What is a Good Response for a Direct Mail?
What is a good response to a direct mail campaign? This article will discuss the answer to this question, as well as the types of direct mail lists available. We’ll also talk about house lists and prospect lists. And we’ll talk about multi-touch campaigns and other strategies to boost your response rate. Then, you can decide whether 4.4 percent is enough. Or, you can look at the 4.4 percent average for house lists and prospect lists.
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4.4 percent
Direct mail is considered a very valuable marketing tool because it is a shareable medium. While it has a shorter lifespan than emails, it is likely to reach the entire household, earning a higher response rate of 4.4 percent. Moreover, 74 percent of American consumers prefer direct mail to emails. Aside from its high response rate, direct mail is also more shareable, with 42.2 percent of direct mail recipients reading and scanning the mail. This means you will receive valuable impressions.
House lists
A house list is a list that contains names of potential customers, or people who have expressed interest in your product but have not yet purchased it. These names often out-pull the best rental lists. Many direct mailers neglect to save these names for future promotions, but they represent a valuable source of new customers and future sales. To maximize your response rates with house lists, make sure to clean and update your list twice a year.
Prospect lists
Direct mail response rates vary depending on the format and list. In 2015, letter-sized envelopes were the most popular format, with B2B and split-B2C marketers using them most frequently. Of the other media types, postcards and oversized envelopes produced the highest ROI. Prospect lists also exceeded the 90% ROI threshold. The following table shows direct mail response rates by format and list. Prospect lists generally generate higher response rates than house lists.
Multi-touch campaigns
A multi-touch campaign consists of a series of different marketing methods that each reinforces your brand and reaches your target audience. It may begin with a postcard campaign and continue with an email campaign, followed by a door hanger or rack card. The idea is to reach people with your message several times because sending out one quick advertisement rarely gets a response. Multi-touch campaigns offer more options to your customers, which improves your chances of making a sale.
Incentives
A hard offer encourages readers to take action. A hard offer, such as a free trial offer, can get a response rate of 1 to 1.5 percent. Soft offers encourage readers to take action without being pressured. For instance, a gift or coupon can encourage the reader to call the company to take advantage of the offer. But an incentive is a good way to encourage readers to respond to a direct mail campaign.
