Archive for the 'Direct Mail 101' Category

Here is a nice-looking piece that recently arrived from Fifth Third Private Bank and appeared in my column in the ABA Bank Marketing Magazine.  The look is very upscale, the message is OK, but there are several ways the mailing could be improved.

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If you have come here from the web or hardcopy version of the WordCom Marketing Minutes newsletter, Welcome! Writing great copy is an art; but one that can be learned. There are many basic secrets that can improve the quality of communicating to customers, prospects, or even your own boss! Feel free to review many [...]

Afrequent question: what kind of response rate should I expect from my mailing? The answer can vary as widely as the product/service being offered and the target audience receiving the mailing. Here are some general guidelines:

Years ago, direct mail writer Frank Johnson popularized the concept of putting critical selling information in the upper right of the letter. This is usually “white space” under the bank logo and to the right of the address block.

Studies show the reader’s eyes first go to see their name; so “while they’re there,” you can communicate a key consumer benefit by using words floating in the space or actually put them inside a little box.

There are two approaches to using this space. The first focuses on the prime consumer benefit. Think about your product/service and all its features. Then translate them into the consumer benefits, and select the most important to highlight in this space.

Financial services are finding a basic marketing truth: business people are one of the toughest target markets to penetrate.

While many banks are now setting significant sales goals to increase their commercial business, they are also finding that there is a major obstacle … the “boss’s screener.” Sitting outside the office of every prime business target is a person who recognizes one of their responsibilities is to: Screen the phone calls, screen the visitors and screen the mail.

How To Break Through

“To app or not to app, that is the question!”
Paraphrasing Hamlet from his soliloquy, the question frequently faced in doing an equity line, or any kind of loan mailing, is whether or not to include an application in the mailing package. There are several reasons to take this route, and some solid cautions on the other side.

An application can take many forms: from the two-page, complex variety to the four-question ‘mini application,’ depending on the requirements of underwriting. But in each case, the prospect is being asked to do more work in responding to a loan offer.

You’ve made the sale! Your letter did the job of getting the prospect’s attention and motivating them to take the next step. Now, you need a clear and strong Call To Action, with as many options as possible.

Frequently, letter writers leave the reader unsure what they should be doing next to get more information or to open an account. The ideal spot for the Call To Action is in the last paragraph of the letter – after you have successfully convinced the reader of all the consumer benefits.

Two common mistakes most companies make in writing their own direct mail letters center on what they choose to emphasize. Usually it involves the company name and the featuresof the product.

The first error is normally the mentioning—and over- mentioning—of the company name in the letter. Coupled with this is the over-mentioning of the product name that has been developed for a normally generic product like an equity line of credit.

They are colorful, easier to design, and less expensive. But when are the right times for financial institutions to use postcards in marketing?

In designing a direct marketing program, one of the first considerations is the choice of the mailing package. It could be anything from a 3-D item in a box to a traditional letter in an envelope, a four-color self-mailer, or a simple postcard.

Here are some of the key factors to consider in making that decision:

Many writers have successfully used long letters to make the sale. These are effective when the reader is really interested in the subject and will take the time to wade through long copy.

But bank direct mail usually doesn’t have that luxury. Our readers are usually busy people and the products we are selling are seemingly of modest interest. So the letter length should fit their desires — or it won’t get read.

A frequent conversation I have with clients regarding letter writing is the value of “sticking an important copy point down at the bottom of the letter in the P.S.”  But this is valuable real estate.

The first creative decision in creating a mailing program is to decide ‘the look’ of the package. Is it OK to be seen as a marketing piece; or should it look like a personalized commu- nicationfrom the bank? There are times for both.

There is a seven second window of opportunity to get the reader to open the mail and decide to read through the letter. They ask: Does this look like something of interest to me? And if yes, can I quickly get the key points?

Many writers have successfully used long letters of two, four, even eight pages to make the sale. These long letters are most effective when the reader really caresand is interested in the subject… and they are willing to take the time to wade through the long copy.

Should you print a marketing message on the outside of your mailing envelope? The answer is, “It depends.”

The first challenge in financial direct mail is presenting a quality package that gives the appearance of an important, personalized communication. Because people are so busy, they tend to sort their mail into two piles: the “B Pile” of mailthat appears to be mass marketing and/or not of immediate interest to them … and the”A Pile” of mailthat appears to be important and personalized (the pile that doesn’t get put aside or thrown out).

Developing a successful customer cross-sell program involves many steps;but the return on investment of the marketing dollars makes it all worthwhile. One of the final steps is creating a mailing calendar, which will put all the plans in place for the upcoming year.

Bank Intelligence ScoresTM

The starting point is to analyze the bank’s customer database in order to identify the best prospects. WordComand Customer Intelligence’s unique study of bank customers showed that multi-service households have the greatest likelihood of purchasing additional products in the near future. Single- service households have the second highest likelihood, and totally free checking households are the least likely to purchase additional products.

When using a letter/envelope mailing package (i.e.not a postcard or self-mailer), a basic decision is whether to use a window envelope or to “move up”to a personalized, closed-face outer envelope.

Regardless of the size of the outer envelope, most come in a window version, with clear plastic allowing the name and address to show through from the personalized letter inside. While the window version is fractionally moreexpensive, the larger cost difference is the savings of not having two personalized pieces (the letter and the envelope).