Recency and Frequency

Roy Wollen, President of Database Insight LLC and long time database marketing consultant, showed the chart below on a slide at a recent direct marketing conference – highlighting a compilation of several direct mail campaigns his clients did and tying the results to how recently the target has purchased and how often they had purchased in one year.

You can see that the results in % response and sales per piece are pretty amazing! This should give you some good insight into the power that staying in touch with your customers, knowing the right customers to contact and the subtle role that recency and frequency can play in your end results!

So remember…
Stay in touch with your customers & prospects in a manner that REALLY GETS THROUGH!
Take the time to break down your lists by recency and frequency!
Resist reacting to a slow economy by literally ignoring your best customers.

And most important…
Utilize resources like your USPS Account Manager and his Direct Mail Marketing Team!

Postcards, The Untold Truth

Most people haven’t realized it yet, but postcards can offer many of the same benefits as direct mail and e-mail. Not only are they cheap, but also easier to mail than solo envelope magalogs, catalogs and mailings.

Although, what’s the best way to utilize them? One way that postcards shine as a marketing tool is when they are used as a secondary driver. By sending postcards out a week before an event, you can remind customers about the offer and when it expires.
And nobody’s going to argue with you: Email is certainly cheaper. But you also have to keep in mind that not all your customers may have email addresses, plus there’s a chance that some of the addresses you have are invalid. Besides, inboxes are getting more cluttered each day, making emails less effective.

You can also drive traffic to your store/website with postcards and let your customers know about your promotions. Also, encourage the customers to bring the postcard with them to the store, for this will give you better tracking than normal retail mailings. It’s advised to mail to consumers within a reasonable distance of the store.
It’s also beneficial to send individualized postcards to customers; postcards with a focus on a particular item that appeals to a customer. This type of customized offer can come across very pleasing.

So what’s the lesson of the day? Postcards can offer an inexpensive form of direct mail, and when combined with other promotions can notably help boost your sales.