Don’t Return to Sender!
It’s a winning formula for Hollywood blockbusters—a small town, major city, even planet Earth as a whole, finds itself under attack by some monstrosity. But, when an intruder abandons the big screen and infiltrates our mailboxes, it becomes personal. Of course, monsters aren’t hiding in our mailboxes waiting to attack as we retrieve the contents; nevertheless, a deluge of unsolicited direct mail can be just as horrific to find.
To make matters worse, unlike the movies, there is no director to shout “Cut!” Unless we stay on top of paper disposal, we will soon be buried on the living room floor under mountains of mail. Legislators are responding to this problem with State Do Not Mail Registry Bills. According to the Direct Marketing Association, 2008 began with nine states creating bills to form state-run Do Not Mail registries. In addition, seven states carried over legislation from their sessions last year, with two states filing new bills at the beginning of their sessions.
In lieu of these findings, what does this mean for direct mail, a market that continues to generate billions of dollars? Perhaps it suggests nothing presently. Yet, this might change within the next few years, since the plan to eliminate the number of mailer recipients has been initiated.
Those trying to reap profits from direct mail must get mailers into the right hands—and make sure they stay there—before they hit the trash can. With the demand for customer interaction comes creative tactics such as personalization, coupons, scratch-offs and colorful designs, to name a few.
Here, five industry professionals were asked to elaborate on why direct mail is valuable and how mailer campaigns can remain an attractive, viable option for distributors and their end-customers.
Rick Joly, vice president, Goodway Group of Massachusetts, Burlington, Mass. (www.goodwaygroup-ma.com):
“Direct mail is and will remain a viable tool in today’s increasingly complex marketing arena. Unlike unread e-mails, which loom like an albatross in your inbox, [direct mail] can be dealt with at the recipient’s leisure—usually while perched over the trash can. The more eye-catching and relevant the piece is, the less likely it will be tossed. Quality data and tactful use of variable content produce the best ROI. Mailing to a highly targeted audience means that fewer pieces will yield the same or better results than non-targeted mailings—with reduced postage more than offsetting the higher unit cost. Most pieces we produce for our clients and all of our own collateral make use of digital printing’s VDP capabilities.
“Last summer, we did our own promotional campaign that included two pieces of direct mail and two e-mail reminders—each directing recipient[s] to their own unique PURL (personal URL). This multi-touch, multichannel strategy, now known as ‘cross-media marketing’, is quickly gaining ground. Goodway Group of Massachusetts has the onsite infrastructure to provide these services for our marketing clients.”
Dave Vasudevan, plant manager, Creative Automation, Hillside, Ill. (www.cauto.com):
“In spite of any proposed implementation for curbing direct mail by instituting Do Not Mail registries, the number of enrollees in this kind of registry is way too small in number.
“It was once thought that Web mail [would] take over direct mail marketing, but it failed. It did, however, succeed as a tool for repetitive reminders, special occasion sales and company image positioning. Due to powerful spam filters, many of these e-mails [were] deleted, unnoticed by the recipient. This is where the direct mail comes into play and has its advantage.
“With the advent of sophistication in the direct mail industry, unique ideas and concepts are being implemented by designers and print houses [throughout] the nation—the percentage of reply response justifies its needs.
“As the saying goes, ‘[The] proof is in the pudding.’ Companies would not be spending in the millions if this direct mail marketing did not keep its promise.”
Dan Berg, distributor sales representative, Creative Automation, Hillside, Ill. (www.cauto.com):
“As a manufacturer, we are more involved in innovative features than innovative design. While most of the creative we work with [is] supplied by outside design houses, we are actively involved in testing and manufacturing new features that enhance the response rates of mailers.
“We produce both conventional direct mail—a letter, buck slip or return envelope inserted in an outer envelope—and multiple-ply specialty mailers. On the former, we have seen an increase in the use of remoistenable glue, metallic inks and even thermochromic inks to liven up the mailing. Anything that makes the piece more interactive with the recipient has shown an increase in response rates.
“Changing the size of the components for a different look can be cost-prohibitive with the new USPS rates. In the specialty mailer realm, we have seen non-standard papers used to improve response rates. We had a client change from a white sheet to a bright pink sheet, and the response improved nicely. In both types of mailers, we have also seen an increase in the utilization of custom die cuts, scratch-offs and integrated cards and labels to spice up the piece. Again, adding more color always enhances the creative’s look and feel.”
Jason Lund, graphics product manager, Videojet Technologies, Wood Dale, Ill. (www.videojet.com):
“Direct mail is still valuable for companies because it works—it gets the attention of potential customers, and marketers will pay for that. Research indicates that direct mail accounts for nearly 20 percent of all advertising expenditures for reasons such as precise targeting and personalization of mail pieces, measurability and active medium—[it] encourages recipients to take action.
“Videojet Technologies has contributed to this trend in multiple ways. The Videojet G4100 digital imaging system creates personalized mail pieces that grab users’ attention, and thus encourage resulting action, such as visiting a website or visiting a retailer’s closest branch. [The Videojet G4100 features a 4.25-inch printband in a single head, allowing commercial printers to customize mail pieces with up to 1,200-dpi resolution for addresses, message text and graphics]. The BX series of binary array printers print on a wide-range of attention-grabbing stocks [including] plastics and clay- and aqueous-coated.”
Brian Coats, CDC, VP Marketing, MAR Graphics, Valmeyer, Ill. (www.margraphics.com):
“Direct mail is still valuable because it is tactile. Direct mail puts a message of value directly into the prospect’s/client’s hands. No other marketing or sales method short of package shipments or direct sales calls—and the costs associated with them—can effectively provide an equivalent value.
“At MAR Graphics, we continue to incorporate devices such as cards, labels/stickers, coupons and decals in mail pieces to increase interaction. Increased interaction between recipient[s] and mail piece[s] increases response rates. We recently produced a small piece that utilizes an affixed liner-less label as a method to drive traffic to a retail location.”
By following these tips, distributors can reduce stress levels while increasing success rates.