5 Considerations in Designing a Direct Mail Piece

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.