Direct mail failed.. why?

[juwood]

Hey guys,

In the past, I have always put out flyers in mailboxes, about 1000 a year. This has been my most effective use of advertising and generally get about 10 calls off a thousand flyers. I usually put them out late april.

This year, I wanted to grow. I wanted to offer more services, like fertilizing cleanups etc. So I mailed out 3000 direct mail parcels. They looked much more professional, and looked really catchy in general. They hit peoples mailboxes on the 7th of april, and again again on the 14th of april.

Around this time, it wasnt the best weather, kinda rainy, but we were having some sunny days (this is in the northeast)

I got 2 calls. TWO! One lead was crap, and the other the lady couldnt afford it.

I cannot belive i only got 2 calls..

Does anyone have any advice or insite on this?

Thanks.

[juwood]

oh, the direct mail was targeted at income brackets of 75,000 to 125,000, and single family dwellings. Those were my only demographics.

[Ric]

Juwood

Direct mail only has a 1% response rate at best.

[spotremix]

so far i'm still using the classified and i get oh 3-4 calls a week at least. they don't always turn out to be something good but i'm always getting calls.

[scagguy]

Juwood

Direct mail only has a 1% response rate at best.

Actually I believe it's 1%-2%, but still isn't much. Here's the kicker.....I think you'll find that you will get calls off of that for the next month and and half or so. I know this is true of door hangers when we put those out. Btw....has you season started yet?

[Sandgroper]

Last 1000 i put out i got 3 calls,, none led to anything.

Some people do well with them, but never again, the local free paper works well here.

[juwood]

if the response rate is 1-2%, that still means i should have gotten about 30 calls. ive gotten 2.

ive thought that, that maybe people didnt call because they arent thinking about it and their lawns dont need to be cut. But i also thought that maybe people who have nice lawns, well maintainted, are the type of customers that would think of things early. If they are getting spring cleans and spring fertilizer, i thought they would probalby call before the grass needed to be cut.

ive tried newspapers, i dropped that this year though although ive done it every year. i havent had very good results with that.

[steve-o]

you want growth........................

if the response rate is 1-2%, that still means i should have gotten about 30 calls. ive gotten 2.

ive thought that, that maybe people didnt call because they arent thinking about it and their lawns dont need to be cut. But i also thought that maybe people who have nice lawns, well maintainted, are the type of customers that would think of things early. If they are getting spring cleans and spring fertilizer, i thought they would probalby call before the grass needed to be cut.

ive tried newspapers, i dropped that this year though although ive done it every year. i havent had very good results with that.

how much growth do you want?

steve

[juwood]

how much growth do you want?

steve

maybe 20 customers

[steve-o]

try being more selective.....................

maybe 20 customers

go the flyer route and target selective homes. i use postcards as flyers.

steve

[duratree]

if they make that kind of money they probably already have a service

[highlander316]

if they make that kind of money they probably already have a service

yea. At taht point they aren't concerednd about price, but reliability and quality. Only when one of those suffers, do they start thinking about a new contractor.

[Sammy]

You just mailed a bunch of 'em on Monday, the day befor Tax Day, and now five days later you are wondering why no calls !

Think about it.

[Scaper-S2k]

If I have a flyer on my front porch, I pick it up and read it prior to throwing it away.


If I get junk mail in my box from the postal service, it just gets tossed right into the trash can. I don't even look at them......ever.


I'm sure that I'm not the only one that does that.




P.S.- I know this will sound odd, but I got more calls of a basic 2 color flyer than I got from my full color laminated flyers.

[scagguy]

If I have a flyer on my front porch, I pick it up and read it prior to throwing it away.


If I get junk mail in my box from the postal service, it just gets tossed right into the trash can. I don't even look at them......ever.


I'm sure that I'm not the only one that does that.




P.S.- I know this will sound odd, but I got more calls of a basic 2 color flyer than I got from my full color laminated flyers.

I agree. If it's junk mail, it gets tossed. Never look at it. But still, when I was in the car biz, we sent out a ton of direct mail over the years and the responce rate was always 1%-2%. As someone else said, sending them out the Monday before tax day probably wasn't such a good idea. I think I would have done it 2-3 weeks earlier. Just my .02