I’m currently working with AT&T Digital Express to launch a direct mail campaign to 1000 households in my area.
Their program allows for filtering the demographics for those 1000 households. Supposedly this filtering should provide me with a better response rate than a general direct mailer blast.
I can filter down to almost anything, even to what type cars the household owns. I’m hoping this filtering will help me target the right audience.
According to AT&T the average response rate for their Digital Express direct mailers is about 10%. Considering that I’ve averaged about 1% - 1.5% response rate with my flyers, 10% response rate sounds great.
I just wanted to ask what sort of a response you guys are getting with your mailers? Does 10% sound kinda crazy?
I wish it were 4%, that WOULD be amazing. We got point 4 percent. The business still grew, revenue was up and we made it thru the winter without stressing, Praise God. We are hoping for 1% this year. We are going to change the message on the mailers to see if that makes a difference.
what I find interesting is that response rate gives an idea of volume
certainly something to be prepared for, how many calls, estimates, bookings, jobs etc
and ROI indicates size and/or efficiency of campaign of that volume
a .5% response rate can produce huge ROI for you guys that offer many big ticket services, that just don’t plain exist in my area.
better to have low response rate and high roi
vs
high response rate and low roi (hi volume calls, lots of admin work producing small $, or even small offers)
They don’t offer a guarantee with their Digital Express program, but they have another package with a guarantee - much more expensive though.
I honestly don’t expect a 10% response rate. But I’m hoping for something better than 1% or 1.5%.
Supposedly the reason AT&T’s mailers have such a high response rate is because of how targeted their lists can be. The logic is that targeting a group of 1000 households more qualified to purchase your service, rather than 1000 random households that may or may not qualify for your service increases your likelihood that your postcard will land in the right hands.
They gave an example of a roofer who chose to target only houses with damaged roofs within a specific zip code. Amazingly enough AT&T was able to supply him with a list of houses with damaged roofs. He sent out 800 postcards in a month and got 40 calls - 5% response rate.
I know also that the target audience itself isn’t the only important aspect of a direct mail campaign. The ad copy and offer on the postcard has to be attractive and compel people to call me. So I’m currently testing a postcard that I hope will get me a decent response. If it does, then I’m going to run with it in my AT&T mailer. Otherwise I might reconsider putting $600 into this AT&T mailer without first having a tried and true postcard.
Nope this is my first direct mailer, which is why I’m trying to be as risk averse as possible. I’m going to wait to see the results of my test run that I just launched - about 250 postcards. If I don’t get a good response, then I’m going to reconsider going through with the 1000 mailers.
