Measure the Impact of Direct Mail

Mail format can have a big impact on overall costs and response rates. Consider all your options to see which will be the best fit.

• Postcards

  The most affordable and versatile option, postcards allow you to get a message across quickly and easily.

• Self-Mailers

  Self-mailers can be a simple sheet of paper folded in half or a uniquely folded printed mailpiece.

• Letters

  Providing a professional way to tell your brand’s story, letters are ideal for more involved messaging.

• Flats

  Flats are bigger than letters and more versatile. They can come in the form of an envelope, self-mailer, brochure, catalog or single large card. They’re the only format that can be used with Every Door Direct Mail^® campaigns.

• Customized MarketMail^® (CMM^®)

  This kind of mail can be more expensive but can also get you noticed—with pop-up features, eye-catching inserts with die cuts, varnishes and special finishes that create texture.

This refers to the total number of mailpieces you’ll send out in a campaign.

To increase volume beyond your current customers, you may need to purchase a mailing list. Most mailing list vendors will not rent fewer than 5,000 names at a time. Price breaks are typically offered for higher-volume mailings.

This is the total amount you want to spend on direct mail, including mailing lists, postage and other fees.

Keep these factors in mind:

• Direct mail makes up 8.5% of U.S. media budgets.^[2] (If you have a separate budget for production costs, your total mail budget may be higher.)
• Your budget may need to be adjusted based on format, print and paper quality, and any special production needs.

This is the gross price a typical customer will pay for the product or service you’ll be promoting in your direct mail.

This refers to the profit margin for each product or service you sell. To calculate it, subtract the cost of the product or service to you (how much it cost you to obtain it or produce it) from the selling price of the item—what you charge customers.

Selling Price − Cost to Obtain = Product Margin

For every 100 people who will receive your direct mail piece, how many do you expect to visit your brick-and-mortar or online store, or get in touch for more information? That’s your response rate.

Seventy-four percent of marketers say that direct mail delivers a better response rate than any other channel their companies use—including email.^[3]

The percentage of respondents you expect to convert into paying customers is the close ratio.

For example, if you send out 1,000 direct mail pieces and get a 5% response rate, that would be 50 customers who will visit your store or get in touch. If your close ratio is 50%, you’ll get 25 new sales from your mail campaign.

Look at numbers from previous marketing campaigns to set a benchmark for this number.

How many times annually, on average, will you reach out to your customers to better retain them? This will be your number of annual touches.

Interactions may include direct mail pieces, emails, SMS texts, newsletters and more.

How many years do you normally retain a customer? Analyze your customer data to calculate an average. If you’re a newer business without much data to work with, feel free to experiment with different possibilities.

This refers to the percentage of customers you retain per year. You can calculate this by subtracting the number of customers acquired during the year from the number of customers left at the end of the year, and dividing by the number of customers at the beginning of the year. Finally, multiply this amount by 100.

Retention
Rate (%) = = (# of Customers at End of Year
− # of Customers Acquired During Year) ÷# of Customers at Start of Year × 100

How many purchases of your goods or services does a typical customer make annually? This will be your sales per year. Take into account only revenue generated from sales transactions.