70% of marketers say that direct mail campaign performance just keeps improving, according to research from Sequel Response. That’s probably why 49% of marketers increased their direct mail budget this year. Here’s what you need to know to make your client’s direct mail ads as effective as possible.

Top Tips to Make Your Direct Mail Campaign Pop

Tip 1: Don’t Overwhelm Consumers

According to Sequel Response, 69% of consumers engage with direct mail on a weekly basis. Another 33% engage with direct mail every single day. Additionally:

54% of consumers hold on to interesting direct mail ads to refer back to later
40% enjoy learning about new brands, products and services through direct mail ads

Why? One reason is consumers feel direct mail is less overwhelming than other types of advertising media. They say that direct mail ads are less overwhelming than (in order from most to least overwhelming):

Email Ads: 56% of consumers feel at least somewhat overwhelmed by these ads
Sponsored Social Media Content Ads: 54%
Sponsored Influencer Marketing Content Ads: 50%
Paid Online Search Results and Banner Ads: 47%
Traditional TV and Streaming Service Ads: 46%
SMS Ads: 44%

So, when planning your client’s next direct mail campaign, make sure you’re not planning on sending out too many ads. Consumers like the amount they’re current getting (no more than four or five per year).

Tip 2: Integrate Direct Mail with Digital

While direct mail ads do a great job at grabbing consumer attention, they need a solid call to action to get the buying process started. To help them do that immediately, your client should incorporate digital elements into their direct mail campaign.

For example, your client can feature a QR code or website URL into each piece so that recipients can easily take the next step online. Digital resources can help consumers do more research into the product or service and make purchases quickly.

Overall, 91% of marketers agree that integrating direct mail and digital positively impacts campaign performance.

Tip 3: Personalize It

Not only are direct mail ads great attention-grabbers, it’s easy to tailor their content to the recipient. Your client can personalize their direct mail ads by including:

Special offers or promotions based on the recipient’s shopping/browsing history
Location-based data, such as the address of a local location and/or a promotion that location is running
Images and names of items they’ve viewed online
Their name

For audience data you can use to better connect with your client’s target audience, look up their profile(s) on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.

Tip 3: Give the People What They Want

Using preferred mail types during your client’s direct mail campaign is an easy way to increase the chances of consumer action.

According to Sequel Response, 78% of consumers prefer to receive postcards over other types of direct mail ads. And be sure your client uses high-quality paper for their ads. Not only will low-quality paper easily get damaged during the mailing process, 50% of consumers agree that it will also give your client’s brand a negative impression.

Tip 4: Automate Your Client’s Direct Mail

84% of direct mail marketers utilize automation. It makes the process of deciding when to send your client’s target audience ads and what to feature in them easy.

For example, a postcard send could be triggered by a consumer abandoning a purchase in their cart. The ad can contain an image and the name of the item with a coupon to influence the consumer to complete their purchase.

What are you waiting for? It’s time to make your client’s next direct mail campaign a success with these tips!

Photo by: Thanhy Nguyen