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Archive for May, 2010

Focused Target Plus Strong Offer Equals Response

May 28th, 2010

Target Marketing

Many businesses mailing for the time neglect to make a strong and relevant offer.  They invest heavily in the creative design, print, mail and mailing list only to conclude that direct marketing doesn’t work for them.  Outside of targeted mailing list, the campaign strategy likely lacked an offer strong enough to generate measurable response.

Whether it be a postal direct mail or email campaign, your message must be interesting enough to catch the eye of your audience.  Without these key ingredients, you’re likely to conclude that direct marketing doesn’t work.

Real Life Example

Here’s a perfect example of a direct marketing campaign that BB Direct recently deployed to its customer and prospect email list.  Under normal circumstances, our email campaigns generate predictable click-thru rates.  Whether the campaign is a notice of something important and informative or an offer that’s relevant and attractive to our customers, BB Direct will typically see between a 2% to 5% click through rate.

One of most recent email campaigns (you may have seen it) was a notice about a deadline for applying for a substantial discount in postage during the summer months thru the USPS.  This is a postal discount campaign the US Postal Service is running to step up Standard Rate usage during the summer months.  We detailed the criteria for this program in our blog and deployed an email to everyone we knew.  The results were significantly better than anything we’ve ever done.  We saw an 11% open rate for this campaign and a whopping 10% click-thru rate of the total number of delivered emails.

What is so significant about these numbers was the fact that we’ve have good historical response rate data over the past 2 years to this exact same audience.  This campaign outshined everything we’ve ever done in the past.  Why?  Simply because of all the message/offers we’ve ever put in front of this audience, this offer had a greater appeal to more people than any other.  It stands to reason, all mailers, whether postal or otherwise, should seriously question the offer and message they are sending.  If you’re going to make an offer, make it strong enough to grab the attention of your prospects.  They are listening and will respond.

Need help?  Give us a call at 866-501-6273 or visit us at www.bbdirect.com.

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US Postal Service Summer Sale Details

May 21st, 2010

Summer Sale

General Program Information

1. What is the 2010 Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
The Standard Mail Summer Sale offers eligible companies a 30% postage rebate on Standard
Mail letter and flat volumes that exceed a predetermined threshold. The Sale runs July 1
through September 30, 2010.
This threshold is determined by taking a company’s Standard Mail volume mailed
during the time period from July to September 2009 and adding 5 percent (SPLY +5%).
Only Standard Mail letters and flats in excess of this threshold will qualify for the
rebate.

2. Why is the Postal Service offering a Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
The intent of the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program is to provide an incentive for customers
to increase Standard Mail use above the volume they would otherwise have sent. Increasing
Standard Mail will provide customers additional opportunities to gain new customers, retain
existing customers or simply improve brand awareness.

Company Eligibility

3. Who is eligible to participate in the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
To be eligible to participate in the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program, a company must have
mailed 350,000 or more Standard Mail letters or flats (complete mailpieces) between July 1 and
September 30 in 2009.

4. How can I participate in the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
All companies who meet the criteria and are eligible to participate will receive an invitation letter.
Eligible companies who received a letter can apply online at www.usps.com/summersale. The
deadline for application is May 28, 2010.

5. Are mail service providers eligible for the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
Mail service providers are not eligible for the Sale Program, nor can they apply on behalf of their
customers. They are encouraged to tell their customers about the program and help their
customers provide documentation of mailing volumes.

A Mail Service Provider (MSP) is a company or entity that creates, prepares, processes and
presents or inducts mail for other companies into the US Postal network. Thus, if a company
creates, prepares, processes or presents mail to the US Postal Service but does not own the
content/message in the envelope, or is reimbursed for the postage paid, it is an MSP.

The types of entities that are considered MSPs include, but are not limited to:
• Presort Bureaus
• Letter Shops
• Mail Consolidators
• List Providers
• Printers
• Billing Processors
• Advertising Mail Services companies
• Fulfillment Houses.

The decision as to which companies meet the definition of a mail service provider, and are
therefore ineligible to participate, is at the sole discretion of the Postal Service.

Volume Report, Certification Letter and Documentation

6. What happens after I apply online?
Once you submit your online application at: www.usps.com/summersale, a follow-up email will
be sent to you with the following three attachments:

  • Revenue and Volume Threshold Report
  • Certification Letter
  • Threshold Inquiry Form

The Revenue and Volume Threshold Report will list your Standard Mail letter and flat volume
and revenue history by permit number for each volume threshold period: June 2009, July
through September 2009, and October 2009. If you agree with your revenue and volume
history you must sign the Certification Letter and return a copy via email or mail to the Summer
Sale program office. If you do not agree with your revenue and volume history in your Report
you must fill out the Threshold Inquiry Form and return it to the Summer Sale program office.
The Summer Sale Program office must receive either the customers signed Certification letter
or the Threshold Inquiry form no later than June 30, 2010.

7. How do I contact the Summer Sale program office?
By Mail: United States Postal Service
Attn: Summer Sale Program Office
475 L’Enfant Plaza, SW, RM 5410
Washington, DC 20260-5410

By Email: summersale@usps.gov

8. What should I do if I have volume mailed under a mail service provider’s permit that is
not shown on my threshold report?
If your company used any permits owned by mail service providers (MSPs), you must fill out an
MSP Volume Claim Form and provide supporting documentation to have this volume credited to
your company. The preferred document for supporting documentation is a Form 3602 Mailing
Statement. Invoices and other supporting documentation may only be used if they contain all of
the following:

  • Class of mail and processing category – i.e. the documentation must prove that the mail

sent was Standard Mail letters or flats.

  • The cost of the postage – In order to determine your rebate, we need to know the price per

piece so this information is necessary.

  • Date of the mailing – the documentation must show that the mail was sent during the

Summer Sale mailing period or threshold period

  • The volume and revenue numbers much match the totals you submitted in your MSP

Claim Form

  • Permit Number under which mail was sent, mail service provider name and your company

name
A copy of the MSP Volume Claim Form can be downloaded from the Summer Sale link on the
USPS National Customer Support Center website at: http://ribbs.usps.gov/.

Note:

• If permit mail is commingled, volumes of Standard Mail letters and flats of the
participating company must be documented separately from the total permit
volumes.
• Customers registered through the Business Customer Gateway may use
PostalOne statements as documentation.

9. Why does my report show volumes for June 2009 and October 2009?
A volume threshold will be established for June 2010 and October 2010 using same period last
year volume plus five percent. If your Standard Mail letters and flats volume does not meet
these thresholds, the difference will be deducted from the volume qualifying for the rebate.

10. Are government agencies using Official Mail Accounting System eligible to
participate in the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?

Yes. Government agencies are eligible to participate in the Standard Mail Summer Sale
Program, as long as they meet the mailing volume requirements.

11. What if I believe I have met the eligibility standards but was not notified by a letter?
You may apply for participation in the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program by contacting the
Summer Sale program office at summersale@usps.gov. All inquiries must be received by May
15, 2010.

What Mail Qualifies

12. Is metered mail eligible for the Sale Program?
Yes. Metered mail is eligible for the Sale Program as long as invoices are provided to document
the volumes sent.

13. What types of mail are NOT considered Standard Mail letters or flats and are therefore
ineligible for the program?
No parcels are eligible for the program. Bound Printed Matter is not Standard Mail. Non flatmachinables,
although Standard Mail, are not letters or flats. Only complete mailpieces are
eligible, so partial components of mailpieces are not eligible, and neither are repositionable
notes or detached address labels.

14. How does the Postal Service determine the date of the mailing for purposes of the
Summer Sale requirements?
In order to be eligible for rebates, mailings must be “accepted” by the Postal Service during the
sales period July 1, 2010 through September 30, 2010. The definition of “acceptance” is the
date that payment has been drawn down from your account for the mailing.

Rebate

15. How will the 30% rebate be calculated?
The rebate will be calculated as 30% of the average price per piece multiplied by the number of
pieces mailed above the threshold.

16. Does my company need to exceed the threshold to qualify for the 30% rebate?
Yes. Only pieces sent over the threshold will count toward the 30% rebate.

17. If I apply to participate what happens if I do not meet my volume threshold?
If a company does not meet its volume threshold, no rebate will be credited.

18. How will my company receive the rebate?
The 30% postage rebate will be credited to your company’s permit imprint or Centralized
Account Payment System (CAPS) account after the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program ends
and all qualifying volumes are reconciled. The rebate can not be split amongst several permits
and can only be deposited into one account. Your company will receive the rebate credit no
earlier than forty five (45) days after the end of the program period. Customers who do not
provide account information for the rebate, claim MSP volumes during the summer period, and
who open new permits during the sale period will not be processed in the initial round of rebate
deposits in December 2010.

19. What if I do not have my own permit and use a mail service provider’s permit?
The rebate can be deposited into the permit imprint account of the mail service provider. You
will need to arrange with the mail service provider how they will credit you the rebate.
Although not required, it is also an option to open up a permit account in your company’s
name before the end of the program period and have the rebate credited to that account.

Additional Questions

20. Where can I send questions about the Standard Mail Summer Sale Program?
Please direct any questions to summersale@usps.gov.

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Benefits abound Email Append Process

May 19th, 2010

BB Direct’s database enhancement services now include Email Append and Reverse Email Append services for both Consumer and Business postal files.

The Process?  Simple.

Send your customer database in digital format to include name and postal address record information.  We’ll match your database against our all U.S. email database (300,000,000 consumers), and append your file with email records a match is found.  We then deploy a permission pass campaign on your behalf, remove those that with to opt-out, and send return the remaining appended email address records.

Benefits to email append

  • Build multi-touch campaign strategy
  • Support other direct marketing initiatives
  • Offer customer communication preference options
  • Test new offers quickly before rolling out to other channels
  • Retain more customers
  • Solicit customers to migrate from paper billing to accept online billing
  • Increase sales opportunities
  • Reactivate inactive customers
  • Reduce overall marketing costs
  • Increase web traffic to landing page and corporate site

Call BB Direct today to learn more about this and other data enhancement services.

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BBDirectleads.com video tutorial – Site Overview

May 11th, 2010

For a short tour of our online count and order system, watch this video.

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USPS and Direct Mail Customer Churn

May 11th, 2010

Historically, the United States Postal Service has survived the rising cost of its services by hedging on the ever increasing number of postal delivery points.  Though more and more delivery stops mean higher overall costs, more businesses can mail to this universe audience.  Theoretically, this controls costs. The USPS managed this way for the years with success, but in the most recent years, this fiscal strategy has been a challenge.  With 2010 first quarter losses at over $2.5 billion, the USPS must take aggressive steps to change in cutting costs and improving efficiencies, and teach mailers how to mail smarter.

In a struggling economy, it’s easy to blame the internet. Many small businesses will test new advertising mediums to promote their business, especially if they can see a savings.  But the fact is, online advertising isn’t a proven better medium.  For every successful Google Adwords customer, there are many unsuccessful ones.  Just as in postal direct mail, the smaller, inexperienced advertisers are sold services, whether they will be successful or not.  And once the budget is used up, the business stops buying.  There is likely little left for a direct mail campaign.  And whether you’re a postal mail service provider or an online advertising service provider, you’ll promote, sell, and take money from any business in the market to test your medium, whether you know it will work or not.  This is churn. It’s an ugly, costly, and short-term profit focused strategy.

A lesson to learn

Online service providers (all businesses who offer online advertising services) will eventually face the same challenges that the USPS is now suffering.  If you don’t teach small businesses how to properly use this relatively new medium, you’ll eventually lose these customers forever.

To avoid “churning” customers, service providers must do two things.  First, they must say no to customers who simply will not have success in this form of advertising, no matter how well the campaign is planned.  As an example, if an author wants to attempt to sell his/her book via postal direct mail to potential readers, the service provider should explain that direct mail will never yield enough sales to make it a profitable investment.  The potential profit per new customer must be direct mail friendly. The higher the profit per customer, the lower the response breakeven point will be.  Selling advertising services to those businesses that will ultimately fail is churn, and a business model based on churn distracts the attention needed to properly serve ‘eligible’ customers.  And two, marketing service providers should intimately understand how to help those ‘eligible’ customers use their advertising.  Few businesses can stomach more than one poorly executed campaign.  Poor results will likely result in that business searching for a different provider or all together different medium.

If you’d like help is assessing if your business is worthy of a direct mail test, give us a call for a no obligation consultation.

Posted in Opinion - Misc. | No Comments »

BB Direct Begins Search for Value in Social Network Marketing

May 3rd, 2010

Something tells me there’s value in having a facebook business page.  But how do we make our pitch “re-post worthy”?

We’ve begun an investigation on how businesses are using facebook (as well as other social network sites) to promote their business and develop potential leads.  We’re looking for both good and bad examples and will post everything we find.  If you’d like to contribute your experience in this effort, either good or bad, please let us know.  The more we learn, the more we’ll all benefit.

We already know that your friends will tell you about their plans for the weekend or what they plan to eat for dinner.  They’ll approve of your plans with a “Like” post.  But posting discount coupon for the products or services of your business will do little to drive traffic.  In fact, this may be counter productive to your building your brand.

Most all businesses today are working within a budget.  If you’d like to “stretch” your marketing dollars, stay tuned.

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Leslie Goldstein: Marketing Tips – Issue 53

May 1st, 2010

Don’t Confuse Your Marketing Vehicle with Your Marketing Message
The mistake that many businesses make is in confusing these marketing vehicles–the messengers–with their messages.
Whenever I hear statements like the following, I know instantly that the speaker is probably confusing the messenger with the message.
‘I tried newspaper ads once. They didn’t work for us.’  or ‘Direct Mail doesn’t work for our company.’

As long as you have selected a marketing vehicle that effectively and efficiently reaches your target prospects and they fail to respond, it is your ‘message’ that didn’t work, not the vehicle used to deliver that message.

If you try sending your prospects your marketing message via a direct mail post card and you get zero response, and you are certain that your postcards reached targeted prospects with a high potential for responding to your offer then the following is a more accurate response:

‘I tried using postcards as my Marketing Vehicle to deliver my ‘message’ to my targeted prospects, but got zero response.

‘Apparently, my ‘message’ wasn’t very effective. I will have to improve my message before using that marketing vehicle again.’

While it’s important that you select an effective marketing vehicle to deliver your message, it is even more important that you craft your message in a way that guarantees a successful response. That’s where your focus should be.

That is the critical area that far too many business owners neglect.

If you aren’t getting the kind of results you need from your marketing efforts, you need to focus on improving your marketing message. Then it’s a simple matter of selecting an effective and cost efficient marketing vehicle to deliver your message.

But if your marketing message is weak or otherwise ineffective, then it doesn’t matter which vehicle you choose — it will fail…every time.

What Your Customer Wants
All prospects and customers want the same things. They want to feel confident that their money has been well spent and that their buying decision was the wisest.  They want the best deal in terms of price and value. You’ll never hear anybody say, “I shopped around eight car dealerships, negotiated the best deals possible, and finally I decided to take the third best deal.” People instinctively want to make the best decision possible, without feeling buyer’s remorse or having to second-guess their choice.
So we have two sets of values. The business wants more customers and loyal customers and higher margins. And the customer wants to feel confident that he or she has gotten the best deal possible in terms of overall value.  The processes and principles that govern the matching of these two sets of values are exactly the same for every business.
All you have to do as the marketer is figure out what’s important to your prospects, educate them as to what constitutes the best deal in your industry, and then show them quantifiable proof that you actually provide the best deal in terms of price and value – and communicate all of that to the prospect in a way that they’ll pay attention, believe, and take action.  The result is the prospect gets from you what he wants – not just the best deal in terms of price and value, but also that quiet, firm, and confidence that he’s actually made the best decision possible.       Simple, right?
Whose Point of View?

No matter how mass-produced a direct mail program appears to you as the sender, it still arrives as a single letter to your recipient. Always look at it from their point of view.

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