I Was Sooo WRONG… 4 Things You Might Be Wrong About Too!

You know when you have an opinion about something, and you’re SO SURE you’re right…

Until you find out you’re not?

It’s happened to me before — I’m not embarrassed to admit it!

For example:

My company ran a split test on our home page.

If you’re not familiar with the term, a split test is a way of comparing different versions of something to see which one performs better. So some of our web traffic saw our old home page while others saw the new version.

I was POSITIVE I knew what the outcome would be. But when I saw the data, I was dead wrong…

See, I liked it the way it was:

That’s a picture of a real marketing consultant who worked here at the time, Amy.

I was sure that design would perform better than the new one:

… which I didn’t like AT ALL.

When we ran the test, we were looking to reduce our “bounce rate,” which is the percentage of people who leave your home page without interacting (filling out a form) or exploring any other pages on your website.

You want the lowest bounce rate possible.

Guess how it turned out?

The home page with Amy’s picture had a bounce rate of 35%.

The new one: 27%

I was totally WRONG! The design I DIDN’T like actually performed better!

(We’ve done many more split tests since then, and had several different home page designs. Today our bounce rate is less than 10%!)

The lesson here is:

Look at the data!

Making decisions that can affect the livelihood of your business based on feelings or assumptions is a big mistake.

Yet, when it comes to direct mail, I’ve found that so many business owners do just that.

So I want to address some of the common myths about direct mail marketing and refute them with cold, hard facts!

Let’s start with this one:

Myth 1: Direct mail is outdated

Don’t confuse “time-tested” with “old-fashioned.”

Yes, direct mail has been around for a long time — and it’s STILL one of the most effective marketing mediums, even in today’s digital landscape.

Here’s the data:

• Not only is direct mail the top purchase influencer for Baby Boomers (Marketing Charts), but…
• 92% of Millennials — you know, the people who are ALWAYS ONLINE — prefer direct mail for making purchasing decisions (DMR)

“But all of my competitors are advertising online,” you might be thinking.

All the more reason to reach your prospects where your competition ISN’T — their mailbox!

And think about this:

How many online ads do you see every single day? How many of them do you actually READ?

And, if you’re NOT reading advertising mail that comes to you, there are very specific reasons why — and we know how to handle those so you DON’T make the same mistakes and get a tainted view about direct mail!

Myth 2: Direct mail is too expensive

It’s true that digital advertising is often less expensive than direct mail. But it’s important to remember that marketing is an INVESTMENT, not an expense.

It’s all about the return on investment (ROI):

How much did you spend, and how much revenue did it bring in?

And here’s the data:

• Direct mail garners 7x the response of all digital channels combined (DMA)
• S. advertisers average a 1,300% ROI with direct mail (Epsilon)

But I’m not a big fan of averages, so let’s look at some REAL results from actual PostcardMania clients:

• These carpet cleaning postcards generated a $1,509% ROI
• This day care direct mail piece generated an ROI of 2,870%
• This landscaper postcard achieved a 3,231% ROI
• This dental direct mail campaign achieved an ROI of 1,175%
• These HVAC postcards generated a 2,655% ROI

I could go on and on — there are hundreds of direct mail case studies on our website — but you get my point!

Something else to consider:

With an up-to-date, targeted mailing list, you can actually SAVE money by marketing only to the most qualified prospects!

Myth 3: People hate junk mail, and that’s what direct mail is

On the contrary…

So many studies have been done on this! People LIKE receiving direct mail!

Here are just a few statistics:

• 54% of consumers prefer direct mail for promotions (MarketingSherpa)
• 79% of households read or at least scan direct mail (DMR)
• 56% of consumers say print marketing is the most trustworthy type of marketing (DMR)
• 40% of consumers have made a purchase in the last 3 months because of direct mail they received (prWeb)

And here’s one more: 2.5 BILLION coupons were redeemed in 2015, according to the Data & Marketing Association.

What does that tell you?

People LIKE saving money — obviously! — and they know that coupons come in the mail!

Myth 4: Direct mail can’t be tracked

Yes, it absolutely can.

You can track your mail pieces with barcode-scanning technology that shows you exactly when your postcards are expected to hit mailboxes and gives you confirmation when they do.

(It also shows you if any of your mail DOESN’T get delivered.)

Mail tracking is super convenient because it helps you prepare your business for the influx of leads!

But even more important is tracking responses.

Which is easy to do when you use a call tracking number on your postcard (if you’re a business that relies on the phone to ring)!

A call tracking number is a unique phone number that rings directly into your business, but goes through the cloud before it rings and is recorded and stored there, so you can see EXACTLY how many calls your direct mail generates. (You can also listen to the calls so you can improve your reception and/or sales process if needed!)

By the way:

Both of these features come standard with Everywhere Small Business campaigns!

So, there you go. I hope I’ve cleared up any misconceptions you may have had. And feel free to SHARE this with anyone you may know who is hanging onto one of these direct mail myths!

If you have questions about anything I’ve talked about here — or about anything marketing-related — call my marketing experts at 800-628-1804. It’s completely FREE! Or you can always email me at Joy.Gendusa@PostcardMania.com or just leave a comment below!

Best,

Joy