The document provides statistics and best practices for direct mail marketing. It discusses response rates being highest for customized and personalized mailings. It also outlines the key elements of a direct mail package, including letter design, use of inserts, and testing mailings. Direct mail is presented as an effective marketing channel that allows for targeted messaging and repeated contact with consumers.

1. Direct Mail & Me or Mailing: By the Numbers Friendship Mail Management May 20, 2005

3. Mailing By the Numbers - 2 1-2% Average response rate for broadcast “advertising” mail 3-5% Average improved response rate for personalized mail 6-17% Average improved response rate for customized mail 15-34% Average improved response rate for customized 4-color mail *Data from USPS www.usps.gov , Direct Marketing Association www.the-dma.org and sappi/BigResearch www.sappi.com

11. What are The Parts of the Total? - Designing the Mail Piece IV. The Copy A. Don’t reinvent the wheel…the basic formula is: Attention! Problem. Solution. Close the Sale! B. Theme -- Every mailing must be built around a central creative concept -- a clear and powerful connection between the request for gift and the donor, request for action and the customer or member, etc.

14. What are The Parts of the Total? - Designing the Mail Piece VI. Create a Schedule of Mailings A. Don't just send out one letter per year; Minimum for the most basic campaign is two correspondences per year B. Decide your best months 1) March, May, September, November and December best months to send general appeal letters 2) What are the best months for your market segment? 3) Some basic research will answer this question for you

17. So, How Do I Know if My Direct Mail Program is Working? VII. Track and Test Each Mailing to Measure Success D. Try this easy-to-use spreadsheet

20. BONUS: 14 Tips for Writing Great Sales Letters Why are you writing this letter? Have a goal or objective clearly in mind before you write a word. Did you do your homework? Research every facet of what you're writing about? If not, dig in. You need to be a "know-it-all" in order to write an effective letter. Work hard on your lead. Whether you use a headline or a salutation, sweat over it. It's considered by some people to be the most important part of your letter. Use personalization , when possible, without over-using it. Too much personalization looks contrived and loses its effectiveness. Check for "throat-clearing." Can you eliminate your first paragraph or first two paragraphs without missing them? Is the letter organized? Does it have continuity? How’s the flow? Did you use "connectors" to help the flow of paragraphs? Have you built in interest? Would you be interested enough to read the whole thing? If not, build it in. Did you build desire throughout? Why would anyone want to act on this letter? Did you answer that key question for every reader: "What's in it for me?" Did you ask for action? (And make it easy to act?) Does your reader know precisely what you want him or her to do? Did you give 1-2-3, A-B-C instructions on doing it? P.S.: Did you include one? Does it re-state your offer, or offer some extra benefit or reward for action? Use it. It's one of your most important tools. Did you give specifics on a guarantee? (If one is offered) It's a confidence-builder that can make a big difference in response. Can you use testimonials somewhere in your letter to advantage? If so, add them... but only if they fit in logically. "Keep it simple, stupid!" Did you use short sentences and paragraphs? Check for excess wordage? Do an "enhancements" check ...ways you can use bullets, color, underlining, handwritten items, etc. to emphasize or organize. Proof all of your package copy carefully ...and get others to proof it, as well... the most well-crafted sales letter can fall flat on its face with a silly typo or misspelling! For more interesting and helpful information on direct mailing and marketing, visit the National Mail Order Association at: www.nmoa.org .

21. BONUS: 2 Cost-Effective Ways to Use Direct Mail These are two of direct mail's biggest benefits: Pinpoint targeting ability and ability to deliver a full and complete sales presentation Here are two direct mail marketing strategies (as opposed to single-shot mailing ideas) that virtually any business can put to work to achieve better, more profitable marketing and lead-generation results: 1. Repeatedly mail the same letter or direct mail package to the same people. If your sales letter or direct mail package is generating an acceptable number of orders or leads, don't hesitate to mail it again and again to the same list. The basic premise for recommending this strategy can best be summed up in five words: "People quickly forget," and, "things change." Many highly successful direct marketing organizations, such as AOL, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Co. and Geico Corporation, routinely practice this strategy of repeatedly mailing the same message to the same people. How frequently should you do your mailings? Quarterly is probably a good idea for starters. But, as with everything else, test to determine the optimum frequency. 2. Send a series of mailings to the same people. "Sales is a process of communication, not an event." It's a smart move to plan and budget for a series of mailings to the decision maker and key decision influencers. In your first letter, highlight the three biggest benefits of your product or service. In letter two, take just one of these benefits and amplify and expand on it; focus the majority of your copy on this one benefit. In letter three, take another key benefit and do the same. And so on. And don't stop with just four letters; you may want to send six letters, four post cards, three cover letters attached to product reviews or magazine articles and eight emails (assuming your prospect has given you express permission to send her email.) In every mailing, always give a reason and a method for responding. Always ask for some kind of action. This is an ideal way to carry out the communication process while gaining top-of-mind awareness and building relationships that lead to increased sales. To Repeat... The bottom line, as any successful salesperson or marketer knows, is this: You've got to stay in front of your prospect through repeated contacts—whether that's in the mail, by phone, via permission-based email, in person or, as is most likely, a combination of activities. Not just any contact, mind you, but meaningful, informative, educational, persuasive contacts that address the issues and concerns of the crotchety executive in our ad. Direct mail—salesmanship in print—is one of the most effective, and profitable tools any business has at its disposal with which to achieve such repeated contact.

22. BONUS: 10 Top Mailing Design Mistakes! And how to avoid them... Everyone makes mistakes...work together with your Mail House and your Printer to avoid them, and to improve the quality of your next mailing project. 1. Incorrect (or no) permit indicia printed on mailpiece...this simple mistake can cause an entire mailing to be rejected at the entry point Post Office...and requires additional time and cost to fix, depending upon the option chosen to mark the mailing piece with the proper postage. 2. Return address left off a NonProfit mailing piece...this can result in having to mail at regular, higher Standard-A rates...good rule of thumb to always include the return address on the mailing panel of your piece. 3. We've run out of pieces!...all too often we run short on pieces before completing a mailing, because the print order (s) were too close to the actual mailing count...there is always some small percentage of spoilage during each process...be sure to order a reasonable extra amount. 4. Incorrect postage estimate for type, class, and rate of mailing piece...often results in confusion and scrambling for additional postage at the last minute before mailing. 5. Too little lead time allocated to preparation of mailing list (s)...the data processing required for most mailing jobs these days is complicated, and crucial to the success of the mailing...send us your data files well in advance to allow for list counts, verification, merge/purge results, etc. 6. Too little space for the mailing label information on the mailing piece...this can cause a variety of problems, each of which can add time and expense to your mailing processing. 7. Verify ahead of time the exact weight of a First-Class mailing piece...postage increases dramatically for each additional ounce mailed at First-Class rates. 8. Not enough space for envelope inserts...be sure to carefully verify with us all dimensions of your carrier envelope and each insert...to ensure "machineability"...and to avoid costly hand-inserting! 9. Check your spelling carefully to avoid embarrassing mistakes in your copy. 10. It's all in the details! Be sure to tell us if you want to mail any foreign or Canada records in your file (s), and how you want them mailed...and what you want done with any leftover materials at the conclusion of your mailing processing.

23. BONUS: 10 Fatal Mistakes in Direct Mail Programs…. Watch Out For Them! #1 - Fail to treat customers as “the one for whom we take responsibility, e.g., for their well-being and success.” Customers need to be nurtured and cared for. #2 - Fail to create an annual marketing budget and stick to it. #3 - Fail to create and stick to a formal promotion calendar. #4 - Think tactically rather than strategically. Don’t wait for an “opportunity” to come your way, that’s casual, unplanned “tactics” –– To think strategically means to plan, PLAN, PLAN. #5 - Not using the mail to promote. Yellow page advertising brings in all kinds of business –– often exactly the opposite of what you may want to attract. Word-of-mouth is great, too. But you can’t control when/if referrals will occur. #6 - Fail to position yourself as an expert…fail to wave your own flag high enough or often enough. #7 - Fail to educate customers about how to use you and your products or services efficiently and effectively. You want customers and prospects to turn to you as their primary authority. #8 - Fail to target the right kinds of businesses. #9 - Fail to invest in new data, acquiring new prospects and adding them to your “hot” list. MISTAKE #10 - Lack of frequency. In marketing, frequency is everything. Whatever you do to promote, do it frequently enough that it makes an impression. Set a goal that something from you gets into your customers’ hands 4 to 12 times per year.

24. So, What’s Next?...Easy as 1, 2, 3… Put Friendship to Work for You! Friendship Mail Management Toll-Free 800.777.9586 Local 540.434.9586 www.Friendship-Industries.com MARKETING VIA DIRECT MAIL & HOW TO GET STARTED: 1) Have a MAILING LIST ? NO? Then decide WHO is your target? Decide your parameters: Residential (Ex: Income Level, Geography, etc.) or Business (Sales Volume, Number of Employees, Geography, SIC Code, etc.)? 2) Know what you want to mail – your MAIL PIECE ? If YES? Be sure to get a sample to your Mail House BEFORE printing! NO? Then decide your format: a generic letter in a #10, a personalized letter in a #10 window or matched to a closed face envelope, a brochure in a 6x9, a self-mailer, a newsletter, a magazine, etc.? 3) Know how to want to mail – your desired DELIVERY ? NO? You have lots of choices based on your goals. is it fastest delivery? best guaranteed delivery? or least expensive postage? Ex: 1st class, presort, standard, nonprofit, media or bound printed, priority, etc.