Select Mailing Blog

As Select Mailing has completed over 50,000 mail projects since our inception we’ve seed the good, the bad and the just plain dumb of direct mail.  Almost every organization produces mail that they probably don’t need to and some direct mail pieces can be simply useless to the recipient, due to poor targeting or weak or out dated lists.  So ask yourself if you might be able to save a buck if…………

• Do you mail to deceased people?
• Do you mail to folks who might not be able to take you up on your offer – because their IN JAIL?
• Do you send statements to accounts that have been closed or have a zero balance’s?
• Do you mail to people on you list outside of your market area?
• Do you send direct mail to acquire new customers to your existing customers?

Save a buck or two on postage, printing and mailing services by doing some housekeeping on your lists, and then call us to do more direct mail projects!

I think anyone who knows anything about the finances and operations of the USPS would agree that “some changes are in order”.  When is the last time you actually mailed a check to someone?  Multiply you times 300 million people in the United States and your have a big problem of decling first class mail volume and revenue, so some changes are in order.

On December 5, the Postal Service filed a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) for an advisory opinion on proposed changes to mail service standards.  The most significant revisions would eliminate the expectation of overnight service for significant portions of First-Class Mail and Periodicals; however, there would be an opportunity for mailers who properly prepare and enter mail at the designating processing facility prior to the day’s critical entry time to have their mail delivered the following delivery day.. In addition, the 2-day delivery range would be modified to include 3-digit ZIP Code origin-destination pairs that are currently overnight, and the 3-day delivery range also would be expanded.

Never fear, Select Mailing will always “properly prepare and enter mail at the designated processing facility prior to the day’s critical entry time” so your delivery times won’t be affected!

Recently, Postmaster General Pat Donahoe issued a video to assure mailers that the Postal Service is not going out of business or be privatized.  The Postal Service plays a vital role in America’s economy and society.  This past year USPS delivered 167.6 billion pieces of mail and sustains a $1 trillion mailing industry that employs 8 million people.

This communication will brings everyone up-to-date on the steps the Postal Service is taking on the legislative network optimization and wages and benefits fronts to ensure the financial health of USPS now and in years to come.  The PMG continues to urge Congress to allow the move from six-day delivery schedule to five days per week.  On the retail front, the USPS is studying whether to close up to 3,700 retail facilities and consolidate delivery routes.  USPS is also developing a proposal to adjust service standards and Critical Entry Times for First-Class and Periodicals to allow the streamlining of the mail processing network.

Please click to view the video.  As my kids tell me, “if it’s on the Internet, it must be true” (love those mis-guided knuckleheads).  Don’t always believe those web news honks who claim the USPS is “dead man walking”, without a good dose of examination.  Take a look at the video, I think you’ll have a different perspective.

I recently came across an interesting book that mixed two things that I love to spend time on – music and marketing.  Entitled “Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History”, the book examines the marketing methods of The Grateful Dead over an incredible thirty year period.  Over that time, The Grateful Dead sold millions of dollars of tickets and merchandise and developed an incredibly large and dedicated (fanatical) fan base.  The author’s of the book, Brian Halligan and David Meerman Scott gave us a couple keys to the bands business strategy that we can apply to direct mail marketing:

• Mailing List – “The Dead” were cutting edge beforeAl Gore invented the Internet, developing a large mailing list which developed into a community of “Dead Heads”.  As they said back in the day “keep your powder dry” and keep your mailing list clean and updated, so your message reaches the correct recipient.
• Mix It Up – When you went to a Grateful Dead show you literally never knew what was coming next, your senses we’re regularly hit from all sides.  Use all of the tools available to you and mix up your marketing to include print, mail, digital and personalized printing to keep your community engaged.
• Be Yourself – “The Dead” were the “The Dead”, they didn’t pretend to be The Monkee’s because they thought that image would sell more records.  Let your direct mail marketing reflect your company and all of its’ strategic competitive advantages.

Just going back and reading about “The Dead” makes me want to curl up with an impromptu twenty minute guitar solo that has nothing to do with the song I was listening to.  Meet me at the Cow Palace in your tie dye and we can discuss the merits of direct mail and possibly have an adult beverage or two……..

Direct mail is one of the most powerful ways to market your products and services, but it’s easy to sabotage your efforts. Here are 10 direct mail mistakes we see on a regular basis at Select Mailing:

1. Not identifying and targeting your audience. Mail gives you the ability to target specific individuals, take advantage of that strength and decide which segments will most likely respond.

2. Using a bad mailing list.As the old adage goes “You Get What You Pay For” and you can easily acquire cheap Internet lists, but sending direct mail to people who don’t match your intended criteria is a waste of time and money.  Select Mailing can help you find up-to-date lists that are tailored to your needs.

3. Relying on “dirty” data. Scrub your “in house” lists to ensure you’re not mailing to inaccurate addresses, to deceased people (they just don’t spend that much money), people who have asked to be taken off your list (always a joy to get that call) and targets who have moved or have had job or life changes.

4. Lack of a compelling offer. You’re sending direct mail to motivate people to act, but your mail will do just the opposite if an offer is absent or weak. Tailor your offer — and the benefits of your product or service — to appeal to different segments.

5. Being impersonal. Personalizing your message can make targets feel like you value them individually and understand their needs and interests. Greeting them by name is one way; offering a personalized URL (PURL) is another.

6. Failing to indicate a call to action. Clearly spell out how people can take advantage of your offer (By phone? By e-mail?) and provide lots of choices. Create a sense of urgency so they’ll act fast.

7. Using mediocre creative.Copy and design that aren’t engaging, relevant or easy to comprehend can turn off recipients before they even get to your offer. When in doubt bring in professionals (copywriters and designers) to help you best communicate your message.

8. Not continuously testing. Your direct mail campaigns can always improve, but you’ll never know how if you don’t conduct small tests of variables like your list, offer, format and design.

9. No tracking mechanisms. You need to trace responses back to a piece to gauge how well it performed. Options include embedding coupon codes on coupons, creating special toll-free phone numbers, and specific web landing pages.

10. The lack of follow-up. Be prepared to quickly fulfill any orders or requests generated by your direct mail. If you disappoint a target who has raised his or her hand, why did you go through the effort at all?

In high school I was a big fan of “Cliffs Notes”.  As a notorious procrastinator, “Cliff” saved me a few times from trying to choke down Hemingways’ “To Have and Have Not” ten hours before the paper was due (sleep was highly overated back then).  As I was thinking about this the other day, it lead me to developeing a “Cliffs Notes” for direct mail.  Here are my “do’s” and “don’ts”: 

Do’s:

• Use the Right List – Who are you targeting with your mailing?  A geographic location?  A specific demographic?  Your own internal database? (keep your own list clean and up to date).  Using the correct the is the first requirement for direct mail success, miss this “checkbox” and success will be hard to reach.
• Address Your Piece to the Right Person – Spell you recipient’s name correctly and make sure you have the correct version of their name.  My name is Nicholas Garbarini, which can be a spelling adventure, but only my creditors and my mom (when she was furious at me) call me that.
• Stick to the 40/40/20 Rule - 40% of your effort should be on your databas, 40% of your effort should be focused on a relevant offer and 20% of your effort should be focused on the artwork.
• Personalization - Personalization is a key to improving results.  You’re are always better served spending more money per targeted contact that doing a “spray and pray” approach.
• Test and “Tweak” your direct mail campaigns! 

 Don’ts

• Don’t try to send direct mail by yourself - Your time is valuable and you can easily spend a full day producing, printing, folding, stuffing, and stamping 250 to 500 letters, and then dropping them off at the Post Office (not quite in time for the last pickup).  Select Mailing has the expertise and equipment to do the job quickly and cost-effectively.  So let us take care of your direct mail projects and spend your time completing a client job or finding new business!
• Don’t forget to Integrate your Direct Mail and Digital efforts - Integrate your direct mail campains with digital campaigns – use the power of both powerful mediums to achieve maximum success.
• Don’t do a “One and Done” - No matter how clever your mailing might be, frequency matters.  So plan a series of efforts, integrated (of course) with your digital mediums.  

I think everyone has an image of themselves as a relatively young person.  Whether you are 18, 30, 45 or 75, I think everyone sees themselves as a relatively “hip” and “in the know” about what’s going on in the world today.  So I had to ask myself, as I approach the half century mark, do I love print because it’s effective?  Do I love print because it feeds my family? Or do I love print because I’m old and grew up reading a daily newspaper?  After careful thought and self examination I realized that, sure, I view myself as a late forties, Prius driving, iPad using hipster, but when it comes right down to it – PRINT WORKS!

Consider the following facts:

1. Print is Effective - Studies show that print on paper not only gets read (80% of households read or scan the advertising mail they receive)(1), it also drives new and repeat business.  In one study, 39% of customers tried a business for the first time because of direct mail advertising, while 70% of customers renewed a business relationship because of a direct mail promotion. (2)
2. Print Drives Online Sales - The ultimate “chameleon”, print on paper can be a major driver of online sales.  An iProspect study found that 67% of online searches are driven by offline messages, with 39% ultimately making a purchase.  Shoppers that receive a direct mail piece sending them to an online site spend, on average, 13% more than those who do not receive the printed piece.

Print on paper builds brand identification and drives sales.  Print and Direct Mail – friends forever (and it doesn’t hurt that print feeds my family!).

As a professional in the direct mail / printing industry, I’ve heard countless times “Direct Mail is Bad for the Environment”, “You’re a Tree Killer” and the ever popular – “Al Gore is going to get you…..”.  Wow, are people bored or simply uninformed?  Take a look at these facts:

Print Values Trees
Most paper now comes from sustainable forests. These forests are essentially “tree farms,” where trees are grown as a crop, just like broccoli or wheat. When these trees are harvested, new stocks are planted. Print on paper gives landowners a financial incentive to renew forests rather than convert them for other uses, such as agriculture or development.^[1]

Print Uses “Waste”
One-third of the fiber used to make paper comes from wood chips and sawmill scraps; another third comes from recycled paper.^[2] Overall, in the United States nearly 80 percent of the almost 400 paper mills use recovered fiber to make some or all of their paper products, and of these, approximately 200 mills use recovered paper exclusively.^[3]

Print is Recycled
But that is not the complete story. Print on paper is recycled and reused. In 2009, for example, 63.4 percent of all paper used in the United States was recycled, and this number increases each year with more deliberate curbside and drop-off collection systems.^[4] Recycled paper is used to make everything from construction products to consumer goods.

Print is Responsible
Just 11% of the world’s forests are used for paper, and in the U.S. the wood used to produce paper all comes from certified forests.^[5] The Forest Steward Council (FSC) and Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI) track fiber content from certified lands through production and manufacturing to the end product. There are certified forests in over 80 countries.

From sustainable forests to the renewable nature of trees and the recyclability of paper, the print and direct mail industries have a positive environmental story to tell—one in which print on paper and healthy forests thrive hand-in-hand.

^[1] Edward L. Glaeser, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, “A Road Map for Environmentalism,”

Boston Globe, May 21, 2007.
^[2]U.S. EPA,Office of Solid Waste.
^[3]American Forest and Paper Association.
^[4]Ibid.
^[5]International Paper, Down to Earth, “Is it Worth Printing?”

While effects of the recession may still linger, advertising spending seems to be back on track. Ad spending rose 3.3 percent during the second quarter of 2010 and should finish the year up 2.8 percent according to MAGNAGLOBAL, a media tracking service.

No doubt, much of that spending has been allocated for digital communication channels, but as consumers’ inboxes become increasingly crowded, many marketers are rediscovering the value of mail.

That makes sense when you consider that direct mail has long been an effective and efficient way to market products and services. And with an ROI of $12.53 for every dollar invested, according to research by the Direct Marketing Association, it can add significantly to the bottom line of an organization.

But the value of mail goes beyond straight ROI. Mail can do things for a marketer that no other medium can. For example, mail can deliver a sample of your product to prospects, ensuring they get a true marketing experience, not just a message. It can reward a loyal customer with a gift that provides instant gratification and helps intensify his or her loyalty.

And customers like getting mail: 79 percent of all households read or scan direct mail they receive, according to our research. Even younger adults — whom we tend to think of as living entirely in the digital space — say they would prefer to receive offers through the mail, rather than in an e-mail or text message.

Mail creates an emotional connection with customers that digital cannot. They hold it, view it and engage with it in a manner entirely different from their online experiences.

All of this is evidence that even in an increasingly digital world, mail continues to have a bright future — not just in the United States, but around the world.

For more than 230 years mail has faced numerous challenges and held fast. Mail has survived because it delivers an experience that other communications simply cannot match. That’s as relevant in today’s world as it has ever been.