How to Get Recipients to Open Your Direct Mail

Consider what your own actions are when you receive promotional mail through the post. The chances are you create three piles - an A-pile, with the things you’re interested in, a B-pile maybe the bills and magazines you want to keep, but don’t want immediately, and a C-pile, with things you’ll throw out without opening. The aim for marketers is to get your mail shot out of the last pile and into the 'A' pile so it gets opened.

Make sure your mail is addressed to someone

If a mail shot is personalised it is far more likely to get attention. Handwritten envelopes with a stamp on are the most successful way of getting the recipient to open it. Don't address the letter to the 'Home Owner' or 'Occupier'. Letters which are not addressed to anyone in particular are likely to end up in the bin. Don't use a typeface which tries to look like hand writing. They’re easy to spot, so they won’t help get your letters opened.

Vary the appearance of your future mailings

Variety is the key to the success of future mailings. Recipients who decide they are not interested in your mailings will bin any future correspondence which looks similar. Use different types of bespoke envelopes, window envelopes and plain envelopes to ensure your mailings have the best chance of being opened. Your prospects won’t anticipate your mailings and will be more likely to open them. Through varying your envelope design and type you are more likely to reach a wider audience.

Vary the mailing and keep testing

This is an important aspect of any marketing campaign. Separate your response rate for each class of envelope, what was printed on the printed envelopes, and what was visible on the window envelopes. It should become clear if the appearance of the mail shot has an effect on the success o f the campaign. Keep trying new things even when you have a successful campaign. You can build on those strategies which had yielded positive response rates. You can pick and choose which type of mailing you want to send to certain groups depending on whether or not they had previously responded or not. Hopefully, that way you will have a good response from both groups.

There is no easy way of ensuring the success of mass mailing campaigns. However, there are ways of generating the best results possible by following these few strategies.