Launching a direct mail piece soon to small businesses.

Split test the traffic 50/50 then you'll have a real answer (real data).

Only a test will tell BUT the free consultation is a really weak offer.

People will read "free sales pitch."

That's not even really worth split testing.. put the 2 offers together... I would also inject an online sales funnel with an offer.. a free report along the lines of "why your business should be online" and a second offer "10 reasons why your online business presence is failing."

By doing this.. you are removing the friction of contact be it by phone, or by online. ( choice actually increases conversion vs only having 1 choice )

By having the 2 options with the online conversion you are segmenting the respondents.. those that don't have a site, and those that do. This better targets your funnel - a more targeted message usually means a better conversion rate.

The consultation offer on its own probably won't bring in much interest. As someone already mentioned, it'll be interpreted as a sales call. Which is exactly what it is for the most part.

With the second offer, I somewhat worry this mailing is going to mostly attract freebie chasers who either won't sign on once they find out what the price of the marketing package is or, if they do, are going to be nightmare clients looking to extract as much flesh from you as they can.

Can you tell us a bit more about your mailing? Specifically, who your target business are and how you researched, segmented and compiled them? Are they all business currently without websites? Bad websites? What types of industries are they in? Any idea of size, employee #, revenue, etc?

Hate to say it, Ross, but honestly both of those offers kinda suck for direct response mail.

By all means split test 'em (if you must) but I think you'll be lucky to see a 1 percent response rate. Even from a highly targeted audience.

savidge4 touched on what should be testing. Your postcard should hit 'em with a highly targeted free report about something that concerns them, and their business.

Example...

"10 reasons why you're losing business to your competitors"

- or -

"10 ways your website could be making you more money"

- or -

"Are you making these fatal mistakes with your website? It could be costing you thousands of dollars in lost revenue"


Then follow it up on the postcard with something like...

"Get your free report today and discover 10 ways to turn your website into a lead generating machine" (or cash producing machine if you're targeting commerce sites)

Then of course, include your contact info (phone number or website address) so they can get the free report.


When it comes to direct response postcards, you need to hit them with an offer that's hard to refuse. Otherwise it's going to likely end up with 99 percent of all direct mail postcards... in the recycle bin.

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Not to be flip but the only thing I have really learned is that the only way to answer these questions is to split test. But I know that gets expensive with DM...however that just means testing is all the more vital.

That said my experience is that "Free Consultations" do very little to lift response. That is basically read as "FREE 30 minute hard sell call" and no one wants that and "general offers" tend not to pull as well. Consider a softer response option. I think you'd be better off with Free Webinar, or report/white paper. Just make sure that the topic speaks to a specific issue and promises to be digestable. i.e. they get a problem solved in a very few minutes. Thats why lists, How To's work well. Especially, if you can personalize to the vertical. e.g. "5 Ridiculously Simple Website Fixes That Doubled Jo The Plumber's Customer Referrals" Digital Variable Printing adds cost but can be really effective.

Good Luck!!

Whats makes you want to send out a direct mail campaign? You'll have way better results if you just call them. Then you'll know exactly which offers better within a couple hours, you wont have to gamble and waste money if your direct mail campaign doesn't work, and you could have a closed deal by the end of the day. Nothing really compares to just calling them.