What’s the True Cost of Direct Mail Marketing Programs?
When you start planning your next direct mail marketing campaign, try looking at things just a little bit differently. When you’re looking at colors and layouts, ad copy and format, think about more than just the costs of getting your materials printed and of sending out the mailing itself.
Here’s an example: you know that it’s inexpensive to mail postcards, so you might focus your marketing campaign on using two-sided printing on oversized postcards. With them, it’s easy to print out your message and use color ad space efficiently, and depending on the size of your mailing, each piece could cost you less than 60 cents each.
That sounds pretty good, but what about the rate of return? When you send out a direct mail marketing postcard campaign trying to entice past customers to come back to the store, what’s the redemption rate? When you try to bring on new customers with your mailing, how many leads do you actually get?
Typically, direct mail marketers don’t find a great rate of return on their investment. Out of 5000 mailers sent, you probably get abut 250 responses.
But what if you spent a little bit more on your marketing program and tried sending out card mailers instead? You might find that your mailing costs are closer to a dollar a piece - which might be an initial turn off from the medium. But you need to take a close look at the results: most people who make the switch find that rather than 250 responses of 5000, they get 2000 responses.
Which is more appealing? We’d have to say that we’d rather have a campaign that brought in 2000 leads than 250 leads. Wouldn’t you rather spend a little bit more to make many more sales?
The true cost of your direct mail marketing program isn’t the cost of printing and mailing, it’s what you spend for each lead you get and the return on your investment. With greater response, you’ll find that you have a much lower cost per lead - making it all worthwhile.
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