Statement Printing

From grocery cards, to club member cards, to library cards, the average household belongs to 12 loyalty programs. Half of all Americans use some form of loyalty card every day- that means right now your customers and potential customers are using loyalty cards. Loyalty programs are marketing efforts that reward loyal buying behavior, which is behavior that benefits your business. Some examples include programs that allow you to receive a free item after a certain number of purchases or add up reward points for gifts.

It’s clear that people understand the value of membership to loyalty programs. 64% of Americans said their shopping decisions are affected by loyalty programs.

You can add value to your membership program with loyalty cards. Loyalty cards market you business to existing customers and to those who see the card. The cards provide useful data-gathering tools to help you enhance your marketing and customer service efforts.

If your company does not already offer a loyalty program, you should consider this as a marketing initiative for 2010.

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There are often many goals associated with any direct mail campaign but the ultimate goal always seems to be to drive potential customers to your business and increase sales. Achieving this goal is not simple, however, and the planning begins long before the piece is designed. A firm understanding of your target market and what offer will capture their attention is the first step.

As an example, if you are a restaurant that has a strong customer base for your “happy hour” time, but want to draw more of a dinner crowd, offering a free drink might not be the best offer. Instead, something like $15 off any purchase of $25 or more (excluding drinks) might be a better idea.

There is a fine line when considering what to offer customers. You want to increase sales in the immediate future, but the best offers are ones that draw in potential customers who are likely to come back. Knowing your audience and really considering or even testing different offers is the best way to meet your goals through direct mail.

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When completing any mailing, the appearance of the envelope can impact whether your mail piece gets opened. The options for outer envelopes seem endless and the choice can sometimes be overwhelming. I want to highlight just a few of the options using the #10 envelope for my example. The #10 envelope is 4-1/8″ x 9-1/2″ and the most common business envelope size. Specifically, I want to give some options for window placement. Here are a few options and why they are useful.

•One large “picture” window- this type of window is useful if you have a premium that you want to show an image of through the envelope. As an example, if you give away pens with an order, a picture of the pen shows through the window.
•A card-size window- this window is great for anyone mailing out a membership card so the recipient will not discard the piece.
•Double window- this option is also good to show a membership card on one window and recipient address through the other window.
•L-shape window- Using an L-shape window is good if you want to show some teaser text, such as an expiration date.

These are just a few of many options, but as you can see, it is important to consider what your are mailing and what will need to show through in order to get your piece opened.

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There is an innovative direct mail piece being used by some major retail chains right now. It’s a great piece for membership cards or discount cards. The piece is an 8.5” x 11” tri-fold card stock mailer. The bottom third is laminated and features a detachable credit card sized cars and can have a key tag too. It’s a self contained mailer that is tabbed closed.

This piece is exciting because it offers more security than a card mailer with an exposed detachable card. It is the perfect option for any sort of membership card, specifically insurance cards. The piece is more visually appealing than a standard letter in an envelope and can feature full color images.

So far, the retailers that have used this piece have seen great results and plan to incorporate the piece into their 2010 marketing plan. I have only seen a few vendors that have created this piece but expect that many more will join in once they see the quality and effectiveness of the mailer.

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