9 Ways to Boost Performance of Your Direct Mail Offer

Direct mail is an effective lead generation and customer retention tool and having a compelling offer is a must for campaign success. To continually improve results, test, test, test! At Strategic America, we are constantly testing our direct marketing campaigns and have several takeaways to share.

Here are some of our tips for testing your direct mail offers:

Sell only one thing at a time. Having too many messages/offers can bog down the consumer and lower your response rate. Test one message/one offer.

1. Offer dollars off over using a percentage. When possible don’t use a percentage; what is 10% off? 10% off $1,000 would be $100; I would recommend testing $100 off instead.
2. Test new price levels
3. Offer incentives for early response. “Early Bird Savings if you respond in the next 10 days!”
4. Offer something Free: Information, Demonstration, Trial, Sample, Gift, Shipping.
5. Use comparisons that people can relate to. Instead of saying the U.S. could cut its energy bills by 30% with this product, offer to save $xxx off their utility bills.
6. Test rewarding customer loyalty with a sweeter offer. Customer Appreciation Sale.
7. Offer a guarantee. This offer removes risk and can increase response and acquisition of new customers.
8. Test urgency and offer with a time limit that gets a better response than an offer without one. Try testing different time limits.

Make a regular habit of testing your offers and consider market location as well. Different mail format, offer and messaging resonate differently at each local level. Other than list selection, nothing will make a bigger difference on the success of your campaign as the offer.