Tag Archive for: e-commerce
Is your direct mail printing strategy effective enough?
Starting up a direct mail campaign without having specific metrics in place is a recipe for disaster. If you’re not diligent about adhering to a set of predetermined factors to measure yourself by, then you’re already putting yourself at a disadvantage; how can you ever hope to understand whether or not it’s successful if you don’t even have a method to measure that success?
An effective campaign relies on heavily backed data to emphasize what went well or highlight where it fell short. Without that in-depth analysis, it’s impossible to make the proper adjustments for your next direct mail advertising campaign. So, what factors do you need to be looking at? We’ve outlined a helpful guide below so that you know exactly what you need to do to make sure your mail ends up in the right hands.
- Results: Sure, this one might seem like it should go without saying. But you’d be surprised at how frequently there’s a disconnect between what you’re offering and whether or not potential customers take the bait. If your mailing list isn’t generating results, then it’s time to think critically about why: Was there interest with no purchase? Where specifically did your numbers fall short? See what about your process turned customers off, and what about that specific part made them wary of moving forward.
- The Offer: Is this the second, third, or maybe even fourth time that you’ve tested this offer? If so, think about what offer you’re putting out there, and how its message might be compromised by myriad factors. Make sure what you’re trying to say is coming across loud and clear; if clarity isn’t the issue, make sure that the message aligns more closely with what your audience is looking for.
- Audience: Direct mail services live and die based on the people they reach. Make sure that the audience that you’ve identified is one that you’re trying to bring in, and that they’ve been identified because they’re the best candidates for what you have to offer.
- Size: Direct mail postcards might vary in size, but that doesn’t mean you have to go gonzo and pick a size and look that’s obnoxiously large. You want your message to stand out, but you don’t want to be intrusive. If you’ve used a similarly-sized piece of mail before and it’s been successful, stick to playing the hits; if not, it’s time to make a change.
- Design: Design is more than the simple placement of colors or images; you need to select specific color-schemes and on-brand images that get your message across effectively. Make sure that the layout is in keeping with what you’re trying to say to your audience.
- Copy: Now that you’ve got their attention with an eye-catching design, make sure your copy backs up the message in a conducive way. Make sure that your font is eye-catching—highlight or bold the most important words and stay away from confusing language.
- Timing: When it comes to engaging customers, timing is everything. Mailboxes are more cluttered than ever around election time, so try and avoid that season for revving up your direct mail campaign.
For small businesses and large corporations alike, high-quality marketing campaigns are a critical component. They require less resources than a costly digital campaign; delivered right to your door, direct mail business cards, free samples, and engaging written content are a great way to drum up interest in what you have to offer. As long as you’re committed to quality printing for your postcard design and strategically map out when you need to kick things into high gear, you should be in good shape.
Businesses keep inventory on hand for a variety of reasons, perhaps it is needed to quickly fill special orders, or respond to an unanticipated demand, or maybe to supply spare parts quickly. Whatever the reason, your inventory management systems are vital to responding to these market demands quickly and efficiently. If you find your inventory methods are lacking, here are some reasons why it is important.
Increase employee efficiency – It is 5pm on a Friday and a customer calls for a replacement part. They are willing to pay more to expedite it, but it needs to be there Saturday afternoon at the latest. How does your business respond? Without an organized inventory process your business will find it difficult to respond to opportunities on these and profit from them. Your employees will spend the majority of their time digging through files and spreadsheets to make sure the product is available and in stock. Getting it there isn’t the issue, knowing you have it to send, is.
You will be able to close out more sales – If you are not sure exactly what is in stock and at what quantity, an employee can tell a customer that an item is out of stock when in fact it is available. A customer can be sent to a wrong store that should have an item, but your system isn’t capable of answering those kinds of questions.
You will be able to deliver on time – When your customer orders something and is told their products will arrive between a wide range of dates, it shows your company is not organized enough to fulfill a simple aspect of selling goods. This isn’t just poor customer service, it is bad business. Instead, a proper inventory management system will give you the ability to not only pinpoint a date for delivery but gives you the means to hit that target.
It is clear where your inventory is – It may seem like good customer service when one of your locations is out of an item and calls another to see if it is in stock there. On the surface this appears to be going the extra mile to help a customer, but the real issue is your system doesn’t allow them to know for certain that the item is there. A good inventory system will allow them to see this in real time and respond accordingly.
You will be able to order the correct amounts from vendors – Reorder points can be sent with ease when you have a solid inventory management system. This reduces cost when you are ordering things unnecessarily either through not knowing how much you have, or not ordering enough.
No need to duplicate purchase orders – A sophisticated inventory management system will either generate purchase orders automatically when your inventory levels hit a reorder point or allow you to create one from drop down menus which lowers the potential for errors.
Even small businesses that keep a minimal inventory on hand would benefit from even the most basic of inventory management systems. Presort can help you find the right software and implement the right procedures to make sure that this aspect of your business is a strength and not a weakness.
The internet is an indispensable part of everyday life for nearly everyone. Some more so than others, as millennials are spending a lot of time online, reading blogs, browsing social media, reading email. The internet provides everything that used to be done by leaving the house. If you had a question about a topic you went to the library and looked it up. Entire networks were based around buying but you still had to leave the house to do most of your shopping. And when it comes to letters and postcards, do millennials read their snail mail, or even know it exists? Why would a generation used to instant gratification have any patience for direct mail marketing?
The fact is that direct mail is an extremely effective tool for reaching consumers of any age or demographic, including young people. Millennials respond well to direct marketing and here is why.
They respond well to targeted advertising – Just as Google uses your browsing history to prompt advertising, so does direct mail, albeit in physical form. The same online methods used to gather consumer data that allows brands to target individual consumers with accuracy can be used to great effect with direct mailing campaigns. Instead of sending mass postcards, marketers can clearly define an audience and tailor the message to them.
There is no substitute for physical marketing materials – Rather than being gradually replaced by online advertising, postcards and brochures are integrated with online materials creating a combined experience into a unified brand. All a postcard needs to direct an interested millennial to more information, or an online order form, is a QR code and a spare minute.
Individuals that grew up in the digital world still read the mail – Even mailings that are considered “junk mail” are still read and sorted by millennials on a daily basis. And the response rate for millennials to direct mailing campaigns is equal to or in some cases greater than older generations.
Direct mail gives you the opportunity to show off your brand – You can be authentic in direct mailing offerings. Since you control the entire message, how it is presented, and most importantly, who gets it, you can use the opportunity to show a strong, cohesive brand identity which is something that appeals to millennials. When you treat your customer as a human being, create a sense of connection with the individual consumer, and humanize your brand, you are appealing to this new demographic regardless of how long your brand has been around.
Millennials don’t ignore snail mail because it is old, they do so because it is irrelevant to them. Your marketing can be tailored specifically to this demographic and with precise market research and a fantastic and eye-catching design, your direct mailing campaign can indeed reach millennials. Call Presort today. We know how to design a campaign that will help you achieve these goals.