Direct mail campaign follow up?

[Pedro Oliva]

After mailing out the initial wave of say yellow letters, how long and how often is it recommended to send a follow up mailer? What piece is recommended after the initial letter? I mailed to an inheritance list with about a 1% response and was wondering If I should even bother sending out follow up?

[Blake Reynolds]

You have to be diligent. Most people don't respond to a mailing until after several times being contacted. Try handwriting the address on the envelop or having them printed in a handwriting font. This will increase your chances that they at least open the envelope which in turn should increase your response rate.

Try to mix up your mailing pieces (postcards, typed letters, yellow letters, etc.) and rotate them. I am currently mailing to the same list every 3 weeks. To me that seems frequent enough for them to take notice to your mailings but not too frequent to where it would start getting really expensive.

[Tammy Vitale]

Blake's right about contacts...the rule of thumb I learned was 7 contacts before they even notice you.  And 3 - 5% is a really good response, so 1% isn't that bad, really.  Think about it - do you read mail like that which comes to your house if you aren't in the market for what they're selling?

[Jason McDougall]

Hi Pedro,

I agree with what others have written above - frequency and consistency is key! We send out our consecutive mailers every other month. We have several direct mail campaigns going on at any given time, so after time you might find yourself mailing out to 3 or 4 different lists in a given month. Plan on a direct mail budget for at least 7 mailings and stick with it. 

Remember, wholesaling is a numbers game. The more postcards you send out with proper frequency, the more deals you'll get. It all depends on how much you're able to spend on marketing.

Good luck!

[Dev Horn]

You've gotten some great advice from the BP'ers above!  I'll add this ~ Our frequency varies based upon the target group.  For a group we really work hard, like absentee owners with 50%+ equity, we hit those guys once per month.  Other groups, such as probates, we hit them maybe every 2 months.

As a rule, we follow the Rule of 7 which is the theory that it takes 7 touches to get people to ACT (buy, call you, whatever...).  We actually never stop mailing to our main groups like Absentees & Sr. citizen owner occupants.  We replace the lists with fresh data every 6 months and keep on rolling...

But there are special groups like expired listings or tax liens or divorce that we might just hit once or twice near the event and not necessarily continue mailing to them.

Also, think about how DIRECT MAIL fits into your larger marketing strategy - we also like OUTDOOR (billboards, bandits, etc.) and ONLINE (AdWords).  If you can do all three, your prospect might see a sign or two, get a few postcards, and see you online.  That's the Rule of 7 across multiple channels.  It's all about staying in people's awareness, reminding them who you are, what you do, and how to reach you.  Combined with great branding, those multiple touches cause people to remember you over time, so they think of you when the need arises in their life.  Good luck with your marketing!

[Jared Vidales]

What mail pieces are you guys using for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th....ect mailings?

Do you guys scurb your mailing list, prior to mailing, to see if the addresses are valid?

[Pedro Oliva]

Any recommended mail piece to send out next for the inheritance list? Any recommended postcards or letters to send next? Ill be sending them out on next week.

[Donald Placide]

Great thread! Nice to see BPers jump and give real world stats. I'm in the same position so I'll definitely be putting this info into use ....