7 Tested Ways to Follow up a Successful Mailing

To get the most bang out of your advertising buck, direct-marketing consultant Dan Kennedy advises, use one or more of these ways to follow up a profitable mailing:

Mail your package again

If a mailing piece pulls from a list, it’s likely to pull almost as well from the same list the second time out—maybe with the addition of a lift note.

Use contrasting graphics

If your first mailing looked business-letter chaste, repeat it in a brightly colored envelope with a prominent promotional headline. And vice-versa.

Add a testimonials sheet

Insert a sheet carrying testimonials—as specific as possible—under a headline such as “What 15 customers say about the offer we mailed you three weeks ago.”

Slash your price

Up the ante on your offer with a new letter headline or enclosure that says something like: “I’m as stubborn as you are. And I want your order. So I’m knocking $50 off my original asking price. How can you resist?”

Try telemarketing

One top telemarketer estimates that a phone follow-up will generate four times or more the response you obtained by mail. If you got a 2% mail response, expect a telephone follow-up to yield 8%.

Add urgency to your offer

Modify your mailing so it demands an immediate reply, with a copy change such as, “Response to the offer we made you three weeks ago has been so great that we have only XXX widgets left. Order yours now!”

Wait 30 days and mail your package a third time

Every potential customer’s needs change daily. A man who receives a mailing today may not be in the market for a sofa bed. Tomorrow, after his wife leaves him and takes all the furniture, he’s a hot sales prospect!