With its incredibly high return on investment, direct mail marketing should be a key part of you marketing strategy. But you’ll want to make sure you plan for all of the costs associated with direct mail, including the cost of postage. Direct mail costs are often a game of volume, so cutting some of the postage costs will lower your cost per acquisition. Implementing a few postage cost-saving strategies will help you squeeze more value out of each mailpiece you send.
Here are a few tips to reduce your postage costs. Many of the following postage cost-cutting tips will occur during the design and printing process.
Tidy Up Your Direct Mail List
Mailing lists are priceless tools in direct mail marketing. You must keep those lists uncluttered and clean. You waste money when you send mailers to non-existing or incorrect contacts. You should periodically remove duplicates, deceased people, and irrelevant entries. Trimming your mailing list should be a practice you implement at least biannually, if not more frequently.
USPS can help match your mailing list to the National Change of Address (NCOA) list to clean up your data. Updating your list can be a challenging task if you don’t have much direct mail experience. Many organizations outsource their list management to maintain the best quality lists possible. It’s crucial to remember this step of the direct mail process, whether you use a third-party helper or handle in-house.
Plan Ahead to Avoid Mistakes
Fixing a mistake on direct mail isn’t an easy task. If you make an error with your direct mail, you will have to pay to recreate it before sending it out. If you already sent it out, you may opt to resend a corrected version to a new set of members. These kinds of mistakes can be expensive, and it could ruin your cost per acquisition.
When you plan ahead, you give yourself more time to catch errors and prevent them from happening in the first place. You may want to order a sample to hold it and see what it looks like in your hand.
Another critical consideration is that your mailer aligns with your current marketing strategy. An uncharacteristic piece can be off-putting and push members away by making them question their perception of your brand. Make sure that your message aligns with your marketing strategy beforehand to prevent any potential brand confusion among your audience.
Size Matters with Direct Mail
The size and weight of each piece determine the postage cost. Verify the rates on the different sizes before you choose a specific direct mail piece. For example, a catalog costs more to mail than a postcard.
Size is important, but you should still consider what you are trying to say to your prospects and what you want them to do. The fewer components there are to your mailer, the cheaper it is to send. Just make sure you are not sacrificing a more expensive option that works for a more affordable choice that doesn’t work. If you have any doubts, take a sample piece to your local post office and ask about the mail rate. You can also calculate postage in advance through the USPS website.
Lower Your Direct Mail Costs for Incredible Results
Your direct mail message needs to be engaging and compelling to have an effective direct mail campaign. Your images and design should work with your message to create an emotional response from the recipient. The best way to do this is by personalizing each mail piece for its intended recipient, so they feel like your brand is by speaking directly to them. The more you incorporate personalized touches into your mail piece, the more likely your audience will respond to your campaign by taking whatever action you point to in your mail pieces call-to-action.
Send Direct Mail with Valtim
Valtim has many direct mail marketing solutions that will help your organization stay within budget. We offer printing solutions and coordinate with the USPS to obtain the best possible mailing rate. We understand that efficiency is essential and will help you create a mailer that speaks to your marketing strategy while allowing for a reasonable mailing rate.
Contact Valtim to hear more about our printing solutions and mailing options.
