How to go About Prospect Acquisition and Customer Retention For Direct Mailing

There is a big difference between sending direct mail for customer retention purposes and for prospect acquisition purposes. The reason bulk mailers cannot send the same thing to everyone is that retention and acquisition are very different, and are to be handled as such. You collect more information about your customers regarding their purchases and who they are so you can customize your direct mail to them accordingly. You have to really taoilr and craft your approach to gain clients effectively.

Direct Mail Retention

This kind of direct mail aims to keep customers buying from your business. This can be sent to get your customers to buy any new services or products you are offering or supplementary items to products they have bought from you before. The services or products you provide may restrict the frequency of this kind of direct mail. For instance, you may want to advertise new items on your food menu, but you don’t add them very often at all. Bulk mailers cannot send the same direct mail recurrently to their customers as it will eventually be regarded immedieatley as spam or trash. Bulk mailers will only send mail to their customers with new offers, to keep them interested.

Direct Mail Acquisition

This type of direct mail is aimed at getting bulk mailers new business meaning they will be sent to prospects that might have a little knowledge of the company or none at all. The key is that these people don’t know about YOUR company, but they are more likely to be interested than others. The most important thing to do is to capture attention before the piece can be thrown out. After capturing their attention, one needs to define clearly who they are and what they can do for their prospects. The main point is to establish all the benefits they can obtain from your service or product because generating a need for your offers is necessary. You must have a strong call to action to encourage their response. In most cases, an introductory discount or a free, small giveaway can be enough to attract prospects. It is also advisable to develop an element of urgency by restricting the amount of time that the offer is available.

Direct retention mail is easier for bulk mailers because the customers are aware of the company and thus willing to look at whatever you send them. You also know who your customers are and what they want so you can only give them offers you know they would be interested in. This reduces your costs while keeping up your return on investment. This does not mean you do not need a strong call to action or strong benefits just because you have already captured their attention. You just need to make the most of it. Offering a special customer-only offer can be beneficial in getting responses.

Consider that your response rate on the acquisition mail will be greatly reduced compared to retention mail. You can also help acquisition people buy from you by including testimonials. Reading about how others feel about your service or product reduces some of the tension in customers when trying something new. Giving the same amount of attention to both groups (prospects and customers) will enhance your results. The best company for you to go to for any of your direct mailing needs it Limelight Direct Mail

In Raleigh, direct mail information is available from Limelight Direct Mail Marketing at 919-452-5418.