The One Thing That Matters for Your Direct Mail Campaign

Direct mail is making a huge come-back as an effective sales tactic. According to XANT research, direct mail had the highest perceived response rate among any communication method. Around 66 percent of respondents said they were likely to respond to a direct mail piece. This was 34.7% better than the perceived response rate with email.

I wasn’t surprised by the results of this research. I’ve run hundreds of multi-channel account based marketing campaigns (ABM), and direct mail was consistently gathering better response rates than any other media. 

When you combine the power of direct mail with other communication channels,  you will get significantly higher response rates than if you used just email.

Breaking Down Barriers With Direct Mail

We all wear a shield towards sales pitches – we all defend against marketing messages. Direct mail helps break down that barrier, by attempting to create a personal connection. Funny, surprising, heartfelt or cordial – your message is the #1 ingredient of a successful direct mail campaign.

It really doesn’t matter what’s in the box.

The one thing that matters to make sure your campaign is successful is to keep the messaging consistent across communication channels.

The sales development/business development team is pivotal towards the success of an ABM campaign. They will provide the follow-up call and email to your direct mail touch will determine your success rate.

This is why it’s important that they know what campaigns you are running at any given time – and make sure to keep the messaging consistent.

The Tech That Aligns Marketing and Sales

Technology ties together the activity of marketing and sales teams, and a well-planned out campaign should make sure the two are permanently in contact. When your direct mail gets delivered, your reps should get an automated notification to let them know right away. They then need to follow up within the next 24 hours.

Using smart sales systems, sales pros can orchestrate their follow-up according to marketing campaigns. They can immediately respond to the prospect with relevant information or pitches.

With our sales cadence tool, Playbooks, business development representatives can create their follow up cadence before the campaign has started. They’re matching it up with the direct mail piece being delivered and all the other touches involved in the multi-channel campaign.

During a six week cadence, a prospects will receive direct mail and digital touches based on their engagement with the campaign. The sales messaging should all be consistent, referencing the marketing materials that the prospect received. 

The more you can automate things internally for communications, the more timely your response is.

Measuring Results and Testing Your Direct Mail Campaign

Each direct mail campaign needs to be tracked in real time, and each digital touch will receive attribution towards the end result of your campaign.

You can track various metrics: response rates, appointments, opportunities.

Here’s a few ideas on testing your direct mail campaigns:

  • You can test different types of direct mail (letters, postcards, different gifts)
  • Test follow up cadences and different follow up scripts
  • Test results with different targeted accounts based on product interest
  • You can test based on lead scoring or based on your industry
  • If a campaigns has good results, you can run it for an extended period of time

Whether it’s a digital touch or a direct mailing touch, we constantly optimize ABM campaigns by reviewing the results of each touch and making small variations.

I would advise you to do the same.

Sustainable Scaling of ABM Campaigns

Using smart sales systems, which send direct mail automatically (rather than having sales reps do this manually), you can truly scale your ABM campaigns and make a difference towards your bottom line.

One XANT experiment showed that sending automated direct mail is significantly cheaper and more time-effective than sending manual mail.

Either way you choose to do it, keep in mind the following stats:  65.6% of leaders said they are likely to respond to direct mailers.

Don’t be afraid to add direct mail to your ABM campaigns. You won’t regret it!

Download the State of Direct Mail research from XANT to see how direct mail can impact your sales!

 

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