In early October of 2020, the US Postal Service announced price increases to take effect January 24, 2021. Marketing mail, which is the number one mail class for direct mail, saw an overall increase of 1.5% (Pitney Bowes, 2021).
Companies that utilize direct mail for acquisition and engagement of new prospective customers typically don’t have the luxury of adjusting their budgets upward to compensate for rate increases. So, when the price for postage goes up, the potential to reach new contacts goes down in proportion to the fewer number of potential contacts made with the same amount of money budgeted.
One of our clients’ budgets was set and planned to support saturation mailings into their desired areas. A saturation mailing list means that you are mailing as least 90% of the addresses in a given mail carrier route. This broadcasting of mail in areas provides discounted postage rate and can be effective for certain offerings and brands. However, because this client provides bathroom remodeling services, we felt that a more targeted approach at a higher postage rate with fewer contacts, could be more effective.
According to many sources, including a study by Epsilon, 73% of Americans prefer being contacted by brands through direct mail. The key is aligning the right brand with the right prospect vs. going the cheapest route and hoping someone out of the crowd shows interest.
By understanding more about their future customers, through analysis of their past and existing customers, we were able to recommend a more expensive, but household targeted specific approach. By staying within their budget but using higher postage rates to reach fewer homes, we had a much higher success rate than simple adjusting the quantity of mailing down to maintain the budget.
