offers targeted to each customer as making your mailings appropriate will increase response rates and build loyalty.

4. One to one communication really works and this must include customised images as much as possible to connect at a personal level. Vary your images in flight and integrate relevant lifestyle imagery to increase empathy.

5. Integrate soft touches into your campaigns and avoid constant sales messages. Make your customers feel important and valued. Increase loyalty by sending out birthday cards for instance. This is fairly simple and can even be automated for a year.

6. Email or traditional communication? Research suggests that most people prefer traditional mail rather than email and the best approach is to use a combination of both. According to the Royal Mail’s MarketReach research (1), direct mail is seen by consumers as being more authoritative and informative than email. They are also more likely to go online after considering a direct mail missive.

7. Choose a printer who takes quality control seriously. How many levels of check does each print run have to ensure accuracy and security? Ensure your direct mail printer conforms to ISO 9001.

8. Always think of the environment and how to avoid waste and badly targeted mailings. Don’t cut costs recklessly, but do ensure that your printer only uses FSC sustainable papers and works to ISO 14001 environmental standards.

9. Crucially – “Get your timing right”. Mail when it's needed and don’t mass mail when it's not relevant to most clients at that time. Examine the timing of your offers and mailings, and mail out every single day as demands dictate for e.g. a car service, a warranty or insurance renewal, an anniversary, even a simple “thank you”.

10. Remember - as direct mail practitioners – “don’t forget to communicate”. Talk to your suppliers and make them a part of your team. Keep abreast of latest developments as the latest variable printers allow marketers to access data insights and vary every single printed communication. This very powerful stuff and will ensure the future success and ROI for direct mail.

DMP offers traditional litho and digital print technology from its base in Royd Way, Keighley. Its Hello Market platform, which allows businesses of all sizes to create personalised, fully flexible, online direct mail campaigns, is constantly evolving as the company reacts to customer needs.