Mailing information, brochures and sales material to customers is one way businesses have traditionally built their operations. Postal communication is still effective today in the age of email, and mailshots become a game of numbers and percentages for those that engage in them. Improving the conversion rate of your mailshots by even the tiniest increment can have a very tangible result, and there are simple steps you can take to work toward making the mailouts you run more effective.
The first step to a successful mailing campaign is to make sure your envelopes are opened. There is a vast flow of junk mail nationwide, and most businesses and consumers will be no stranger to receiving marketing messages in the mail. We’re so used to it, we now instinctively know what mail is worth reading, and what mail is probably of little interest.
As a marketer relying on mailing as a strategy, even a step like professionally printing your envelopes can help make your letters look more professional, which can lead to an increased number of people actually reading your message. If even one more person reads something you send them because of the presentation, it’s a worthwhile result for the campaign.
Mines Press business envelopes are a good example of how this can be achieved. The more professional your mail looks, the more likely people are to hold on to it and read it. Design matters, as does the way in which the design itself is printed. But it’s not just the packaging and presentation of your mail that dictates how well it converts into positive responses.
A crucial element to the success of the mailing campaign is the copy – the words on the page. Whenever you are writing to anyone, the persuasiveness and direction of the copy can have a dramatic influence on the type and frequency of response you can expect. In extreme cases, this seems obvious, and well-written letters do tend to convert at a higher rate. But even around the fringes, making subtle improvements to the wording of your mailings can have an impact on the success of the campaign overall.
The best way to improve your results with mailing campaigns is to test things. Run a couple of campaigns with the same parameters, except for one variable factor that you think might contribute toward your success. Try a batch with a different headline, or a different colored envelope, or even in a different sized package. The potential for testing what works best doesn’t have to be constrained, and it can sometimes be the more creative ideas that leave a lasting impression.
Cracking the code to successful mailing campaigns can be worth a lot of money. If a campaign generates a return on investment, it can be run indefinitely to generate sales. Even if the first campaign you run fails to make a profit, being careful with the figures and putting together the right offer for your leaflet can result more often in a successful, profitable marketing mailshot.
