A Look at Two Great Direct Mail Examples

Call me crazy, but I look forward to getting my mail each day, partly because we do direct mail all the time, but also partly because of my curiosity on what is being sent by others. Of course I am super critical of what I receive; looking at the condition it is in, if there is personalization, if there are errors and if it captures my attention. You would think that now with my mailbox being less full that more would stand out to me, but most of the time, that is not the case. As marketers we need to step up our game! Have you been keeping an eye on your mailbox? What worked on you? I keep a stash of the ones that worked on me for reference on client projects. Let’s look at a couple of great ones.

The first example is a retention piece. It has been a while since I bought from them so they are sending me a special offer. (Always a good idea.)

Mail Piece 1: A 5x7 envelope, tri-folded card with attached coupon card

The envelope was blue with just my address, a return address and a tagline of “Very Special Offer For Summer." The card was setup like a standard greeting card, once you open the first panel there is a personalized short greeting on the inside panel and a half size final panel on the right. To the left of the greeting was the attached coupon card with my name on it and the offer was for a free pair of shoes when I buy one pair. (Buy-one get-one free is great!) The short panel was perfed to allow me to tear it off and share an offer with a friend. The friend offer was 50% off a pair of shoes when they bought a pair. (This is a great way to extend your direct mail reach and quickly gain new customers. People decide to buy based on recommendations, who better than a friend to provide that recommendation?) Of course I bought the shoes and I gave the other coupon to a friend who also bought shoes.

Retention mailings work very well. You know purchase history and the value that customer has to you so you can make an appropriate, compelling offer to get them to buy again. Have you considered doing a share with a friend offer? They work great! We highly recommend them.

Mail Piece 2: A 6x11 Postcard

Now if you are like me, you do not normally get excited about a postcard — but this one was different. The first thing I noticed was my name on a tackle box next to a woman fishing. (Yes, I love to fish.) Normally when I get postcards selling fishing things, there is always a man on the card. Not that appealing to me. This card was so much better. There was no other copy on this side of the card. When I turned it over, I realized it was fully personalized with not just my name and address, but with tackle that was of interest to me. I am not a lure fisherwoman, but I get mailers all the time trying to sell me lures. This card had various bait and hooks. So the discount offer was for 25% off any of the items on the card. (Wow, an offer I can use for tackle I want!) Did I use it? Of course I did! The true advantage to personalization is that the mailer will appeal directly to the needs or wants of the recipient. This becomes a valuable piece of mail to them.

So why am I sharing my mail? Because I want to give you real-life examples of mail pieces that work! They work best when they stand out and are relevant to the recipient. Are you creating your direct mail this way? When you do your ROI will show it. Are you ready to be creative and make the best direct mail piece yet? Do you have any pieces that you received that were great?