Make Me an Offer: Using Special Offers in Direct Mail

Sometimes the sourcing of a mailing list, deciding what to send and arranging fulfillment can all distract you from what offer you are actually going to include in the mailing.

It’s always fine to stay in touch with contacts and customers using a standard letter without an offer, but if your campaign is designed to generate new business then you really need to include an attractive incentive.

There are many types of offer you can use; free trials, money off, buy one get one free, upsells, cross sells and so on. Let’s look at some scenarios when an offer could prove really powerful in a mailing:

• A restaurant mails lists of local consumers celebrating a birthday with a letter introducing their establishment, and including a voucher for a free drink or bottle of house wine with a meal. To finesse the offer further it could apply to lunches when the restaurant is normally quieter, or be limited to a larger group to get more people through the door
• A DIY store wants to let people who’ve moved into the area know about them, as consumers with a length of residency of 12 months or less are more likely to need home improvement and DIY products. It mails out a voucher for 10% off when they spend over £50
• A book-keeper targets new start ups in their local area with a letter explaining their services and offering a 50% discount on the first month’s service to trial their service. They know that once a client sees how much easier it is to use their bookkeeping service, they are likely to stay with them for a while

In summary, if you are going to the trouble and expense of mailing new prospects, go the extra mile and make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Best of all Selectabase can help you with mapping your catchment postcode areas, the mailing list, letter writing and the full print and post process for less than the cost of a 2nd class stamp.

Call our experienced team on 01304 383838.