Incite direct mail recipients to act
With the U.S. Postal Service's new "Every Door Direct Mail" program, direct mail senders will be allowed to address mailings simply as "Postal Customer," "Residential Customer" or "PO Boxholder," and then trust that their web-to-print materials, postcards and brochures will be delivered in a timely and efficient manner.
But as the USPS has been busy in recent months trying to promote direct mail as a vital and effective marketing channel, it's important for small companies to recognize the service can only deliver your materials - it's up to you to ensure the message is on point and relevant to your targets.
For that reason, it's important to have a promotional or actionable offer on direct mail pieces - such as discounts, free consultations or information - to capture recipients' attention.
"Consumers are more likely to provide a fair amount of personal information to redeem a coupon or other promotional offer," writes Cynthia Fedor for Business 2 Community. "For marketers, the advantage of using promotional offers with direct mail is the ability to collect consumer data, identify warm leads and track direct mail success."