[Jonathan Evans]

I think this is my biggest area to improve upon.
By Direct mail do you mean Newsletters consumer guides offers...... miss you letters.
Are these to just old custommers or people who have contacted and not gone ahead?

Thanks for any advice

 

[Simon Gerrard]

Both.
The people who have not gone ahead with you could have been disappointed with whoever they chose and might give you a go next time around.
Direct mail can also mean mailing to prospective clients - email is best for that but results can be disappointing, but always worth a shot provided you contact people within your target market.

Simon

[Jonathan Evans]

Thank you Simon I am just going through 3 years of invoices and putting them into a booking software programme.
I had thought about going back further but I thought 3 years would be about right.
Thanks for your answer

[Glynn]

Don't forget it's illegal to email customers unless they give you permission to do so, even then you must give them a proper opt out facility.

[Steve Chapman]

If a customer willingly gives you their email address does this constitute permission ?

If not then what do they think you want it for ?

Just a thought........

[Glynn]

I meant email customers to promote business.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi I always ask permision and use mailchimp with an unsubscribe option.
To be honest never had a great response with an email campaign although it has obvious benefits.
I thought I would try other offline methods to see if they work. Trouble is I am not pushy and a lot of people do not want it so I am told.
So I guess I am asking do you do newsletters, every month quarterly or less do you mail shot people on an annual basis. Just a bit lost so to speak. Thanks

[Simon Gerrard]

I'm sick to effing death of unsolicited emails. Why do you have to 'opt out'  to unsubscribe, when you never 'opted in,' in the first place.

[Mike Gwilliam]

I am just going through 3 years of invoices and putting them into a booking software programme.
I had thought about going back further but I thought 3 years would be about right.

Three years or maybe more. I have custys that call me many years later than that although some will have moved address but 3 years is ok.

I tried mailchimp with the consent of the customer some years ago and didn't get one job.

Also I used to send out a letter, perhaps up to 400 customers in spring and before xmas but it was hard work in printing, envelopes and stamps.....but the work rolled in afterwards.

Typically, if you send out 300 or 400 letters to previous clients you will get at least £2000 of work.....that's in my experience, not to mention follow up work.

But now and probably the easiest method is to use Docmail. Keep all the customers that you want to retain on a database such as Microsoft access. Create your postcard in PDF format.....if it's Xmas, I use a nice snowy image and some words like ''Dear Customer, It may have been some time since you've had your carpets upholstery cleaned. It's a very busy period so be sure to book early'' etc etc. If it's spring, try some lambs or flowers etc......women like that.

Save your PDF file as above and then go over to Docmail....load your brilliant letter  and load up your custy database.

Then  your stunningly brilliant post card (if your creative ) will be delivered within the week to your customers for less than the price of a stamp. If your good like me, you will see your postcard sitting on the kitchen side in admiration when you go to do the job
Funnily enough though I've seen my xmas card sitting on the side in the middle of summer when going to a job.

[Steve Chapman]

Have used docmail and it is an excellent way of doing the direct mail without the printing & envelope malarky....

[Mike Gwilliam]

They are nice, glossy and professional looking too. I used to mail one to myself to see how they looked.

[Jonathan Evans]

Cheers thanks for that I think I have an account with docmail through the FSB will give it a go thanks for all of your replies, so it needs to only be as much as a postcard, that sounds do able...... I think cheers

[ShaunL]

Just a question regarding docmail... does anyone find the barcode offputting for customers or have any effect on response?

[Kev Loomes]

Can't say I've had anyone  complain about it Shaun, I don't think it matters IMO.

[Mike Halliday]

Just to specifically answer the question 'what is direct mail'

Direct mail is any marketing that is specifically sent  to an individual or business eg: a letter, email  text or call.

The opposite marketing is institutional marketing which is aimed at a large segments  of the population as a whole eg: a newspaper advert or billboard

[Hilton]

No I do not agree with that,

Direct Mail is through the post to an individual either in the home or at business.

The other 'mail' are just other forms of direct marketing.

[Jonathan Evans]

Thanks for all of your answers much appreciated 

[Mike Halliday]

No I do not agree with that,

Direct Mail is through the post to an individual either in the home or at business.

The other 'mail' are just other forms of direct marketing.

20yrs ago yes, but we need to move with the times, now direct mail is as I put above, but my comments come from reading an article in a marketing magazine which could be open to personnel interpretation here's a snippet than I cut and pasted .....

With any type of direct mail, appropriately timed follow-up is key. Mailings with phone follow-ups are most effective. Don't wait too long to contact your customers after doing your mailing: After several days, call to ask if they've received your card, letter or e-mail. If they have, now's the time to make your sales pitch. If they haven't, mail them another ASAP.

[Deep Cleaning Solutions]

Sending anything by post is ridiculously expensive and far too time consuming. Emails will go straight to spam if you don't know what you are doing and if they don't you will have to send emails regularly to get noticed just like leafleting!

I will tell you what I do ......
I have mentioned it before and some of you hated it and some of you loved it but I will tell you one thing it works and it's cheap to do!

I make sure I get every customers mobile phone number who has one. I get all my customers to sign the invoice which gives them an option to not receive marketing offers by us. Then once a year I text all my customers from the last 6 years that have mobile numbers with an offer or just a reminder about us with a bulk texter online. This only cost me about £65 last year. I have done that for the last 2 years. The first time I got about £2800 of work and last year it brought £3500 of work. I normally send the texts in about June when we are forecast a weeks sunshine and my phone goes completely nuts for a few days but it's worth it It was hard work putting all the numbers in at first but now I just add the years worth of new customers in every year. I have not done it this year yet but plan to text them all at the beginning of November with an xmas offer but I need to add last year's and this year's customers to the database and hopefully it should work even better I only send a generic text without customer names as it would of been a nightmare adding them but you can do loads of fancy things with bulk texters like adding pdf vouchers or sending price list links. I think it's called text local who I use but I will check later. They have a fantastic customer service and will talk it through with you on the phone but if you do what I do it's very easy to do it yourself.

[Hilton]

No I do not agree with that,

Direct Mail is through the post to an individual either in the home or at business.

The other 'mail' are just other forms of direct marketing.

20yrs ago yes, but we need to move with the times, now direct mail is as I put above, but my comments come from reading an article in a marketing magazine which could be open to personnel interpretation here's a snippet than I cut and pasted .....

With any type of direct mail, appropriately timed follow-up is key. Mailings with phone follow-ups are most effective. Don't wait too long to contact your customers after doing your mailing: After several days, call to ask if they've received your card, letter or e-mail. If they have, now's the time to make your sales pitch. If they haven't, mail them another ASAP.

Letter or email its not DM , they have distinguished between the two.