Do Coupon-postcards have enough response-rate te be profitable?

First of all, everyone who's been around this sub-forum for a while knows who Bob Ross is.
Second, I think you need to pick up his WSO.
It was 10,000 postcards through Every Door Direct.
You won't be mailing 10,000.... you only have 5,000 to mail to.
I believe, you have to have at least 5,000 to use EDDM anyway.

The redemption rate will vary greatly depending upon the market it is mailed to and the offer the business puts on it.

Overlap. In his WSO he gives you a template to help solve this.
If the person on the front of the card has their coupons at the top of their space, then the ad on the back would have their coupons on the bottom or in the middle of their space.

Now the product/service doesn't have to cost $15, you have to look at the LTV of each customer.

..... duplicate post on accident.....

I'll respond since it's about my thread obviously. I'm sure others will weigh in too.

Stop solely thinking about response rates because if you're just trying to hinge everything on response rate then you will severely limit your prospects as well as recurring potential.

You don't want to promise an insurance company that they'll get 50 new clients, because they'll get pissed when they only get one or don't get any. Yet if you sold them on the fact that 10,000 local people will see it, they become sold on that value instead.

The businesses that will generate a lot of response on your card are ones that appeal to the general public and they must have extraordinary offers to go along with it. There's so many other businesses out there that will benefit regardless of response.

Lots of owners just want to get their offers or brand name out efficiently. There's also higher ticket services like contractors that might only get a few responses but if it lands them a deal it will be thousands and thousands in profit.

Do owners spend thousands to build a website that doesn't generate response and continue to spend each month maintaining and hosting it? Yep.

Do owners spend thousands every year to place yellow pages ads that don't get response? Yep.

Do owners routinely spend thousands on highway signs and billboards that don't generate response and continue to do it month after month? Yep.

Do owners routinely spend thousands on newspaper ads, radio ads, and television commercials that don't generate response yet continue to do it over and over? Yep.


For nearly all small businesses, something that generates a trackable response can be a very new and exciting experience. Many of them will crap themselves when they get a few people coming in with coupons because it's never happened before, and never happened so inexpensively.

I've got clients that have stopped spending $60,000+ per year on 'brand' advertising and now only pay a couple thousand a month to me for 9x12 space and small solo EDDM mailings. Best part is they generate more response than they ever did with their $60,000 per year past marketing expenses.

A lot of businesses are simply waiting for someone like you to come along with a new marketing opportunity that they haven't been pitched on ten times a day like yellowpage ads, radio, seo, web design, etc.

Any direct mail pro will tell you that a 1% response rate is very common even on targeted mailings that can easily cost thousands. For a few hundred bucks, even getting a TENTH of one percent can be well worth it because the cost is so low for what you get.

Coupons generate new customers and repeat customers, which are both very good. It's a very common myth that existing customers would come in anyways without a coupon. That's something most small business owners hardly ever understand. Do you think macy's should stop running sales and offering $20 off coupons because their existing customers will come in anyways? lol.

Coupons and strong offers:

• keep existing customer happy and spending more often
• they keep customers from going to competitors
• they generate new customers, creating lifetime vlaue
• they create brand awareness
• they are well received by most people

Go ahead a buy the program, it will answer all of your questions and more. It is a whole lot of work, but then what isn't?

I have done direct mail coupon magazines for almost 20 years... A 1% -2% return is very common with a solid offer and a 10% return is not unheard of for a very good offer.

Don't talk about return rates with your clients though because if the response is great but falls one or two short of what you said... well, guess what the client remembers... you didn't perform like you should have. Instead focus on the long term value of each NEW customer. The value of a new customer is very high over the lifetime... much higher than you would ever think. It's not hard to figure out either if business owner will share figures with you. Take amount they make divided by the number of customers they have and you have it!

I was shocked to first learn that a customer in a Salon/Spa in the U.S. is worth approximately $1,200. per year. When you get the Salon owner looking at that they can see quite easy why my campaign is a success if I only bring them in one new client or even better yet keep them from losing an existing client to the Salon that is going to run with me if they don't. Remember, the fear of loss is much more motivating than the desire to gain!!!

A lot of times a client will want to get you to talk about response... simple solution... explain that if a car dealer runs a coupon with me for a no strings attached FREE CAR offer with no purchase necessary they would get a near 100% response rates because people would be digging their neighbors coupons out of the trash t redeem them for such a terrific offer. On the other hand if they run a coupon that said FREE Set of Floor mats with the purchase of a new car at sticker price... well you know the results... they would get 0% response. By working on the long term value of a client or customer you can usually help the business owner craft some very good offers.

i own a Direct Mail Company for 8 yrs in Atlanta, GA. The coupon thing works and is a great way to Direct Mail but.....lol

There is way better ways you can get 3x 4x the coverage for less$$$

Ask your local paper if the have TMC (Total Market Coverage) Most of them are the first Tuesday of every month.
As long as you have a noticeable enough mailer you will get noticed and be in 400% more mail boxes

For years I have done large mailings for companies in my market. At least for a decade. I came to see, as Adwizard and Bob Ross have already mentioned, you need to sell ALL the benefits of mailing to keep a satisfied client.

I tell them there are THREE PRIMARY BENEFITS worth doing a mailing for:
1. Immediate calls/ leads/visits. These the client will notice or credit to the new mailing.
2. Calls/leads/visits over the next month or two. Client will not be able to always connect to the mailing....but that doesn't mean they are not occurring.
3. Long term Image and "Top of Mind" awareness, that will ultimately result in LESS advertising being needed.
The worst thing to do is hint at or imply, "you should get between 30 and 50 calls this week"

Even though we primarily sell Direct Response benefits, you'd be surprised how many businesses are just as interested in IMAGE. I sell many LOGO redesigns and things like that.
They will sometimes be quicker to spend on vanity than more immediate profit strategies.
_____
Bruce

Jerrel,

I highly recommend Bob Ross post card system http://9x12system.com/ it's AWESOME and you should really
order it if you want to learn how to make huge profits with post cards.

I wish you much success,

Martin

I have mailed millions of coupons since 1993 all over the north coast of Ohio. I mailed around a million homes in all kinds of neighborhoods. Mail zones were broke up into 15-20,000 homes. I mailed the very affluent neighborhoods that were full of Cleveland's sports stars and doctors, attorneys, etc. as well as the areas that were lowest income. It is absolutely true that wealthy people use coupons at a much higher rate than those people in poverty!!! Why, I'm still not sure... I have came to the conclusion that is has to do with one of two reasons: 1. Wealthy people are generally of higher education, saving money every chance they get. That's why they are wealthy. 2. People in poverty don't have the money to spend therefore aren't using coupons but more likely they are just content to be right where they are and aren't interested.

Go Figure

Response rates for different demograp)hics (including race) are going to vary tremendously based on each different market, and is going to be based on other demographic factors such as income, age, etc. You can't just take one example in one situation and make generalizations abou it.