Are Your Business Postcards Losing Sales?

Are your business postcards losing sales? They might be. Even if your business postcards routinely bring a good return on investment, it's possible you're not maximizing their potential for optimum return on investment. A close examination of your business postcards can reveal missed opportunities you can take advantage of to get the most out of your business postcard direct-mail marketing campaigns. Business postcards: Mailing lists One of the most critical elements to examine is your mailing list. Is it compiled from your target customer base, or do you simply rent generic mailing lists? According to the 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing, 40 percent of your success is directly contingent on the quality of your mailing list. Mailing lists comprised of current and past customers are good, but if you want to grow your customer base you should create a custom mailing list for your business postcards, based on the demographics shared by your very best customers. Business postcards: Offer So many small businesses make the mistake of sending postcards that essentially say “This is what we do.” But simply stating what you do and how to contact you isn't enough to optimize your return on investment. Instead, you have to give your customers a good deal – a time-limited offer. That way customers who are interested in your services will take the next step in the purchasing process right away, rather than file your postcard in the “to forget” pile. Your offer is worth another 40 percent of your success, so carefully craft your special deal as well as its presentation to maximize return on investment. Business postcards: Design and copy It's said that the remaining 20 percent of your success is dependent on everything else: design, copy, the mood of your customers when they receive your business postcards, etc. You can only control the design and copy. Your postcard design should have relevance to your customers, and your company, products and services. There are many different ways to design postcards, but they should be bold and contrasting against the rest of the mail so they stand out. Consider printing your offer on the back of your postcard to help motivate response rates, since that's how most postcards are delivered. Your copy should be brief and to the point, motivational and authoritative. Resist the urge to include every single detail about your business and instead focus on a single or small handful of major benefits, including your offer, to command attention and generate response. It's also important to include measurable mechanisms for your business postcards, such as coupons and coupon codes. These will allow you to test different headlines and design layouts, track response rates to each, and tweak future campaigns for even more success. Business postcards: Print quality It is imperative that you print business postcards on premium quality paper stocks to lend the best impression to your customers. Opt for a thick16-point gloss or eco-friendly 13-point matte, printed with eco-friendly soy inks, for vibrant, colorful postcards. Business postcards: Follow-up Last but not least, repetition leads to direct marketing success. You need to follow up with other campaigns to optimize your return on investment. You aren't limited to business postcards in your follow-ups; you can instead opt for sales letters, brochures, flyers and other materials. But business postcards represent the most cost-effective investments and create plenty of room for maximum return on investment.