[J.Celifarco]

We decided to open up our marketing budget last month after consulting with two of our top lenders with whom we have a very good relationship (funding >1 million/month). They both suggested the same direct mail provider, and while they both did their own direct mail in house, they suggested this one particular DM provider and said they did well with them in the past. Knowing the market has been and is changing rapidly by the month, we decided to drop 5 figures on a healthy DM campaign. The rate of return, meaning phone calls, not acquisition was supposed to be 0.5-1%. We balked when they told us that as it seemed high with the market saturation, but because it was a trusted referral, we moved ahead anyway.

30 days later, 27 calls from 30K mail pieces. Most of them unqualified and others rate shoppers. We did manage to close and fund a couple small 1.45's, but we are nowhere near the break even point. Anyone having similar low rate of return on DM lately? We don't know whether to go after the DM company or if this is just the market condition, but the rate of return seems suspiciously low.

this time of year definitely doesn't help by 27 calls for that much mail is impossibly low. Something is wrong