A direct mail campaign doesn’t stop once your message is delivered. Every great marketing campaign has a reliable follow-up process behind it. Following up after sending a direct mail piece reinforces your message. It also increases the likelihood that you will gain traction on your mail campaign. Many campaigns fail because of the lack of consistent follow-up. Most campaigns need to be seen by prospective donors before the message gets across.
Many marketing teams struggle with perfecting the art of following up without turning people off. Even the best messages don’t result in prospects immediately following up on their own. People have busy lives. Even still, crafting an effective follow-up strategy can reap major benefits for your organization.
Where to Start
Create a timeline. After you launch your direct mail campaign, find out what the estimated delivery time is for your mailers. Then create tasks to follow up when the mailer is received. Following up the day of comes off as pushy. Many times, the recipient hasn’t even had a chance to open their letter or package yet. Give your recipients a few days to read your materials before following up.
When it’s time to follow up, personalize your message. Don’t use a generic message. Be genuine in your communications. Tailor your messages to each recipient and make your message compelling. Make sure you use direct mail to its full potential by crafting a seamless and organized follow-up process.
Direct Mail Follow-Up Options
Reaching out across multiple channels helps increase your member outreach and interaction. Here’s how to create a memorable experience that continues the conversation with your prospects and members.
Create a Handwritten Letter
If your campaign targeted former volunteers or members, it’s a nice touch to follow up with a handwritten letter. Handwritten letters are also an excellent idea for prospects who are especially important to your organization. Sending a brief, handwritten message encouraging the recipient to reach out to you is a great way to express your interest.
If it isn’t practical for you to write many handwritten letters, there are services available like MyFont, which allows you to create many letters that are computer generated but with a handwritten feel.
Check-In With An Email
Emailing direct mail recipients is a very effective method of following up. Combining email and direct mail is a great way to improve your marketing results. You can send an email a few days after your mailer and mention the letter you recently posted. In your email, you can reiterate the importance of your call-to-action.
Send Multiple Mailers
Another follow up suggestion is sending three letters to your prospects. Each letter needs to be a few days apart. After the third mailing, the likelihood of your recipients reading your marketing materials substantially increases. Utilizing postcards is an affordable option when you are sending multiple mailers to members. You can then choose to call your recipients after the third mailers to reinforce your marketing efforts even more.
Pick Up The Phone
Picking up the phone and calling members is a great way to interact with them in a more personal way. You can start calling the people who you mailed and ask them if they saw the mailer. Use the conversation as an opportunity to let them know how your organization and services can be beneficial to them. Calling each person you mailed may seem time-consuming, but you can use outbound call centers to help with this process.
Valtim’s Outbound Call Center
Valtim staffs its outbound call center with a dedicated team of professionals equipped to handle large volumes of outbound calls. We offer cutting-edge predictive dialing features, call recording, and analyzing functions. Our representatives are courteous and well trained in the requirements of each campaign. They are knowledgeable and will be brand ambassadors for your organization. We have managers and supervisors who provide quality assurance and regularly monitor and evaluate calls throughout each campaign. They provide constructive feedback to improve the representative’s performance and member experience.
Contact Valtim to see how our outbound call center can assist with following up after your next direct mail campaign.
