Repetition with direct mail story

Some clients say direct mail is the heart of their business advertising, others say it is worthless. Read the following for some clues on why:

Can Mailing to the Same List Twice, Double Your Response Rate?
By Alan Sharpe

Mailing the same direct mail offer to the same consumer list a second time typically generates a response rate that’s 65 percent smaller than the initial response. Mailing a third time usually generates a response that's more than 50 percent smaller than the initial mailing. But if you mail businesses or institutions with the same offer more than once, your results sometimes run the other way.

Some business-to-business direct marketers have discovered that the same offer mailed to the same list a second time produces double the response of the initial mailing.

Hard to believe, I know. But this just proves that business buyers and consumers are different.

The business executive you tried to reach with your first mailing may have been lying on a beach in the Seychelles when your offer arrived. Or her secretary may have pitched it.

Or the guy in the mailroom may have had a bad day and routed your direct mail offer to Bangladesh.

Or your prospect may have suffered a financial setback that resolved itself by the time your second offer arrived in his inbox.

Or the timing may have been off. Your prospect was not ready to buy last quarter but is ready this quarter.

Or your business buyer may not have recognized your company name the first time around, but recognizes it now that she has come across your name in the trade press, online, and from the lips of peers at a recent trade show.

These reasons, and many more, should encourage you to test mailing your direct mail sales letters to the same prospects more than once. Keep everything the same (list, offer, creative). Just vary the timing. Measure your response between mailing one and mailing two, and even mailing one
and mailing three.

-- Alan Sharpe is a direct mail copywriter who helps businesses attract new clients using direct mail and email marketing. His website is sharpecopy.com.

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