5 Considerations in Designing a Direct Mail Piece

12th March 2019 Direct Mail, Marketing

Direct Mail is a great way to win more customers and encourage existing customers to increase their average spend value. It is important to consider your design and format when preparing your mail piece.

There are five major questions that need to be answered before you can begin designing your direct mail piece:

  1. What is the goal of the mailer? Are you trying to reach new customers or communicate with existing customers? What are you trying to convince the customer to do, and how do you want them to act on the offer? In other words, what’s your call-to-action?

  2. Who are you mailing to? How large is your audience? Have you mailed to them before? What kind of data do you have that could be used to add personalisation? This will change how you structure your message.

  3. What is your budget? Do you want to spend money on unique formats, stocks, or finishes?

  4. How much space do you need to convey your message? Does this product or service take a bit more of an explanation, or is it obvious why the customer needs it? Are there any disclaimers, terms and conditions, or other items that need to be included?

  5. Have you done any past mailings? What were the results, and what can be taken away from those results?

Once these questions have been answered, the design can be narrowed based on what technology fits the personalisation and budget needs of the campaign.

Process of elimination is a good first step, as it takes out what you can’t do from the list of choices, but it still doesn’t answer the question of what design is best for your particular campaign. As a direct mail designers, Quickmail can assist you and will ask questions, including:

  1. What are your recipients expecting to see? Are they expecting a mailing from you? Do they know what you do? Have you sent them communications before? What did they look like?

  2. What kind of experience do you want for your audience? How do you want your brand perceived? Is this an important document that should be seen as more formal, or can it be more colourful and promotional?

  3. What other marketing campaigns are being done? Should the mailing complement an email or other direct marketing campaign for a multi-channel experience?

So to find out what design you should be using for your next direct mail campaign, contact the friendly Quickmail team today.