The internet has brought us so many ways to communicate and market to our customers that we’re now communicating faster than ever. When was the last time that you put a marketing campaign into motion and then waited 6-8 weeks to see results? Chances are, it was the last time you did a direct mailing.
Direct mailing was the spam of yesteryear. The idea was that you send out thousands of post cards or pamphlets to potential customers and hope to see a return on these mailings. Much like today, people of yesteryear would get their pile of mail each day and quickly sort it right into the trash. Bill, card from my aunt, junk, junk, junk, coupons, junk, bill, junk. Was your direct mail discarded as junk? Chances are, no matter how many flash or catchy it was, it got tossed.
Now throw this into the high tech world we live in. Email bombards us. Instant messages and RSS Feeds and newsgroups and forums bring us constant blasts of information, usually tailored to our individual needs. Can you think of the last time you paid more than a few seconds of attention to your snail mail? Most of us use online bill pay now, send emails when needed and only browse your mail for an occasional coupon or a bill or birthday card you’re expecting. I know I’m guilty of this, and I’m sure many of you are too.
Still thinking about direct mail? Lets look at some real numbers.
Number of pieces mailed: 100,000.
Printing cost, 100,000 fliers = $3000
Bulk rate mailing costs on these: 100,000 x $.10 each = $10,000.
Qualified leads, assuming a 1% folllow-up rate: 1,000.
Number of leads from this that you’re able to reach for a second contact = 500
Cost to call each lead in man hours and phone rate = $20/lead x 500 leads = $10,000
Total cost to Qualify 500 people = $23,000.
Cost per person qualified = $46/person.
Lets say you only make a sale to 20% of those people. That’s a cost of $230/sale over the price of this campaign! This may be acceptable if you sell a very high end item, but what about those of us who sell consumer goods or lower cost industrial items?
Considering all of the higher ROI options out there, as well as the quick delivery times and trimming of manpower to deliver, why would anyone direct mail anymore?
