| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
Direct Mail Response Rates Mislead if You are Careless
I could tell you that the average temperature in the world is 60 degrees Fahrenheit. But that fact wouldn't keep you from getting sunstroke in Cairo. Or frostbite in Tuktoyaktuk. Averages tell you only so much. Direct mail results only tell you part of what you need to know. They tell you the percentage of people on your list who responded. That's it. They don't tell you if you broke even. If you made a profit. Or if the sales people who followed up on the leads closed any sales. Response rates are misleading if you read them incorrectly. For example, I recently wrote a fundraising package for a North American nonprofit. The letter, mailed to a list of 6,850 donors, generated 35 gifts (responses). Run the numbers and that's a response rate of half of one percent, a dismal result. But this number is misleading because my client (against my recommendation), mailed the letter to everyone donor in his database, including lapsed donors who had not made a donation for years. So I asked my client how many active donors he had in his database. Two hundred, he replied. That's 200 active donors out of a list of 6,850 total donors. Run the numbers again, and you'll see that my letter generated a 17.5% response rate when mailed to active donors, or, to put it another way, when mailed to a good list. Another problem with response rates, valid as they are, is that you cannot use them for every industry. Take the Olympic Games. When a nation applies to the International Olympic Committee, requesting that the Olympic Games be held in their capital city, they need a 100% response rate to succeed. They need one "client" to buy their proposal or their mailing has failed. Take a magazine publisher. It mails to 500,000 names, generates only a 1% response rate, yet considers the mailing a success. But a stock. broker who targets wealthy doctors in Lower Manhattan has different expectations. His lead generation letter needs to generate a response rate of at least 25% because he only mails it to 100 doctors, and he only closes around one in every 25 doctors who responds. A one percent response rate, even if it is an average, is of no use to him. Average response rates are useful when they are for your product or service and your target audience in particular. If you can discover the response rates that your competitors are generating by mailing sales letters to the same prospects that you are targeting, then, by all means, use those response rates as a yardstick against which you compare your results. You are talking specifics. Some response rates for various industries. Fundraising: 5.35% About the author © 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Seven Secrets For Building Customer Loyalty In Your Restaurant Imagine how much your sales and profits would increase if each of your customers come back just one more time a week or a month. You would boost your sales by 50%. Marketing Quandaries Being in a quandary prevents you from moving forward in developing and marketing your business. When we're in a quandary, we are in a state of perplexity and doubt. The Marketing Plan and the Four P's The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a company will penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include "the four P's" - Product, Promotions, Price, and Place. 19 Ways To Attract Higher Paying Clients Some people have little difficulty attracting and maintaining clients who have higher discretionary funds to spend for solutions. Others can't get to first base. The Power of Thank You Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life that are incredibly important. As a child growing up in America, most people are taught from a very young age to say Thank You in appreciation of a courtesy extended by someone. 8 Proven Ways to Get Referrals Do you find it hard to ask for referrals? I know I do! Your heart starts racing, you stumble for words, and sometimes you break out in a sweat just thinking of asking for a referral. But the secret to getting referrals without having to ask is to develop a system that does the asking for you. Burnout Today I want to share a question from a reader who writes:How do I keep from being burned out while cold calling? My job is to call current customers and also call new business prospects. I have a quota of 60-80 calls to make per day, but it seems as though I cannot stay focused long enough to make even 50 phone calls. The Role of Marketing for Boards of Directors Small and emerging companies often do not put together a board of advisors or board of directors for many reasons. Some entrepreneurs believe that businessmen and women would not be willing to serve on their board of advisors for the little or no compensation that the new company can afford. How to Measure the Benefit Your Product or Service Offers Measuring the benefit of your product or service means putting a specific value on the advantage it offers. For example, it's ineffective to say your light bulbs are brighter and last longer than the competition's. Writing Business Newsletters: Avoid the "Me, Me, Me" Mistake Effective customer newsletters find the right mix of promotional and 'real' content to maximize readership.It's that time of year when the old college roommate sends 'round his or her annual holiday newsletter. A Great Marketing Model - Utilizing the Power of OPM Staying ahead of the marketing curve seems to be a never-ending quest. Marketing doesn't have to be as complex as some people make it out to be. Telemarketers Dont Like Them? Heres An Idea For Ya! Telemarketers.. The Advantage to Buying Promotional Products Online Buying your promotional products and corporate apparel online provides five major advantages: a greater selection, better pricing, convenience, customer service, and faster ordering time.Manufacturers often display their entire line of products on the internet, providing you with a greater selection of products. Dont Let Your Business Cards End Up in the Trash Business cards are such wonderfully creative little marketing products. Most of them, unfortunately, end up in the nearest trash basket. Marketing: Can I Trust You? We live in an unprecedented era of communication. Because of this, your prospects are literally bombarded from all directions with marketing messages. Discount Promotional Items - How to Save Money It takes money to make money is an adage we hear everyday in the business world. So, when it comes to getting promotional items, you've got to budget for it. E-commerce : The Bottom of Pyramid Approach For centuries and most of the decades in the 20th century (i.e when computer was invented) access and communication was the tool of rich and ultra rich people, prohibitively expansive to 'not so rich' and 'not at all rich' people. Copy SoapNet and Make Money Whether you want to admit it or not, soap operas may hold the key to your home business success. This article includes a few home and small business principles I learned while watching SoapNet. Advertising Your Private Practice: Beware of the Problems-Part 1 One of the biggest mistakes coaches, counselors and other healing professionals make is to assume that they must advertise their private practice in order to get clients. These professionals often tell me they have spent a lot of money on advertising with minimal, if any, results. Packaging Made Frozen TV Dinners Possible I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of the food industry pioneers Gerry Thomas, One of our unsung heroes credited with invented a "package" the frozen TV dinner that literally changed the way we eat. Never mind that it was considered by nutritionists as a step backwards, his invention still made a major shift in the food and food services industries.
|
| home | site map | contact us |