PLANNING BUDGET

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RESPONSE A

PRACTICALGUIDE TO CREATING

EFFECTIVE

DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGNS

SMART IDEAS FOR SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION

PLANNINGBUDGET

TARGETDATA

CREATIVE

PRODUCTION

POST

NEOPOST - EUROPE’S NO.1 SUPPLIER OF MAILING SOLUTIONS

THE DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION - REPRESENTING THE UK’S DIRECT MARKETING INDUSTRY

The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: www.neopost.co.uk/getitrightwww.dma.org.uk

Welcome to A Practical Guide to Creating Effective Direct Mail Campaigns which we have produced, supported by our colleagues at the Direct Marketing Association, to help you get more from your mail.

We know that all businesses are looking for cost-effective methods of generating new business from existing and new customers and direct mail is a proven method of achieving that objective. This guide gives you an overview of what you need to consider when preparing direct mail campaigns. It will help whether you are looking to target 100 or 100,000 customers and prospects.

There are tips on everything from creative and copy, data and offer strategies. We also cover the planning stage which is crucial to the success of any campaign.

That’s the goal of every marketing communication, but many fail to hit the mark due to bad planning and targeting. Statistics prove that if you can pull all the component parts together, direct mail will work for you. This guide will provide valuable insight as to how.

Direct mail is used successfully by many large organisations in all industry sectors

Direct mail is the cornerstone of a number of successful businesses such as Dell

Direct mail scores consistently above other channels of communication

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is the leading trade body for the direct marketing industry. The DMA is the industry voice in discussions with the Government, Royal Mail and other key organisations.

There is a wealth of knowledge within the DMA, which is now available to you via this guide.

75% of consumers like receiving special offers and vouchers through the post.

Every year, advertising mail generates

£16 Billion in sales

OUR MAILING EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE

HELP MANAGE MAIL CREATION, DELIVERY, AND RECEIPT SO IT IS

EASIER TO RATIONALISE AND CONTROL THE MAIL

PROCESS

SOME VERY INTERESTING STATISTICS!

800,000 NEOPOST CUSTOMERS WORLDWIDE

Our solutions make mail faster, cheaper and more efficient, so our clients can

communicate more effectively, internally and externally.

75%

97%The percentage of customers

that prefer to receive print mail rather than

email.

74%The percentage of clients that say direct mail is its most successful

channel partner.Direct mail is all about marketing to people on a one-to-one basis

HOW TO REACH YOUR TARGET MARKET AT THE RIGHT TIME WITH THE RIGHT MESSAGE

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PLANNING BUDGET

TARGETDATA

CREATIVEPRODUCTIO

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Why?WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH DIRECT MAIL?

WHY CHOOSE DIRECT MAIL?Direct mail is a proven method of generating positive response for your business. Statistics prove that businesses and consumers alike are more responsive to direct mail than any other form of communication.

The possibilities are endless from keeping in touch with existing customers to generating new business with accurately targeted messages and offers.

You can sell product directly or you can generate leads for your field and telesales teams. You can invite prospects and customers to events. You can create awareness and invite prospects to find out more – remember 57% of online traffic is driven by offline communication.

PLANNING BUDGET

TARGETDATA

CREATIVEPRODUCTIO

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What?80%

OF RECIPIENTS OPEN DIRECT MAIL

DRIVESALES

RAISEAWARENESS hello!

KEEP IN TOUCH

ACHIEVEBUSINESS

OBJECTIVES

You have complete control over your communication in terms of targeting; timing; what you say to different segments of your audience; the offers that you make to generate response. Direct mail is completely measurable and accountable.

Once your response mechanisms are in place, you will know how much response (and business) the mailing has generated and how much it has cost.

HELPING YOU TO GENERATE EFFECTIVE

POSTAL COMMUNICATION

The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: www.neopost.co.uk/ whyandwhat

IT WORKS!In a recent DMA /fastMAP survey, direct mail was identified as the most trustworthy communication

channel.

We also know that 85% are happy to receive direct mail.

57% OF ONLINE TRAFFIC IS DRIVEN BY OFFLINE COMMUNICATION

4 5

PLANNING BUDGET

TARGETDATA

CREATIVEPRODUCTIO

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POST

RESPONSE THE

LIFE CYCLEOF AN EFFECTIVE

DIRECT MAIL CAMPAIGN

SO!HOW DO YOU CREATE AN EFFECTIVE DM CAMPAIGN?We will now take you through how to plan, target, create, produce and post your mailing campaign.

We’ll even prompt you to think about managing all of that response – who answers the phones when they start ringing? Have we got enough brochures to send out to the responders?

We can help you to generate response and business cost-effectively

We can help you to avoid ineffective mailshots that are aimed straight at the bin

HELPING YOU TO GENERATE EFFECTIVE

POSTAL COMMUNICATION

So, let’s get started on the actual steps to creating an effective Direct Mail Campaign...

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PLAN FOR SUCCESS!

SET A BUDGET Plan your campaign with a set

budget. The next few sections of the Guide will highlight areas of

cost and ways of minimising the outlay.

BUDGET WISELY!The areas that you need to consider are:

Data purchase or rental

Creative

Production

Postage

The Offer

Response Handling

Each of these elements is easily manageable and there are ways to stretch the budget for each one.

PRICE IN PROPORTION

CREATIVE & PRODUCTION

Once you have set a budget, you can consider the type of mailing that you can afford.

Bear in mind that a well written letter can be extremely

effective.

As with any major project, planning is key. Direct Mail is no different and you should consider the following:

Promote one product or a range of products and services? Is that feasible or will it be too much content?

Generate leads for future mailings, follow-up phone calls or for your salesforce?

Increase brand awareness? Introduce yourself to new prospects?

Build loyalty with offers to existing customers?

Whatever the objective – how will you measure success?

failing to plan is planning to fail OBJECTIVES

DEFINE YOUR TARGET MARKETWe will give you information on how to obtain data in the next section, but you need to consider who you are looking to target and, whether it is businesses or consumers, what selections you need to make to target accurately.

Consumers – age, gender, geography, household type, purchase habits

Businesses – geography, size, type of industry, turnover

Individuals within businesses – job title, purchasing function, area of influence

How many are there? Do I want to mail them all at once or take it in stages?

WHAT IS YOUR MESSAGE? What do you want to say? Is the

message the same to ALL of the recipients – think about segmenting your message

What do you want the recipient to do next? What is your call to action?

BRIEF YOURCOLLEAGUES

Make sure that anyone who is customer facing is aware of the campaign and give them copies of the mailing so they know

what the responder is referring to.

Make sure your website is up to date.

Brief the sales team to have space in their diaries for follow up –

nobody wants a hot lead to get cold.

The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: www.dma.org.uk

8 9

TARGET THE RIGHT PERSON AT THE CORRECT ADDRESS

ADDRESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

data is king!A great benefit of Direct Mail is the ability to personalise your message and make it relevant. You can use the correct name, address and salutation for personalisation. You can also recognise the recipient’s environment (size and type of organisation) to ensure relevance. The data that you use for your mailing will enable this.

Accurate data is critical to the success of your direct mail campaign. At Neopost we have products that can help you to manage your data and keep your data clean, thus minimising waste. To find out more visit:

www.neopost.co.uk/ addressmanagement

SOPHISTICATED DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND DATA CLEANING TOOLS ARE AVAILABLE TODAY SO THERE IS NO ExCUSE FOR SENDING POORLY TARGETED MAIL.

WHERE DO I GET MY DATA?There are a number of sources available for both business and consumer lists where you can get advice as to which is best for you. The option will be to build your own, rent or buy data outright.

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BUILD YOUR OWNCheapest in the long term if you intend to use direct mail regularly. You can compile data from your own contacts and sources. You can then use business directories and other published sources to provide data. Data can be maintained in a simple spreadsheet format.

LIST RENTALYou pay to rent data on a once only basis. Any response you receive will be yours to keep and build your own database

BUY OUTRIGHTYou have complete ownership of the data. Once you own it, you need to keep it up to date.

YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THESE!Inaccurate data leads to undelivered mail.

Undelivered mail is a WASTE OF BUDGET. Keep your data clean.

DATA LISTRENT

BUY

BUILD

?10 11

FIRSTIMPRESSIONS

COUNTSO GET CREATIVE!

THE PROPOSITION COPYWRITING & DESIGN

TESTING 1,2,3.....

CALL TO ACTIONWHAT’S THE

OFFER? Direct mail affords you many opportunities to develop creative formats that use clever folds and images to boost your response rates. A number of specialist direct mail printers can advise and give you ideas by showing you examples. Furthermore, with developments in technology and digital print, costs for sophisticated formats are coming down.

However, consider your market and what you need to communicate and you may find that a well written letter with a strong offer can give you the response that you require. This approach can be especially effective when followed up by a telephone call within 5 days of the mailing landing with the recipient.

Consider your proposition to your customers and prospects. What are you trying to pitch to them and will they understand it from your communication? Is your proposition the same to all recipients? Direct mail enables you to segment your message easily and cost-effectively so build that into your communication programme.

There are many creative agencies and designers that can help you to develop the creative for your mailings, you can find them on the DMA website. One tip would be to collect examples of direct mail that you feel are relevant and effective. You may be able to adapt them to suit your needs. Your approach to design and copy should be to keep things simple and try to put yourself in the position of the recipient – would they understand your proposition, offer and how to respond from what you have created?

One of the many benefits of direct mail is the ability to test. Even within small quantities, you can test different elements such as images, copy, offers and incentives. You can find out immediately what works best for you in generating leads and sales. We recommend that you build testing into any activity that you plan – even if you’re targeting 10 prospects, you can still test 2 cells of 5 each.

Make sure that you are clear about what you want the recipient to do next and make it clear to them. How can they respond to you? Options here are to respond by mail (Freepost), phone, visit website, visit a retailer to buy. Feature the call to action at the end of your copy and make it simple for the recipient to respond.

The offer is a (some would say THE) key element of any direct mail campaign. Typically, this will be an incentive to purchase your product or service and can be in the form of free product, money off/discount, premium incentives, vouchers and prize draws, which run for a specific time period. The critical issue is to find what works best for your market by testing different types and values of incentive.

“Most TV ads last 30 seconds. Send someone something they want to keep and you have an ad which lasts 20 years”Rory Sutherland

Vice Chairman, Ogilvy Group UK

The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at: www.dma.org.uk

FREESPECIAL

OFFER

PRIZEDRAW

12 13

MORE THAN JUST INK ON PAPER!

Adding colour to a direct mail piece may increase response rates by up to

45%80%Colour is 80% more likely to be read than black & white marketing materials

IT’S TIME TO PUT YOUR DM CAMPAIGN INTO PRODUCTION!

There are many suppliers that can help you to produce your mailing, details can be found on the DMA website. As with any production project, we recommend that you obtain competitive quotes and samples of previous work to show quality.

Here at Neopost, we offer a full envelope printing service, in fact last year we sold over 300 million envelopes across the UK. Our prices are extremely competitive and, if you want the rate but don’t have the space, we can store them for you.

To find out more visit www.neopost.co.uk/bespoke

PRINTING

DIY

PERSONALISATION

FOLDING AND INSERTING

The print of the mailing, stationery and envelope.

You may choose to produce the mailing in-house, which can save cost and give you complete control. Neopost have a full range of machines from envelope, address and graphic printers to folder/inserters. There is a full range to cater for all requirements.

www.neopost.co.uk/diy

Once you have created your mailing, you will then need to think about production. In direct mail terms, there can be 3 elements to this:

The personalisation of the mailing, i.e. the printing of the recipient’s details onto the letter, mailer and or envelope. Advances in technologies such as digital print mean that you can completely personalise text and images to the recipient. Bear in mind that a key benefit of direct mail, and one that will increase response, is the ability to personalise the message.

The Guide gives you an overview, but you can find out more at the web addresses on this page.

Folding and inserting the mailing pieces into an envelope.The benefits of using a Folder Inserter machine are: u 13 times faster than folding by handu Saves staff time by automating a

manual processu Helps cut postage costsu Improves presentation of your mail

www.neopost.co.uk/ morethanink

Window Size: 45 x 95mm

Window Position:72mm up

16mm from left hand side

love your pigEmley Business Park, Emley, Huddersfield HD8 9QYwww.the-pink-pig.co.uk

Window Size: 45 x 95mm

Window Position:72mm up

16mm from left hand side

Business

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18 Shakespeare Business Centre

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Window Size: 39 x 93mm

Window Position:18mm up

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14 15

lick and stick?

THERE’S MORE TO POSTAGE THAN YOU MIGHT THINKOne of the larger cost items in a direct mail campaign is postage, so we want to help you to minimise that wherever possible.

The main considerations are

Size of the mailing

Quantity to be mailed at one time

An obvious way to save costs is to frank your mail rather than use stamps. You can save up to 34% on your postage by franking.

SIZE

QUANTITY

FRANKING

Pricing in Proportion (PIP), from The Royal Mail means that items that are larger than A5 are more expensive to post. Quite simply, keep your mailings to A5 and under to ensure that you keep costs down.

As well as franked mail discounts, Royal Mail offers further savings of up to 23.5% for businesses that send 500 to 25,000 letters in a single mailing.

Find out more at www.royalmail.com

A5

m1

2

THE BENEFITS OF FRANKINGMARKETING you can include your logo and a message within your PPI.

PROFESSIONAL a badly affixed stamp can undermine your mailing campaign. This would not be an issue with franking.

TIME SAVING Using a franking machine means that you will not need to queue at the Post Office to purchase stamps.

At Neopost, we have a full range of franking machines for all types of business. To find out more, please visit www.neopost.co.uk/dmfranking

65% agreed that:“Sending informationto customers by postis a more personalway to communicatethan email.”

59% agreed that:“information throughthe post is morelikely to be noticed bycustomers thanemails.” Royal Mail Business

Communications Research Document

Mr T Recipient

123 Buildings

Anyother Street

Sampleshire SA1 UY

A Customer Whichever Avenue Theotherarea Anothertown AT2 1WE

SAVE UP TO

WITH FRANKED MAIL

34%16 17

BUTTHE PROCESS DOES NOT END HERE!!

IN FACT IT’S JUST THE START...The preparation has to continue to include the critical area of response handling, there is no point in spending time and money generating response to then lose it.

KEEP THE PROCESS FLOWING!

ANALYSING RESPONSEResponse can provide you with business and also information to make your marketing campaigns even more effective. Make sure that you analyse response to build a profile of your responder. Once you have this – go and find more of them!If tests have been included, make sure you can understand which test cell has worked best.

SOME KEY POINTS TO BEAR IN MIND: Make sure that all customer facing

personnel are briefed to expect calls. Provide them with copies of the mailing so that they are aware of what a responder may be asking about

If you are offering brochures, samples or further information, make sure you have enough!

If the mailing is to generate a sales visit, make sure that the salesforce are prepared and have room in their diaries

Direct mail can be supported by a telephone follow up. Make sure that time is set aside for this

If response is directed to your website, make sure that this is up to date. Also, that analytics and tracking are in place

MAKING IT EASY TO RESPOND Royal Mail Response Services.

The Royal Mail has a number of services that enable your prospect to respond quickly and in a manner that is free to them. You have the option of Freepost or Business Reply. There is more info at www.royalmail.com

If the response could be considered confidential, where you have asked a number of questions, include a Business Reply Envelope (BRE) in your mailing so that the responder can insert the document and return it to you securely

You may wish to encourage response by telephone. There are a number of Freephone and local toll services available. Cost is determined by volume

Receiving response to your website means that you avoid the cost of inbound postage and then having to data capture response. The responder can give you their details on a form on the website which can be downloaded into your customer/prospect database. You obviously need to ensure that the website is set up for this

YOUR WEBSITE CAN SAVE POSTAGE!

FREEPOST

18 19

AND FINALLYYou are about to press the button on your direct mail campaign

but we want to make sure that you have everything in place.

DIRECT MAIL CHECKLIST

If you need any further information on Neopost services and products, please visit www.neopost.co.uk/guideor call 0800 731 1334 quoting dmaguide.

1Are you happy that you have planned the key stages of the campaign? Does your mailing fulfill the objectives that you set?

2Are you targeting the correct groups? Does the data selection that you have made cover your key target markets?

3Does your creative convey the right messages? Ask a colleague who is not close to the activity to read it through – what do they take from it?

4Are the production processes in place? Have you checked proofs from any suppliers?

Have they confirmed timescales to you?

5Are you posting the mailing economically? Make sure that you have investigated all options to save money on post.

6Do your colleagues know the mailing is taking place? Are they ready to answer the phones when response comes in?

Do you have brochures and offer material to send out to responders?

Is your website up to date?

7Do you have procedures in place to capture and monitor response? Data on responders can help you to build your own database – a key asset for your business.

8Analyse and learn. This is the last item on the checklist for this campaign – the first for your next.

Neopost LimitedNeopost House, South Street, Romford, Essex RM1 2AR.www.neopost.co.uk/guide