Customer acquisition is a critical factor in a company’s growth, and requires even more forethought and strategic action during an economic downturn. Tight marketing budgets and managing costs are the game plan when sales are slow. Even under such trying circumstances, direct mail can play a huge role in getting and retaining customers. Direct mail is one of the most cost-effective ways to bring in new customers. According to a DMA study conducted last year, direct mail averages $10 in sales for every $1 invested. Another study by Pitney Bowes found that Direct Mail generated a higher percentage of Internet sales than Internet advertising, TV and radio.
The best way to guarantee the success of your direct mail campaign is to measure the resulting
increases in sales and profits. Campaign success is measured as ROI, or return-on-investment.
Other standard measurements such as cost-per-piece or cost-per-lead are helpful but will not
provide the “big picture” view that ROI analysis will. The most accurate ROI calculation takes
into account a customer’s lifetime value, or the amount of sales generated by that customer over
time.
Direct mail allows you to control your campaign and direct spending against those targets that
are most likely to purchase your product or service. The first step is to run small test mailings to
get a feel for your baseline response rates. Subsequent mailings can try different things such as
a different mailpiece design, modified copy or new mailing lists. When you are confident of your
results, you can extend your campaign to larger groups and be relatively assured your ROI will
be positive and the close to your test results. A large quantity of names will cost you in
production and postage so it is important to make every mailpiece count!
One way of maximizing ROI is to drive out hidden costs throughout the process of sending mail. For example,
Zairmail’s one-stop direct mail service allows you to achieve greater operational efficiencies by having all processes under one roof and minimizing administration costs. Zairmail also gives you access to large-scale digital printers used by the largest direct mailers in the industry.
By letting Zairmail handle the details, you can spend more of your time and budget improving you mail campaign,
boosting your ROI and doing what you do best–running your business!
When conducting a test mailing, the first step is to decide how many pieces to
send. Too large a mailing is unnecessarily expensive, whereas too small a mailing will not have
enough responses to accurately determine your response rate. A good rule of thumb is to test
between 1000 and 5000 pieces to start. That way you will get a sufficient number of responses
back from your mailing to determine what your response rate will be.
Your response rate will vary depending on your product, industry, target market, and other
factors, so no general rules apply. For instance, a sub-0.2% response rate is common in the
credit card industry, whereas some nonprofit companies experience response rates as high as
50%. This should not discourage you; rather, it highlights the necessity of tracking your
response rate for your mailing. If you fly blind, you will only have a vague idea of your
campaign’s success and you risk wasting money and losing sales.
To increase the response to your next mailing, pay attention to these important factors:
Campaign Goal
What is the goal of your campaign? Do you want to generate leads? Close sales? Raise
awareness? Drive traffic to your store or Web site? Once you decide on your goal, establish a
baseline and track responses against that baseline. For example, determine the average number
of calls that you receive per month, and compare that number to the number of calls you receive
immediately following your mailing. Alternatively, if you take orders through your Web site, your
mail piece can ask customers to enter a discount code when placing their orders by which you
can track the sales associated with your mailing.
The Mailing List
Who are your best customers? Identify who they are and then get lots more exactly like them
and market to them. The list can make up 60 to 70 percent of your response rate. Identify the
unique characteristics of your customers. Are they male, or female? Where do they live? How
much do they make? The answers to these questions can be used to build a targeted prospect
list to gain more customers.
The Offer
Whatever your direct mail campaign offers the target audience - a free information packet, an
instructive Web seminar, a gift for visiting a trade show booth - concentrate on selling the
benefits of responding and receiving the offer. Remember that the goal is to get the person to
respond so that they can purchase your product and increase your ROI. If you can get someone
interested enough to respond to the offer, then you have the chance to get them to buy.
Your Mailer
Here is where testing really plays a crucial role. Without testing your mailing list, your offer, or
your mailpiece design, you will never know if the campaign’s success was due to a compelling
offer, eye-catching graphics, and enticing copy with a strong call to action, or a great list.
Conversely, without testing, you will not know which aspect of your campaign needs
improvement if you receive a less-than-desired response.
Campaign Cost
Take the total cost of your mailing (including creative, printing, postage, and labor) and divide
that figure by the revenue generated from an average sale. That will tell you how many sales
you’ll need to make in order to break even and cover the cost of your mailing. For example, if the
cost of your mailing campaign is $550, and your average order is $50, you will need to make 11
sales in order to recover the cost of your mailing. In some cases, however, you may be willing to
send out a campaign without breaking even or showing a profit if it means generating qualified
leads to whom you can sell again and again. Don’t forget the lifetime value of a customer.
Wilson Zehr is a Partner in Cube Management (http://www.cubemanagement.com), a Portland, Oregon based company that helps organizations accelerate their sales. Mr. Zehr is also the founder of Cendix (http://www.cendix.com) the leading provider of channel marketing tools distributed enterprises. Mr. Zehr has over two decades of experience designing and delivering marketing and software solutions for business. He also has extensive experience driving sales, marketing, and strategic alliances with many of the largest technology companies in the world including: Oracle, Intel, Microsoft, Sun, HP, IBM, Xerox, and many others. Wilson Zehr can be reached at Cube Management, wilson@cubemanagement.com, 503.789.2676.
Tags: business, sales, marketing, direct marketing, direct mail
Given the progress in inkjet and media technology, demand for printing photographs and art on canvas is growing exponentially. Whether you have a good inkjet printer or you prefer to have your work done by a professional outfit, it is worth to explore this option for any type of image. We constantly receive requests from wedding and portrait photographers who want to print large canvas for their clients.
Artists regularly order limited edition prints on canvas and watercolor papers to sell to collectors. These reproductions usually are signed and are accompanied by a COA (Certificate of authenticity). Buyers are very receptive to purchasing canvas prints they can hang up without a protective glass, without worrying about scratches and water damage.
The texture of a fine art canvas is unparalleled in beauty; a protective coating is applied on top to give the substrate a matte, lustre or glossy look. If you prefer to experiment with this material to see the results, canvas sheets are available at many stores that carry inkjet products.
The differences between a home desktop printer and a professional one are many but I will focus on the most important. First, commercial machines can be outfitted with pigmented inks; these inks differ from dye inks commonly found in the cheap home printers because they are archival and will not fade for decades. Dyes on the other hand will start losing brilliance in a matter of months. There are some home use printers now that offer a form of hybrid dye/pigment system. The second difference is the nozzle quality; pro level systems have extremely sophisticated nozzles that can render a very fine dot and exceptional tonal rendition.
The process of printing on fine art materials such as canvas and watercolor papers is referred to as “giclee”. Giclee is a french term that loosely translated means “sprayed on”. It refers to the nozzles which spray ink onto the paper. Giclee printing involves some of the characteristics described above and it is usually performed by professional shops.
You can read more about giclee and inkjet canvas printing on our website.
Fabio Braghi is the owner and printmaker of a Fine art giclee print company with over fifteen years of experience in digital imaging.
Tags: canvas printing, giclee printing
Let’s start with the definition of “Clever” I’m using. It means being skillful in doing something - in this case asking questions. It’s more ingenious than it’s shrewd.
Do you have any procrastinators hiding out in your pending file? Remember, you can’t make a mortgage payment with a pending “maybe.” Procrastinators procrastinate because that’s how they’re wired. They’re not bad people, they just find it tough to finish what they start.
Sure they have good intentions, and you want to believe them. You can can’t make a mortgage payment with good intentions either.
Actually, if you’re dealing with a legitimate procrastinator right now, you can help him with this extraordinary question. I’ve seen it work dozens of times and have personally put $45,000 in my wallet after using it.
Let’s assume your procrastinator is holding up the works on a potential $37,507 order.
He keeps putting you off. Instead of losing your patience ask this question.
What would have to happen for you to sign-off on the purchase order we’ve been talking about?
Procrastinators procrastinate because they don’t know what the next step is. This question forces them to think about that next step. It’s a great question and you’ll be please with the results.
I was reading Art Sobczak’s newsletter today and he talked about questions you should avoid. For example:
“Did you know that we offer ___?”
“Are you aware that we sell ___?”
“Did you know we offer six different lines of printers?” could
elicit a great big yawn and a “So what,” from the listener.
A better question would be,
“What features do you require in printers?”
You can also ask, “What qualities are you looking for in a printer?”
Here’s another question you can ask if you want to get a better understanding what your customer values. Too many salespeople make too many assumptions and they’re usually way off base.
When you ask this question get ready to employ your ears. Here’s the question:
What would it take to win your supplier of the year award?
It’s always wiser and certainly more professional to employ your ears before you engage your mouth. The goal is avoid getting mugged by your own mouth.
You’ll be rewarded handsomely, when you start asking these questions.
Hey, if you’re getting mangled by the competitive sharks in your sales territory and really don’t have a clue on how to clobber the competition, I’ve got what you need. How would you like a framework on “How To Get Surefire Selling Results” day in and day out.
See for yourself - but for Pete’s sake don’t procrastinate on this one. It could change your life - REALLY! http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/netcart.asp?MerchantID=39581&offerid=16072&q=2
Jim Meisenheimer is the No-Brainer Sales Training Guru.
His sales techniques and selling skills focus on practical ideas
that get immediate results. You can discover all his secrets by
contacting him at (800) 266-1268 or e-mail: jim@meisenheimer.com
Use this link to sign-up for Jim’s FREE No-Brainer Selling Tips
Newsletter and to get your copy of his Special Report titled,
“The 12 Dumbest Things Salespeople Do.”
http://www.meisenheimer.com
Tags: sales questions, procrastination, procrastinators, features, salespeople,