Track for Increased Response

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Given all of the issues we hear about the USPS recently, it has become difficult to predict, with any degree of certainty, the time line for delivery of a direct mail piece. Delivery could take a few days or it could take a few weeks depending on the class of mail and the distribution of the pieces across the country. We mail campaigns every day and the only way, up until now, we were able to determine the delivery time was by seeding the list or waiting for responses to come in. Why would you want to know when a mail piece is being or has been delivered? What could you do with that information?

1.    Begin measuring response rates and ROI

2.    Prepare your team to expect and respond to inquiries

3.    Send an imminent delivery email notification to the recipient that raises their interest level in anticipation of receiving the forthcoming direct mail piece.

So how can you know when a mail piece is or will be delivered? Look no further than the Intelligent Mail Barcode. The Postal Service has mandated that we all switch to the IMB in January 2013. At this point, in the transition to IMB, over 95% of all mail is being scanned and “clocked in” when it enters the postal system and at several points along the delivery path including the “stop the clock” final delivery point facility just before it goes into the carrier’s hands for delivery to the mail box.

By identifying the date of actual delivery, sending an email to alert the recipient that an important mail message is coming today or tomorrow could mean a significant increase in response rates. The anticipation of knowing that a personalized, highly relevant mail piece is being delivered can become a strong marketing message.

Tracking the IMB is not something that all marketing organizations are prepared for or adept at yet. Paying for tracking and notification from some service providers can be expensive and restrictive. Be sure your provider knows what they are doing tracking the IMB and not just guessing at the delivery date.

AccuLink has linked the InteliMailer and other direct mail products to the IMB scanning by the USPS so we can successfully track mail pieces all the way to the “stop the clock” delivery point.

If you would like more information, give me a call. Let me help you set up a marketing campaign that includes email notification when the delivery of the mail piece is imminent. These campaigns have real teeth and get much improved response rates.

Ed Glaser
Chief Marketing Officer
252.321.5805
ed.glaser@acculink.com

Website: www.intelimailer.com

Storefront: https://storefront.acculink.com/Promo/Login.aspx

InteliMailer Video: http://youtu.be/He429Ylw3l8

5 Key Ways to Get Your Direct Mail Piece Noticed and Earn More Business

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Jun 27 2012
The average consumer may receive dozens of email and text messages per day, but only get a few letters in the mail. This means that postal mailings can still be a great way to get your message noticed. Deliver magazine recently reported that 12 percent of all consumers who received a letter, postcard or flyer made a purchase on a company's website. With that kind of ROI, direct mail may be the missing part of your marketing mix. 5 Key Ways to Get Your Direct Mail Piece Noticed and Earn More Business 1. Ensure that your mail piece is relevant: As with any marketing campaign, you will increase your chances of success if your audience thinks that your message is timely and relevant. For example, you may not want to send the same mailer to a regular customer at the expense of someone who has never purchased your products or services before. You should create several variations of the same direct mail piece to appeal to your various audiences' needs, interests or demographics. 2. Include basic personalization: This may seem obvious, but don't address your direct mail piece to "resident" or "CEO." Make sure that the information in your contact management system is up to date and that you personalize every mailer. 3. Match the length of your sales letter with your audience: Studies have shown that consumers are more likely to read longer sales letters when they are at home and have more free time. But if you are mailing to business addresses, keep your letters short. Busy professionals rarely have the time to read more than two pages. 4. Make it easy for your audience to respond to your offers: Provide multiple ways for your audience to respond to your offer such as links to ordering pages in your website, pURLS and QR Codes, special monitored phone numbers, and business reply cards or envelopes. 5. Improve the ROI from your direct mail campaigns: Be sure to tie your direct mail into your other marketing channels, such as email or social media. Connecting with your customers across several channels will increase their likelihood of remembering and acting on your message. Website: www.intelimailer.com Storefront: https://storefront.acculink.com/Promo/Login.aspx InteliMailer Video: http://youtu.be/He429Ylw3l8
Ed Glaser Chief Marketing Officer 252.321.5805 ed.glaser@acculink.com	Call me with your input, ideas, or questions. 800-948-4110 Get the InteliMailer™ Design Template

Mail Less Get More!

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Mar 2 2012
Mail Less Get More! Direct marketing becomes more complicated each year, with higher costs, lower operating budgets, higher success hurdles, and of course, less staff to do the work. Everyone involved with direct marketing needs to re-examine their tools. Direct mail is, and will continue to be, the most responsive and effective marketing method to reach your marketplace. It’s easily quantifiable, tactile, and according to the USPS Household Studies, “81% of all households read or at least scan all of their direct mail.” This seems to be true regardless of the quantity of direct mail they receive. It’s time for many of us to change the paradigm in direct mail – mail fewer pieces and get better results. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it can work. Sophisticated direct mailers have already learned that by segmenting their database to determine what action is taken or message that is delivered is critical to getting better results with less mail. They have come to a realization that data (information) is less expensive than postage and printing. The good news is there is no reason all of us can’t do this. The first step is to append consumer demographics, business firmographics, and lifestyle clusters and then analyze and sort the information to create market segments which will allow you to target those customers and prospects that they believe are most likely to respond. The next step is to analyze and sort the data into key market segments. We need to learn to segment our list data based upon relevancy and timeliness to the campaign we are creating. For instance let’s say we are going to market car insurance policies. There are lists of car insurance expiration dates available for purchase. By appending that to your data base or any other purchased data such as demographic and lifestyle data and then excluding your current customers from the list, you can examine the demographic elements such as age and income, type of housing, and even credit score ranges, all of which can determine the risk and the price of the potential insurance policies. Next we rank order the data from best risk to highest risk. We then add expiration dates and re-rank the list taking that data into account as well. By ordering by the expire dates we can segment the best risks with those prospects that fall into the 120 to 90 day expiration date and we have created a highly targeted segment. If we believe that those prospects whose car insurance expiration dates are 120 to 90 days away are the best prospects (typically decisions are made to shop for a better car insurance deal during this time frame) we can eliminate the bottom of the list which contains the highest risk candidates. Why mail to people who are not going to qualify for your insurance policy or that are probably not ready to shop for new car insurance? Since these are the prime qualified candidates they should be mailed a personalized piece that best communicates the opportunity being offered. These messages will now be both relevant and timely. Critical components of a successful campaign! This will allow you to send far fewer pieces than mailing the whole list thereby reducing your cost and making each mail piece much more relevant to the recipient. You may even be able to offer a pre-qualified offer. We can greatly increase the response rate by eliminating the non-relevant mail that is sent just because they are on the list. So, try it and you will see, you can mail less get more and better responses. Be sure and try mailing the InteliMailer for the best results. We know it gets opened, read and acted upon. It can lift response rates by 25% to 40% over postcards, self-mailers and traditional letter packages. Website: www.intelimailer.com Storefront: https://storefront.acculink.com/Promo/Login.aspx InteliMailer Video: http://youtu.be/He429Ylw3l8
Ed Glaser Chief Marketing Officer 252.321.5805 ed.glaser@acculink.com	Call me with your input, ideas, or questions. 800-948-4110 Get the InteliMailer™ Design Template