You’ve probably heard the phrase, “ROI (Return on Investment) is King.” No matter what industry you’re in, wherever you are spending dollars, you want your ROI to be as high as possible. Meaning: dollars spent (cost) is lower than dollars earned (revenue generation). At Select Mailing our goal is to help our customers achieve improved ROI in your Direct Mail campaigns to ensure the most cost effective mailing while increasing response & purchase rates.

So here’s my “Top 10″ list for ways to improve both sides of the ROI equation with direct mail campaigns!

1 Clear Out the Non-Responsives

Determine what deems someone as non-responsive to your marketing campaigns, and stop mailing when it is clear that they are not going to respond.  This could be anywhere from months to years, depending on your average sales cycle.

2 Segment Your Lists

Segment & target your audience on macro and micro levels, and determine the right medium and frequency for each audience.  You don’t have to mail to everyone to be highly impactful.

3 Personalize Your Message

Speak to specific audiences on a micro level.  The more relevant your communications, the sooner you’ll see results or be able to deem recipients non-responsive.

4 Test, Test, Test

Test the effectiveness of your message, offer and list on a small audience before deploying on a large scale.  For example, direct marketers often send new messaging, creative or offers to 10% of their list first, measuring the results against the control or other version of the marketing piece.  Once a winner has been determined, the most effective version is sent to the entire audience.

5 Automate

Print Automation and Marketing Automation technology allows you to increase your speed to market and decrease the cost spent to deploy each campaign.  Auto-triggered campaigns can also be used to respond to prospect and customer actions with timely, relevant mail touches.

6 Pair Email & Mail

Utilize direct mail AND email for a 1, 2 punch!  Using both methods of communication integrally combined by mailing not only to bounces, unsubscribes and consistent non-openers but also hitting your key targets with both will increase your success rate.

7 Clean Your Data

Conduct a thorough data-cleansing of your house and purchased lists to eliminate duplicate, outdated or incomplete data.  You’ll mail less, more accurately, and improve your ROI.

8 Use Your Returns

Do something with returned mail.  This seems simplistic, but the tendency is to ignore returned mail and not update the database.  Create a process so this is always done.

9 Go Multi-Channel

Incorporate non-paper-based mediums such as email, text messaging, and online landing pages with your direct mail campaigns to increase engagement and reduce cost-per-touch.

10 Plan to Succeed

Build a plan to reduce your direct mail costs.  This can be one of the best ways to ensure you hit all the points above.  Without a plan, marketers shoot from the hip and hope they get it right.  And while that works occasionally, if you want something that controls cost and works consistently, start with a plan.

Need help creating your Plan?  Contact the experts at Select Mailing at 877.281.MAIL (6245) or mail@selectmailing.com.