Do you use postcards, letters, newsletters and other direct mail pieces as a part of your promotional strategy?
Recently, someone sent me a direct mail piece that I still can't figure out. The offer was for a land / vacation home package at a price that caught my attention. A price that would definitely be of interest to me and one which I am well-qualified to buy. The problem is that I have absolutely no idea where the land / vacation package home is located.
I examined the direct mail piece looking for a map, driving directions to the property, or an address to the sales center that would help me to discover whether or not this vacation home was situated in an area that would appeal to me. To obtain more information, I hunted for a web address, but one wasn't provided. There were other flaws with the piece but the chief flaw was that the only way I could obtain more information about the land and homes was to call the phone number provided.
Even though I am at heart a salesperson and love to buy, I am the typical consumer. I prefer to have a little more information prior to making contact with a salesperson.
So here's the tip of the day for making consumer response easier on your direct mail pieces: part of the success of every direct mail campaign is to make it easy for consumers to respond to your message.
Tell them how to contact you or get more information in multiple ways. Think beyond a phone number to web addresses, driving directions, locator maps, hours of operation, property address, your office address and more.
Is that rocket science? No, but for some reason so many people make it difficult for the customer to contact them.
Someone spent a great deal of money getting this vacation home offer printed and distributed to what I would imagine was a very large database.
I find it very hard to believe that the piece was professionally designed, and I am thinking that they could really use our help. You're getting this advice for free. They are going to pay for it. I hope you will take this under consideration the next time you invest in a direct mail piece so that you aren't wasting your money.
By the way, I collect direct mail pieces, ones that are done well, and ones that are done poorly. If you recieve a direct mail piece that you think I might be interested in adding to our collection, please forward it on to me at:
Fisher & Company, P.O. Box 550711, Jacksonville, Florida, 32255.
Happy Marketing!
Deborah,
I've received the same thing in the past - maybe from the same company, who know's? It is baffling why they would go to all the work and expense without ever identifying where it is.
Steve
I agree 100%. Let them contact you on their terms. I am still seeing bad grammar and poor spelling too.
It's similar to the web site that won't let you proceed without filling in all of your information. Consumers won't play that game any more.
Steve, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps because they are not getting professional help? A waste of dollars for certain.
Rebecca, you are clearly on the write right track and understand consumers better than most.
Ellie, excellent point. I get frustrated and bail out from registering on those give me your life history web sites as well. I am willing to provide my name and email address, but I want them to communicate with me virtually until they prove that they have a product or service that I am genuinely interested in.
The interesting thing is, if they would contact me properly by email, the signature featured on all of my emails includes my name, my company name, and my personal phone number. They would likely gather the information they want if only they would not make it so difficult for us to run their sign-up gauntlet.
I was browsing through small business ads on Craigslist.org and was amazed at how many ads had no name or phone number to contact. Just a list of services or fees.
Joanna, excellent point you have brought up since everyone knows about Craig's List and the site does get a lot of traffic as people search for things.
I have noticed that about Craig's List as well. I can understand an individual not wanting to give out an address or a phone number for security reasons, but a business? I quickly scanned through the exhaustive terms of use for Craig's List and, unless I overlooked it, I did not see anything prohibiting providing numbers, etc.
Very astute of you to point this out to us since so many people use Craig's list. Good catch, Joanna! You have an eye for details! (After I wrote that I looked to see exactly what you do and now I understand why you have an eye for the details! Maybe we can add you to our team to proof things for us! LOL.)
Thanks for sharing with us.
Deborah, Thanks for the post! It is definitely important to have as much contact info on you mailings as possible.
Its always great to read other peoples ideas and thoughts. Its also funny when you get mail like you mentioned. I get post cards and letter all the time as many of you do and I have found that overall, these attempts at marketing are very poor. A bunch of people must have attended the same seminar - Less is more! Get them hooked and they will call. Give just enough info. to make them interested and they will call. Make the deal sound great and they will call. I could not agree more with your words. I see those cards and think of the money and the time.
On the flip side, how often do we really call when that info. is placed where is should be? I guess it only takes one.
Thanks