Your return on your investment (ROI) is always a key consideration if you’re considering direct mail marketing. After all, what can you expect from such an “old-fashioned” channel. Does direct mail even work? For everyone, that’s the $64,000 dollar question: “what type of response can I expect”?
Decades ago, in the heyday of direct mail, the easy answer to the percentage question was always a 2-5% response rate. Is that realistic any more?
Well, yes and no.
According to Direct Mail News, in 2012 the average response rate for direct mail was 4.4% for both business-to-business and business to consumer mailings—considerably higher than industry expectations, and surging past electronic mail’s response rate of just 0.12%. Yes, you read that correctly, direct mail outperformed email by over 3000%.
Actually, asking “what type of response can I expect,” is sort of like asking “how long is a piece of string”! After all, there are so many factors at work that any one of them can skew the response.
Here are just six factors which can affect your response rate:
- The list
- The headline
- The visuals
- The copy
- The envelope
- The offer
And, there is even more: the response form, timing, coordination with other marketing tactics, the colors, the typeface, and so on.
Yes, we know, you’re still waiting for an answer. What can you expect in terms of response in today’s digital age?
You are probably worried about the cost of printing and postage, knowing that direct mail “costs” much more than a “free” email.
But, before you go, let’s dig a little deeper and get the whole story. Consider what really matters. What is the bottom line – your cost per lead – your ROI?
This is where direct mail outstrips the competition.
ROI Across Channels
| MEDIUM | COST PER LEAD/ORDER |
| DIRECT MAIL (LETTER SIZED) | $51.40 |
| PAY-PER-CLICK | $52.58 |
| $55.24 | |
| PRINT ADVERTISING | $60.50 |
| TELEMARKETING | $190.49 |
SOURCE: DMA, 2012 Response Rate Report.
You see that the increased response rate of direct mail offsets the cost of printing and postage.
So next time you’re asking the $64,000 question, we suggest you put away the old way of measuring and think cost per lead/order.
Call us. We can help you put together your next direct mail campaign.
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