B2B Direct Mail Best Practices, Ideas, and Statistics
Gone are the days when direct mail was expensive and time-consuming. It has changed a lot since then and is the most effective marketing channel you can use now.
Several large-scale companies like Google and Amazon use direct mail as their top marketing strategy. They have embraced the importance of offline marketing.
There are many benefits of direct mail marketing. It gives you an edge over your competitors and helps you garner the attention of your prospects.
Direct mail is tangible and eye-catching. It communicates your offer directly to the decision-makers and improves your conversion chances. This is why B2B or business-to-business direct marketing has gained a lot of popularity.
B2B companies deal with other businesses and need to communicate with managers, CEOs, and CFOs. Hence, their communication style is very different from that of B2C companies.
B2B direct mail is also a big form of account-based marketing. You can target your top accounts in a one-to-one manner with creative direct mail pieces.
B2C marketers focus on individuals and reach out to them at their houses. This way, the individuals can view and read their mail at any time according to their convenience.
But, B2B marketing needs you to connect with professionals during their work hours. It is clear that you need to fight more for their attention.
So, what can you do to get their attention and motivate them to complete the CTA? Perhaps, you can use B2B direct mail marketing. Design, print, and mail highly personalized direct mail items to drive responses.
Think of something out of the box and useful. In this article, we have put together a list of B2B direct mail best practices and ideas. Using these, you can conduct effective campaigns with ease.
What Is a Good Response Rate For Direct Mail Campaigns?
Direct mail’s average response rate for prospects’ lists is 4.9% but increases up to 9% for house lists. Thus, a 5-10% response rate for direct mail is quite good.
But, most companies do great with even a response rate of about 2%. This is because response rates depend on several factors.
Also Read: Direct Mail Response Rate & Mailing CostsSome high-end companies do not get a lot of responses as their products and services are very expensive. But, they can convert most of these responses. So, their conversion rates are high.
On the contrary, a lot of small and medium-sized businesses get many responses but fewer conversions. In the end, it all depends on the type of industry you are working in.
11 B2B Direct Mail Marketing Best Practices Tips
1. Build Targeted Mailing Lists
Generic marketing is no longer productive. Define your buyer profile and zero in on your most relevant prospects. Targeted direct mail marketing is effective and affordable. It allows you to print and mail items only to a few companies and still get a high ROI.
Understand your target audience in-depth and consider their needs. Make a list of all the companies whose needs match your brand’s offerings.
Marketers should only mail items to the hot leads. This way, they can keep their costs under control and get more conversions.
You can select prospects from your email list, social media pages, and so on. For example, you can build a targeted mailing list of all companies who asked for your product details through email.
These businesses already know about your brand. Hence, the conversion process can be faster and easier. It is always the best bet to connect with such companies as there are higher chances of getting them engaged.
PostGrid’s automated direct mail API allows you to build segmented mailing lists using specific demographics. It also helps you verify all the addresses in your lists and keep them updated.
2. Choose an Appealing Design and Be Creative
Employ the direct mail design best practices while conducting B2B direct mail campaigns. It is likely that your recipients have very little time to check out your mail. Therefore, make it worth their while.
Concentrate on all the aspects of your mail design. An effective direct mail design has an appealing layout that gets your message across in the least words possible.
Also, choose colours that are similar to your logo to maintain consistency. This makes it simpler for people to recall your brand.
Always add a pinch of creativity to your designs. Encourage people to click pictures of your mail, engage with you on social media, and most importantly—respond to your mail.
Encourage them to share your mailpiece with other people, hence increasing brand visibility.
3. Personalize Your B2B Direct Mail
Every account has different requirements and expectations. Hence, it is important to customize your mail items according to them.
Consider all your past conversations with prospects while deciding the mail contents. Collect as many details as possible about them from your CRM.
Personalizing makes your direct mail stand out from the crowd. Also, people are pleased with personalized mail items. 83% of customers are ready to share their personal details with companies to get personalized experiences.
Use variable tags like the recipient’s first name and other data. You can also include the sales and marketing representative’s signature on mail items. This way, they will identify your sales staff when they call them up later for follow-ups.
4. Align Sales and Marketing
No matter which B2B direct mail ideas you are using, align your sales and marketing efforts.
Ask your sales team to put together a list of prospects they have been in touch with. Add these prospects to your mailing lists. This tactic helps you choose and target relevant prospects.
Knowing how to run a direct mail campaign is not enough. You should also be able to deal with the incoming responses.
Make sure your sales team can handle the calls generated from direct mail campaigns. They should be aware of the offers mentioned in your mail item and how to avail of them.
Handling these calls in the right way can make a big difference in your conversion ratios. Hence, businesses should train their staff for the same.
5. Create Compelling Calls-to-Action
This is a crucial step for marketers irrespective of the type of campaign. A CTA helps your audience know what their next step should be.
CTAs guide recipients on how to respond to a mailpiece. Do you want them to visit your website and sign up? Or, do you need them to walk into a nearby store?
Choose clear and explicit words that make it easy for the reader to understand the CTA. Also, select CTAs that are easy to complete.
For example, ask recipients to fill up an online survey and provide them with a link. Do not make them search the survey link on your website. Keep it as simple and easy as possible.
6. Provoke Emotions
B2B marketing may sound very analytical, but it uses emotional connections to convert customers. All marketing strategies are based on provoking certain emotions in prospects—to motivate them to buy from you.
Find below the top seven emotions you can focus on:
- Greed
- Guilt
- Exclusivity
- Salvation
- Anger
- Fear
- Flattery
For example, if you own a small supermarket, you can use a direct mail copy that taps on greed. Use sentences like “Buy goods worth $100 and above and get extra credits worth $50.”
Or, if you work with a security system company, you can use the emotion fear. Include sentences like “Keep your home safe from thieves with our smart CCTV solutions.”
Such words and sentences make a psychological impact on your audience. This way, you can convince them to buy from you.
Your direct mail marketing success rate is likely to be high if you emphasize certain emotions as such.
7. Follow-Up On Time
It is crucial to follow up with all the recipients once they receive your direct mail items. Make your sales team responsible to get in touch with them.
Assign representatives to take good care of the respondents. Their queries should be addressed and the business deal should be taken further.
Some recipients respond upfront, but there are others who need a little push. You can create email drip campaigns to remind them of you. Or, you can call them up directly.
Timely follow-ups ensure that you can get the most out of your campaign.
8. Talk About Your Benefits
Most decision-makers already know about your product features. But, if there is something different or new, you can talk about that.
You should talk more about product benefits to increase your B2B direct mail response rates.
People like hearing how they will benefit by using your products and services. So, enlist your benefits to capture their attention.
9. Include Your Credentials
Print and mail items containing client reviews and testimonials. They can help you gain your audience’s trust and build credibility.
You can also include your social media ratings and professional accreditations. These things make clients confident about your brand.
10. Integrate With Online Marketing Channels
You should provide an integrated customer journey to your prospects. Reach out to them using more than one channel.
Combining B2B direct mail marketing with online marketing can help you get more visibility. It also increases brand reputation and creates strong customer relationships.
Remember to align all the marketing channels that you use to maintain consistency.
11. Test and Measure Your Campaign Success
It is necessary to measure campaign results to know which campaigns are successful and which are not.
You should also keep testing different combinations to see which one can get the most number of responses.
PostGrid’s print and mail API can help you conduct and track campaigns. Marketers can also access the campaign insights and reports from the dashboard for reference.
B2B Direct Mail Ideas and Examples
Press Releases
Print and mail press releases to prospects to give them an idea of who you are. It is not necessary that you only use legit press releases that are published somewhere.
Put together some facts about your company along with an exciting offer and CTA. This will help prospects understand you better and take the desired action.
Content Kit
Today, most companies have a website where they post regular blogs and pages. You can put together a content kit consisting of printed blog posts, case studies, and whitepapers.
Compile them together and stuff them in customized envelopes. It is a very creative idea to get your prospect’s attention.
Postcards
Postcards are the most popular direct mail item. They come in various sizes and most people find them appealing.
You can expect a response rate of up to 4.25% using postcards. It is an excellent response rate for B2B direct mail marketing.
Such direct mail statistics prove that your company can do wonders through this offline marketing channel.
Find below an example of Google’s advertising postcards:
Some more examples include postcards from Sage Accounting and CAT.
Letters
Letters are another great example of B2B direct mail items. They look professional and are attention-seeking.
Unlike postcards, letters have a lot of space. You can personalize your content and offer tailored solutions to your target audience.
Find below an example of a B2B marketing letter used by Trustpilot:
Newsletters
Marketers can also conduct regular B2B direct mail campaigns to keep in touch with prospects. It is a good way to remind them of yourself and stay on top of minds always.
You can print and mail weekly or monthly newsletters to your top accounts. Make sure to add exclusive offers to increase responses.
B2B Direct Mail Statistics
All the direct mail industry statistics indicate that it is the best marketing channel for B2B companies. You can make your clients or prospects feel special by sending them personalized items.
Direct mail is personal and tangible. It helps companies form emotional bonds with their existing and prospective customers.
Also, it is easy to convince people to buy from you by reaching out to them using an offline channel. The following B2B direct mail statistics will help you understand better:
- 95% of millennials like receiving direct mail.
- 50.9% of direct mail recipients say that postcards are useful.
- Oversized envelopes receive a response rate of 5.3%.
- B2B direct mail generates a response rate of 4.4%. This figure is 47 times better than responses generated by marketing email.
- In a survey conducted by Marketing Sherpa, it was found that 79% of B2B marketers find direct mail effective.
Final Thoughts
It is difficult for B2B companies to sell as compared to B2C companies. Herein, there are many people involved in the decision-making process. You might have to get in touch with more than one person from one company. Hence, plan accordingly and print and mail items to everyone concerned.
B2B direct mail marketing bridges the gap between you and your prospects. It enables you to communicate your messages in a professional, yet personal way. Though direct mail marketing might only be the first step towards conversion, it helps you push clients further down their sales funnel. However, many B2B companies refrain from using direct mail marketing because they don’t have the needed time or expertise. In that case, PostGrid’s automated direct mail API can help you.
From printing and mailing postcards to corporate gifting, you can conduct all your direct mailing activities with us. We can assist you in every step and make sure that you don’t have to put in any manual effort. Save time, effort, and money on B2B direct mail marketing with PostGrid.
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