Crafting your direct mail campaign

[Steven M. Hughes]

I'm starting a direct mail campaign to pump up my leads for the last part of this year, but I've never done one before. 

Any do's and don'ts for direct mail? 

Do you purchase any lists? If so, where do get your lists?

Thanks in advance for the help/answers

[Ray Lai]

Too many to list in one post for the dos and don'ts.

If you're in a highly competitive area, do not purchase a list. If you're flush with cash and want to get started quickly in a secondary market, then a list makes a lot of sense.

People provide generic answers when there are no specific details. Each market is different.

Since you haven't started a direct mail campaign, here are some protips that should help:

Yellow-letters are extremely effective for direct mail in terms of response rate. They are better than postcards. HOWEVER, there is a big advantage to postcards, they are cheaper.

Pro-tip: Use 1 batch of postcards with first class mail then and then switch to yellow letters. Why? The first class postcards will bounce and save you a lot of money from mailing a bad address from subsequent batches and you can skip-trace the bad addresses for very valuable leads. Also, switching to standard mail afterwards saves money.

Pro-tip #2: Your campaigns will typically yield a response rate of 0.5-2% (typical but depends on the quality of your campaign).

Pro-tip #3: Make sure your market size is big enough (at least 200 targets) and that you can sustain a campaign for at least 4+ mailings. First couple often get thrown away.

Pro-tip #4: How do you improve your response rate? Split tests and tracking your results. There are many things to try from code violations to unpaid taxes. In general, people with more equity (typically older home owners) are more likely to yield deals. But you need to test between all these different types and see what works best for you in your market (driving for dollars/absentee, probate, etc.)

This is a great way to get started to build your own list:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2013/05/03/driving-for-dollars-bible-part-1/