What Kind of Direct Mail Piece Should I Send Out?

Q. Michael,

We are about to undertake our first direct mail campaign.

Which do you think is better? A nicely-designed postcard or a personalized letter. We have about 5,000 prospective customers we are going to send it to.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

A. Dear Sean,

Direct mail can be a highly effective way to promote your business. It can also be a huge waste of time if it isn’t done right. Postcards and personalized letters can both be successful under the right circumstances. The trick is knowing which method will best help you achieve the goals of your marketing campaign.

Postcards
Postcards have the ability to capture the reader’s attention with splashy headings and graphics. They are informal by nature and are designed to pique the reader’s interest rather than provide an in-depth description of the product.

Their smaller size is both an advantage and a disadvantage. On the one hand, the reader is more likely to read a postcard because the time commitment is significantly less than the time required to read a full-page letter. On the other hand, the small size limits the amount of information you will be able to provide.

One solution to the size dilemma is to grab the reader’s attention through the postcard and then direct him/her to your company website. Your website should already contain more detailed information about your product than the postcard. By promoting the website on the postcard, you are leveraging your existing promotional resources and multiplying the impact of the postcard campaign.

The biggest challenge with postcards is getting them past the corporate screeners. Many companies discard postcard mailings before they ever reach the intended recipient. If you are trying to market your product to business executives, you may want to consider using a personalized letter.

Personalized Letters
Personalized letters communicate more information than postcards. That makes them the preferred direct marketing tool for businesses that are selling more complex products and services. Their formal appearance also makes it easier for them to get past corporate screeners because they can easily be passed off as personal correspondence.

The downside of personalized letters is that even if they reach their intended recipients, most people won’t take the time to read the entire letter unless something catches their interest in the first 5-10 seconds.

To increase your letter’s chances of getting read, keep it to one page. Make use of features such as bolding, italics, and two-color printing. One more tip: Use a P.S. to summarize one of your important points or to suggest an action to the reader. Statistics show that most people read the P.S. before they read the main body of the letter.

Direct mail campaigns can be expensive — too expensive to play games with. It’s probably worthwhile to have a professional marketer design your letter or postcard rather than trying to come up with one on your own.

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