By Robert Wilkinson

If there were one thing to make direct mail a reliable method to drum up new business, it would have to be the ability to test different versions of a pack to achieve a better return on investment. Having processed many mailings over the years, I can attest that clients rarely take full advantage of this feature. In fact, more often than not, clients do not test at all.

Not testing is commercial suicide! In today's competitive climate, if anything can be done to reduce the cost to acquire a customer, then it must be done. It is a no brainer. Research shows that in times of depression, those who continue to advertise are those that do well. It also shows those who continue to advertise also make the efforts to stretch their budget even further.

You decrease your direct mail costs by applying a little commonsense and by testing which will produce the best response. We will look at the example of a direct mail pack that comprises five parts in all.

The parts of the pack are as follows:

1) Envelope
2) Personalized Letter
3) Brochure
4) Leaflet/Order form
5) Business Reply Envelope

Looking at this, you would think that this is it, but we have forgotten the most important part of all:

6) The Data

Now there is enough here to get your message out.

Experience shows the most important part of the mailing is the data. We must test this part. A badly produced but well targeted letter will almost certainly produce a better return than a well-written badly targeted letter.

You may have a particular target audience already decided, for example, lawyers. You will be able to get lists of lawyers from more than one source to be tested. Equally, you will have the option of mailing to a named individual, or to a job title, so you can test that way, also. So far, that is at least four permutations, provided you use two data suppliers. It would be six if you used three suppliers. If you had not narrowed your field to one sector, then the choice of tests to run could be massively increased, but it is not practical to take it to the extreme.

Targeting is everything! You must get that right, and you can only find that out if you test.

Looking at the envelope, you have a huge number of choices available, also. You can send plain with a stamp, or printed with a message. You could make the material from an unusual paper, print in full color, or use different sizes. You could print different designs, or use different taglines and the like.

Depending on how your envelope is made, you may be able to run multiple designs for a minimal charge. The nature of some jobs is they are printed two or three on a sheet, so you will be able to produce equal quantities of more than one design. Even if it is not free, chances are it will not be that expensive for a plate change.

For the letterhead, you can change the material. Studies by paper merchants have shown a 20% increase in response just by changing to a textured paper. The copy itself on the letter can be changed, and offers can be changed. The number of options to test here is almost limitless.

Moving on to the leaflet, the same applies here as indicated for the letterhead. Copy, material, imagery; they are all fair game.

Finally, yet importantly, we move on to the BRE (business reply envelope). The choices here are limited. White or manila envelopes, perhaps, maybe even a coloured BRE. If it is not going to cost a lot, why not try it.

Using these methods over time, you can increase the effectiveness of your mailings. Always test, even when you think you have the perfect pack, continue to run a test campaign against it, even if the difference between the two is really quite small. If you continue to do this, your costs to acquire a customer should decrease and diminish.
Overall, the point is that there is an almost infinitely large and almost limitless opportunity for testing. Maybe, it is this huge scope for testing that puts people off, but I do not think it is. I think it is just a lack of awareness of what you can do. You do not need to complicate things; you can just run two packs with one difference between them and see how it goes.

Whatever you do though, do not commit commercial suicide and fail to test.

Robert Wilkinson is the owner of http://www.arhiann.com, a print, design, and direct mail business specializing in direct mail and envelope production for small and medium sized businesses.