Using Direct Mail Marketing Effectively

Hand-addressed mail has proven to outperform all other types of direct mail with a 99.2% open rate. Among the factors making this hand-addressed mail more effective is that consumers of all ages trust direct mail marketing more than digital marketing approaches.
direct mail marketing

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The direct mail marketing industry is valued at $44 billion and expected to continue growing exponentially. With response rates being at an all-time high, statistics show that this marketing channel is one of the most effective in engaging the customers. Particularly, hand-addressed mail has proven to outperform all other types of direct mail with a 99.2% open rate. Among the factors making this hand addressed mails more effective is that consumers of all ages trust direct mail marketing more than digital marketing approaches.

Consumers usually react to hand addressed direct mails immediately compared to other communication channels. Approximately 80-90 percent of all direct mails usually gets neglected and tossed into the trash. This means that you have a higher chance of getting your message opened by the customer if you use hand addressed direct mail instead of just digitally addressed. But how do you use direct hand-addressed mail marketing to attain your marketing goal?

  1. Keep the Message Simple and Clear

Keeping the message simple and clear will appeal more to customers than something more complicated. Scientifically, people find it easier to process a simplistic layout of information compared to a complex one. This is because the human retina works by converting visual information into electrical impulses. The impulses are then sent to the brain for processing and interpretation. These impulses could be in the form of color and light information. Therefore, the more complex they are, the harder it will be for a person to process. If you want to achieve better results, keep the message simple.

  • Partner with a Reputable Direct Mail Printing and Mail Service

For your direct mail marketing efforts to bear fruits, make sure you are working with a good direct mailing and printing service. Consider factors like experience, equipment, and engineered to order before partnering with a mailing service. Find a service provider who understands direct mail marketing and who has been in the industry for some years. Consider whether they have the right equipment needed for printing within a short time while assuring you quality. Also, make sure they have an Engineered to Order (ETO) software that adapts to your specific needs.

  • Personalize Your Message

Consumers are more likely to open mail if it is personalized. One of the ways of personalizing your direct mail is using variable data printing (VDP). This is a print product process, which allows you to adjust the text, graphics, colors, or images in your direct mail pieces. This way, your direct mails will suit the specific needs of your individual recipients. 

  • Utilize Hybrid Marketing Strategy

You can achieve even more results by combining direct mail with digital marketing channels. This will help you provide your customers with a coordinated experience on all your marketing channels. With such an integrated approach, you can reach more customers and appeal to their varying needs.

When you work with Think Ink Marketing, you will receive the highest return on your investment, you will experience growth, and you will enter the next level of business success.

Nostalgia. It feeds the emotions, the heart, and the soul. It guides people one way or another. It can be as powerful as a need for decision making.

Different things cause nostalgia in different people. Certain smells, movies, clothes, and locations draw people into their memories, flooding them with good feelings.

Hand-written letters tend to be nostalgic for most people. They bring up thoughts of “the good old days,” making them reminisce about receiving a letter from a friend or a card from a family member.

The lack of personalized direct mail that people receive these days, combined with the nostalgia that receiving a handwritten letter brings, makes sending hand-addressed direct mail an incredibly effective marketing tool. This tactic ensures that your sent mail stands out to recipients and that they open it and give it a read, instead of just pressing a quick “delete.”

Some people tend to open their mail in order to make sure they’re not throwing away something of importance, but the majority quickly skim the envelopes. Note, computer-printed mail and envelopes with clear windows hit the trash without even a second glance.

On the other hand, personally addressed, hand-written envelopes draw people’s attention and cause them to experience appreciation and nostalgia. That appreciation leads them to open and read the contents of the letter.

What this means is that your business has a great opportunity to set itself apart from other businesses and grab the attention of your target market in a way that is very under-utilized. While most businesses rely heavily on email marketing and mass printed direct mail, you can have a leg up on them by appealing to consumer’s desire for connection, personalization, and authenticity.

Studies have shown that while only 15% to 21% of consumers open printed direct mail, that number jumps immensely when mail is personal and hand-addressed to a whopping 99.2%.

Today’s consumers value connection and authenticity over almost anything else. They want to feel like they are connected to the places that they give their business to, and they want to feel as though patronizing a certain business brings value to themselves and the world. There are several marketing tactics that deliver these feelings to consumers, but none are as personal as hand-written mail, nor do they encourage the feelings of nostalgia that hand-written mail does.

Utilizing hand-addressed direct mail marketing provides you with a means of offering unique and valuable content to your target market while reaching them in a personal way. Feeling emotionally drawn and connected to the mail that you send begins a tangible funnel that leads to their opening and reading the letter.

The content you provide in the letter is again personal, useful, valuable, and relevant. It further appeals to their emotions and connects them with your business.

This second step in the tangible funnel makes them want to know more and to deepen the connection that has begun. Which then, of course, leads to them answering whatever call to action you placed in your letter.

As you can see, using hand-addressed direct mail marketing is a very effective and under-used marketing tool. Appeal to consumers’ sense of connection, personalization, and nostalgia by jumping into a handwritten mail marketing campaign.

Think Ink Marketing’s custom handwriting services are a revolution in direct mail marketing. As the largest handwritten mail service in the industry, Think Ink will provide for your business exactly what it needs in order to excel in successful handwritten mail marketing campaigns. With over 25 years of experience, Think Ink Marketing knows what to do and what not to do in order to craft efficient and flourishing handwritten direct mail for you. When you work with Think Ink Marketing, you will receive the highest return on your investment, you will experience growth, and you will enter the next level of business success.