Are you considering launching a direct mail campaign this year? If you’ve never taken part in a direct mail campaign or if you’re looking for ways to improve your responses, here are a few tips, suggestions, and things to consider when designing your direct mail piece.
Gather Samples from Your Own Mail
Rather than reinvent the wheel, start by gathering direct mail pieces from the mail you receive at your home or business. What pieces capture your eye or stand out to you? While directly copying or replicating a design with your own information substituted in critical places is not kosher, it’s perfectly fine to take a piece and modify it to make it your own design. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to guide you in this process:
1. Which pieces do you find most appealing? Once you’ve identified your favorite pieces, ask others (co-workers, family, friends) for their opinions. It’s best to have some kind of idea what might work across a variety of perspectives.
2. Does a particular design stand out? Can you identify a clear winner among the pieces you’ve gathered?
3. Does the design fall within standard post office guidelines? Generally, if you’ve received a piece in the mail, it has met post office requirements. However, some pieces may have been more costly to mail because they incorporated features that bypassed post office standards. Make sure your piece will falls within the guidelines.
4. What kind of imagery, photography or colors captured your interest? A successful design will convey a strong sense of what kind of service or product is being offered as well as inducing positive feelings about that service/product. How does the piece make you feel?
5. Did the piece use wording or language you found compelling? Look at the piece and evaluate the text used to present the product, service or offering.
6. Did the piece make you want to purchase the product or service offered? In some instances, you may already own or partake in the service or product offered and will feel less compelled to investigate further. However, what would your target audience take from the piece if the message was directed to their needs or concerns?
7. Is there a prominent call-to-action? Is the message clear? How the information in a piece is organized is critical, you don’t want to leave your recipients confused or not understanding how to proceed.
8. Are there multiple ways to respond to the piece? Phone numbers, QR codes, website urls, emails — in essence, make sure your recipients can contact you or seek further information via multiple methods. Don’t make it difficult to respond!
9. How would you improve a given piece? As you review your favorite direct mail piece (or pieces), make note of the things you would change to improve or adapt the piece to fit your needs or match your clients or customers expectations.
After you’ve gone through and answered these questions to your satisfaction and have begun to design your direct mail piece, keep in mind your recipients will be evaluating your piece in terms of what or how your offer will benefit them. It’s also helpful to have others outside of your business or organization look at your design to see if the piece delivers or conveys your stated goals and message.
In Part II, we’ll talk about color: what specific colors mean or convey and how they affect your messaging.
If you have any questions about Direct Mail, give us a call at 330-597-8560. We’re happy to help you get the most out of your printing project.
Photo by Mikaela Wiedenhoff
