Multiple Mail Pieces to Same List- How Are you Structuring It

[Jonathan C.]

When you guys are sending multiple mail pieces to the same list, what approach have you found to work better:

1- send a branded piece each time building up familiarity/brand awareness with each successive piece
2- send varied pieces- branded first, then unbranded yellow letter, then 3rd notice postcard unbranded, etc- idea being some sellers respond to big company professional looking mail, others want to deal with the small fry local investor next door

I've been doing option 1 up to this point- idea being the seller won't even know it's the same person sending them over and over again in option 2, so you aren't really taking advantage of the whole- person needs 5-7+ touches to respond to marketing thing because the seller doesn't know the touches are all coming from the same person with option 2.

But, that's just me. What do you guys do?

[Cornelius Garland]

@Jonathan C. I've experimented with both, and I use either option one or two depending on my target demographic. For instance, with my absentee seniors' list, I always go with a yellow letter that has a consistent message. While I'm not indicating my brand on the letter, the style and format of the letters are the same, and they build off of each other. My first mail piece will say something like "My name is Cornelius and I drove by your beautiful house at 123 Main St. My family and I are looking for our first starter house that we can call a home. Please call me if you ever thought about selling." The next mail piece will reiterate what I said in the first mailer and say something along the lines of me not hearing from them yet and that I'm still interested in purchasing the home. This strategy has worked well for me and generated a 15% response rate (see attached image) from two mailings. I did this in another market with 608 leads and generated an 18% response rate from three mailings. What I noticed is that the seniors weren't shocked when they found out we were investors. They enjoyed speaking with us and I don't think we received a negative call or voicemail from this list.

I highly recommend using option 2 (cluster marketing) for your other lists. I don't think branding is that important for many lists unless it's an inherited or probate list because these leads require rapport-building. The reason I say this is because you're going to be piggy backing off of other investors' marketing efforts and all of the names and companies blend in after a while to the seller. We closed a deal back in March and the seller swore they received letters from us, when in actuality that was our first time we sent her a letter. We allowed the other investors to touch her several times and our letter sent at the right time so it seemed like it was the 5th or 6th touch, but this was our first time marketing to her. I like cluster marketing because the postcards are cheaper and reaches a different group of individuals who may respond to those verses a professional or yellow letter.

I think split testing the various methods in your market is critical. I know in my market that cluster marketing works very well. I actually noticed a significant decrease in response rate by sending the same type of marketing piece month-after-month. The only list I mailed that didn't decrease a lot in response was the seniors' list. My other lists maintained their response rate, although it wasn't as high as my seniors' list. One downside I noticed with option one is that people may become numb to your message and know it's you mailing them as soon as they see your envelope. At the very least, I would change up the envelope style and color every mailing even though your internal message or mail piece format doesn't change.