[Finance1]

GRP- I have had a lot of success in the past (pre-MCA) using Direct Mail or postcards. We would send out 10,000 at a time and get back 300-400 usually and 30%+ would close. Unfortunately we were a small shop with a relatively low ticket item($400-$1500) so we switched to email and fax marketing, which was more cost effective.

What, in your experience has been the rate of return for direct mail?

Back in 2010-2011, all we did was direct mail. We used to mail 25-50k pieces a month. Response rates ranged from 1-4%. The high responses were from UCC lists. This was good and bad. High response keeps agents busy but UCC lists are probably the lowest quality calls you can get so lots of wading and weeding. The low responses came from targeted lists (chiro's, dentists, salons, auto, etc) but they were much higher quality.

Postcards has the lowest response. Official looking pieces like check letters and notifications did the best by a mile but they cost more. We did an analysis of over 500k pieces of mail and the marketing cost per closed deal was around $700.

Mail is tricky because it takes several months for each mailing to run its full course. This makes the initial investment scary for many. Mailing anything less than 5k is typically a mistake. Small mail campaigns have skewed results. If you take a 10k list and break it up into (4) 2,500 piece drops, each separate drop will perform differently because of the small sample size. Too many folks make the mistake of an initial small drop. If you get a crappy result then you quit at a loss. If you hit a home run then your expectations for future drops are out of whack.

Mail is a great marketing tool but it takes plenty of guts and a solid starting budget. The calls are only one piece of the puzzle. You have to have really good people answering the phone. Calls come in way beyond business hours so you have to account for that as well. Never let a direct mail call go to voicemail. A live person must be ready from 7am to 8pm to take calls. Saturdays as well. Not a big call volume on Sat but each call is worth its weight in gold. You never know when the big 200k deal is coming. Those are what make profits. 5-10k deals pay the mail bill.

[Franklin]

Good points Finance1.