Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

There are a couple of ways that you could go about this. You should expect about 3% of feedback from anything that you mail out. With that being said you will probably get a larger response out of 1 million customers once. However, if I get postcards in the mail that are not personal and scream sale or scam it goes right in the trash. I am not sure that a postcard would cause a customer to read through the catalog unless it was personally inviting the customer to receive a free catalog and they get some sort of benefit like a percentage off or free shipping, free gift, or something of that nature. Basically a call to action. This way the customer is more likely to hold on to the postcard and will remember the catalog. Include the name of the catalog in bold on the postcard front and back so that it stands out for name recognition.

Or you could forgo the pre-mailer postcard all together and include a personal invitation like a letter along with the catalog inset in plastic. This would eliminate the postcard pre-mailer and provide the same type of benefit and could be considerably cheaper.

Good Luck!

Being in the mail order business, there is no real way to predict what will be better, no matter what you do. You have to actually test one against the other. The quickest way to go broke is to put all your money in one tactic or the other without any pre-testing.

Also, the lists you're testing/using is the first factor controlling any response you get.

And using your entire budget on a cold mailing for customer acquisition is also, in my opinion, a mistake, you better look into some magazine advertising, and insert promotions.

Who are you using as a list broker, some of these options should have been suggested by him/her.

Hello,

Please listen to Mr. Schulte from the NMOA. Never put your eggs in one basket.

I am a list broker and there is no such thing as a set response rate. The 2% rule was 30 years ago and I question its validity.

You determine (your) response rate by testing. You test different lists, packages, time of year etc...

If this is your first mailing/catalog their is no history of success or failure so everything is a test.

If this is a first time venture for you, please email me. I don't work with catalogs but I can refer you too some brokers that do work in your area. I also know some writers etc... I have a pretty extensive network for DMer's since I have been in Direct Marketing for 17 years.

I would like to help you get started in the right direction. With the proper help and guidance you can achieve a high response rate and a predictable response rate.

Thank you

Hi Stephanie,
In 27 years of DM, I don't think I've ever heard of a case where a postcard followed by a catalog paid for itself by generating more orders than a catalog alone -- if it did, you'd be receiving more postcards from catalog companies. And I can't even remember ever receiving a postcard from a catalog company. (I also judge the ECHO Awards, and frequently speak on each year's ECHO Award winners. I don't recall ever seeing an award-winning catalog campaign that used a pre-mailing.)

With a catalog launch, your biggest question should be "Where will my most profitable audience come from?", so as mentioned above, list testing is the key.

So take the money you would've invested in the pre-mailing, and instead, invest it in testing lists.

thanks,
Karen

I would say give me 2 chances and then send the catalog.
The most important thing is to make sure that the list is good and not a cheap bad one. This is the real make or break. There are so many bad lists out there these days.