Which day to mail?

Question

In your direct mail campaigns, which day have you found best to mail?  Does it matter which day of the week it's received?

Do you separate the locals from the out-of-area, so they're receiving it on about the same day?

Thanks,

Lynn (FL)

Blair Halver · Answer

We always mail on Fridays, via First Class Mail, so that "most" if not all the mailers hit mailboxes the following Monday.

When the mailers hit on Monday, the recipients respond to the mailer by phoning in, usually beginning mid-day on Monday, then continuing Tues and Wednesday, then tapering off by the end of the week.

The upside to this is that if someone calls you back and leaves a message for you on Mon-Wed, you have until Friday to call them back before the weekend.  You don't want to let too much time lapse between when they call and when you call them back, so it's best not to have a weekend timeframe stuck in there.

Plus, you can take care of all the week's leads in the same week, then schedule site visits for that following weekend (if you want).

The other upside to this is that it helps you measure your response rate more accurately.  You send a mailing each week, it usually lands in mailboxes on Monday, then you can count how many responses you get during that week and attribute them all to the mailing that hit on Monday.

It's not an exact science, of course.  You will always have those respondents who call you that week, but they received a mailer from you several weeks ago.  I've had people call back as much as 6 months later.

Anyway, to answer your question - mail on Fridays, so it hits mailboxes on Monday.

(And don't mail more often than every 5-6 weeks to the same person.)

Patrick Jackson · Answer

Hey Lynn Henley,

If you send your mail out first class. Then it would be a good idea to send them out towards the end of the week. This would have your mail hit your prospect in the beginning of the following week. During this time there is typically lest mail in the mailbox that your mail won't be pick over or missed. Hope this helps!!!

Gary Parker · Answer

I followed a recent thread that suggested Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays are the best days to receive mail.

Dev Horn · Answer

Hey Lynn Henley - again, I don't have solid psychological theory behind this, but we typically avoid holidays - the few days before and after.  July 4th is one we always avoid doing something that week because when people are off work, maybe traveling, etc. our assumption is that their problems are not important to them for a few days.  You really want them to not be "distracted" so that they can focus on the solution that we're offering to their problem.

I am not a psychologist, but I play one on TV... er, I mean, BP.

Lynn Henley · Answer

Does it matter if there's a holiday during the week?  As an example, this coming Monday is Memorial Day, and no mail will run. That usually means they will receive alot of mail on Tuesday.  Should I go ahead and mail this Friday, wait until next Friday, or mail sometime in between?

Lynn (FL)

Patrick Jackson · Answer

I agree with Dev Horn. There is no way to determine when standard mail will be delivered to your addressee. If your doing large quantities you will be able to save on your mailing with standard mail. The other benefit of standard mailing to a large list is when the addressees receive your mail at various time frames your calls can be handled better.

Blair Halver · Answer

Yeah Dev Horn - I'm not too up to date on the recipient's psychology of it all.  There may be something there, but I am not well versed in it.  My previously mentioned stance on the subject was based purely on benefits perceived from my side (the sender's side).

There may be a great deal of psychological theory behind what day of the week a recipient is most ready to receive mail.

I might submit that the best day for him to receive the mailer is the day after he loses his job (or some other life-changing event) which of course is impossible to predict from where we sit.  :-)

Dev Horn · Answer

I think there may be some real psychology to this; I defer to Patrick Jackson & Blair H. as I think they have good experience and advice.

Most of our mailings are higher volume and utilize standard postage which saves a huge 10 cents per piece.  But the issue with standard postage is you have NO IDEA when the post office will get around to doing your mailing.  We can easily control when we drop to the post office, but little control over their process.  That said, I still think - for large volume mailings - the savings offset the psychology of what day people get stuff.

We do have other ways to drop messages on people on exact days of the week, so I remain very interested in what you guys think about this...

Mike Nelson · Answer

I just make sure to do it on a weekly basis. I think if they're interested, regardless which day of the week they receive my postcard, they will call or take note to call. :)

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