I get a lot of direct mail in my home and office mailboxes. I try to open up my mail and look at it like a prospect or customer might. I look for clues, details and “tells” about what may be inside. And, I ask myself what would the prospect, receiving this mail for the first time, see? That may not be a fair question, because I am not the average prospect or customer. Nonetheless, I do my best to look at each new piece of direct mail that I receive as a fresh, original experience.
I am fond of receiving things that are new and different, or mailings that I have not seen before. The new and different mailings help me understand trends. The tried and true helps me to understand what is working and what is not. If I have seen a direct mail package more than once, that indicates that it may be a control. When reviewing B2B direct mail, I am often disappointed when I realize that a direct mail package I have seen repeatedly isn’t the best effort a marketer could muster. Sometimes, it is not even close.
A control should always be your best performing effort.
Controls are direct mail packages that someone has (hopefully) tested, and are the best producing direct mail packages that the marketer has mailed. Relying on your control and trying to beat it is a direct marketing best practice. Not all controls reflect the best effort that a marketer can muster. Sometimes, a control can be quite a letdown. This is true when a marketer has not gotten the best counsel or mails a package without acknowledging proven tools and techniques of successful direct marketing.
I know that this is a lot to deduce from what’s in my mailbox. It has served me well over the years. My mailbox has become a great source of material for my books, articles and blog posts. My mailbox has provided insights for new controls that we have developed for J&C’s clients. There’s nothing wrong with that. Even the best copywriters keep a “swipe file” of ideas that have gotten their attention and might later apply to something they are working on for their own clients.
I have seen this direct mail package more than once. Is this really someone’s control?
My post today is about a direct mail package that I have seen more than once. In this case, I have to admit that I have never opened a mailing from this company before. I am a self-described student of direct mail. I am human, though. When I receive a direct mail package that is misdirected, I send it into the circular file. Sorry, I mean the recycling bin. Sometimes, I throw away a direct mail package without opening it. If a student of direct mail throws away an effort without opening it, then how might a busy prospect or customer react? Better? No, that’s doubtful.
Below is the outer envelope from a direct mail package that I received in my office mailbox. I have gotten this same direct mail package a number of times a year for as many years as I can remember. It arrives in a plain white envelope, addressed to me. So, why haven’t I ever opened it?
Observing the outer envelope, I notice the postage stamp. It clearly says “PRESORTED STANDARD.” I know that this is direct mail, even though there is no teaser copy or call to action to get me to open the mail. Move to the address. It’s addressed to me at my company. Note that the address does not have a suite number. My office is in Suite 1700, on the 17th floor of a Chicago high rise building. I rent this office space. All the buildings around me are high-rises. Some are office buildings, some are residential and others are hotels.
Now look at the corner card and return address. This mailing is from a company offering roofing services. But, I am a renter in a high-rise office building. I do not make decisions about roofing, nor do my neighbors. Yet, this company continues to mail their lead generation direct mail package to me without fail, every few months.
What mailing list could they possibly be using that would suggest I could be a prospect for roofing services? With all the business-compiled lists available, surely one must have some attributes that could help this company reach better prospects. How bad must their results be, when they seem to ignore the basics of relevancy, targeting and mailing list management?
The tools and techniques of direct marketing are settled science. Marketers need to apply them!
I shouldn’t care how they waste their money, but I do. I don’t care enough to ask them to have my name taken off their mailing list. Nor do I care enough to send a free copy of my book Successful Direct Marketing Methods, 8th Edition, which has a whole chapter on B2B and B2C mailing lists. But I care enough to feature them in a blog post about what you should not do in your own mailings.
At the very least, this company needs to improve the way they target decision makers. On judgment, I would recommend they target owners and managers of buildings, not renters. And, I would mail in areas where the office buildings are more likely to be low-rise, with just a few tenants. I would not recommend that they mail into the city center where you can send to thousands of prospects without ever reaching a qualified lead. In addition to decision-maker titles, building attributes and geography, I would search for lists with other firmagraphic, psychographic or social attributes that imply a prospect has a need for roofing services or an intent to buy roofing services. This is how marketers should think today, even when they use traditional channels such as direct mail.
One last point about this mailing. I received two of the same direct mail packages in this cycle. Below is the second one that I received. Notice the promotional code in the lower left-hand corner? It’s C-11-2468. The code on the envelope above is C-11-2463.
So did I get both versions of a test mailing? No! No, testing here. This company doesn’t seem to have done a merge purge. I received two of the same direct mail efforts because they failed to remove my name from their mailings. Yes, this firm could really use a direct marketing basic course!
So far, I have written more than 1,100 words about the outer envelope of this direct mail package. I will save my comments about the rest of this lead generation direct mail package for my next blog post.
In the meantime, download J&C’s Direct Mail Checklist based on best practices to follow when developing your next campaign. This free checklist provides everything you need to know for a successful, response-driven direct mail program.
Topics: Direct Marketing
